They swept a four-game series from the American League East-leading Rays last weekend.
This weekend is off to a nice start for the Mariners against the AL Central leaders.
Back on the road after a successful 10-game homestand, the Mariners got right back in the win column on Friday evening, riding another strong start from Yusei Kikuchi and two more home runs from the resurgent Luis Torrens to topple the Chicago White Sox, 9-3.
Jake Fraley also homered for the Mariners (40-37), who have won six of seven and nine of their last 11 games.
Torrens has hit five home runs in seven games since being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma last week.
He was demoted on May 20 after hitting .178 with .519 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in his first 90 major-league at-bats. He homered in his first game back with the Mariners on June 15, and he just keeps hitting them.
Torrens’ two-run blast in the second inning gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead off the White Sox’s Carlos Rodon.
Torrens added another two-run homer in the seventh inning — an opposite-field shot to right — for the first multi-homer game of his career. His four RBIs are a career high.
Fraley hit a two-run homer to right field in the sixth inning to extend the Mariners’ lead to 5-1.
It a matchup of two of the AL’s best left-handers, the Mariners effectively worked up a pitch count on Rodon, the AL leader in ERA (1.83 coming into Friday). Rodon managed to complete just five innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He walked four and struck out eight.
Kikuchi was strong again.
The left-hander from Japan allowed only a solo home run to Yasmani Grandal in the second inning, and he worked 5 2/3 innings to lower his ERA to 3.34.
In 10 starts since late April, Kikuchi has a 2.44 ERA with 21 walks and 67 strikeouts.
