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Seattle Mariners

Mariners Log: M’s push one across in ninth to beat Phillies

Seattle Mariners’ Taylor Motter follows through after hitting a go-ahead RBI double off Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Hector Neris during the ninth inning on Tuesday, May 9, 2017, in Philadelphia. The Mariners won 10-9. (Matt Slocum / Associated Press)
By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

CANO LEAVES IN FOURTH INNING WITH QUAD STRAIN

What happened: Jean Segura scored on Taylor Motter’s double in the ninth inning and the visiting Seattle Mariners (16-17) beat the Philadelphia Phillies (13-18) 10-9 in a slugfest at Citizen’s Bank Park.

Segura singled with one out in the ninth, went to second on a groundout by Ben Gamel, then scored on Motter’s ground-ball double into the left field corner off reliever Hector Neris.

Edwin Diaz pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save.

Robinson Cano hit his seventh home run in the third off Phils’ starter Jerad Eickhoff, but left the game after the top of the fourth after pulling up legging out a double. The team announced a quad strain via Twitter.

Gamel went 4 for 5 with a homer, three runs and four RBIs.

M’s starter Ariel Miranda only went 3 1/3 innings and allowed six runs on six hits and three walks with just one strikeout. Miranda walked the leadoff batter in three of his four innings.

Line Outs

  • Weirdness in the first: Ben Gamel walked with one out and then Robinson Cano appeared to have grounded into a double play, with the TV coverage going to commercial and everything. Meanwhile, the Mariners challenged that shortstop Freddy Galvis hadn’t touched second base for the actual force out. The M’s won the challenge but couldn’t take advantage as Kyle Seager flied to right to end the inning.
  • It didn’t take long for Philly to take the lead. Cesar Hernandez walked and stole second. On a pickoff attempt, Miranda’s throw skipped away from Jean Segura into short left field and Hernandez hustled to third. He scored on a double by Odubel Herrera. Former M’s outfielder Michael Saunders then launched one into the bleachers in right for a two-run shot. The next batter, Tommy Joseph, finished an eight-pitch at-bat with a line-drive homer to center.
  • M’s got a gift when Jerad Eickhoff misplayed a tapper by Danny Valencia. Guillermo Heredia tried to bunt for a base hit and was thrown out, but Valencia moved up a base on the play.
  • Cano got the M’s on the board in the third when a routine fly ball to right just kept carrying in the bandbox that is Citizen’s Bank Park for a two-run shot (7). Gamel was aboard via a two-out single. Seager followed with a single of his own and Eickhoff walked Valencia. Heredia got a ball through the left side to load ’em up for Jarrod Dyson, but he popped up to kill the rally.
  • After a pair of singles sandwiched around another cruddy sacrifice bunt attempt, Gamel ripped one into the seats in right for a 5-4 lead. Eickhoff then gave up a double to Cano – who seemed to go into second base gingerly – and walked Valencia, and Phils’ skipper Pete Mackanin had seen enough, calling upon reliever Edubray Ramos. Heredia then popped up to end the inning.

    • Taylor Motter took over for Cano for the bottom of the fourth. Later it was announced Cano left with a quad strain. Miranda walked Joseph – his third leadoff walk in four innings – then Galvis ripped one into the left field corner for a double, scoring Joseph from first. Singles by Cameron Rupp and Hernandez to make it 6-5 Philly ended Miranda’s night.

  • Aaron Altherr greeted reliever Jean Machi with a three-run homer. Machi then allowed a single to Herrera, a stolen base and committed an error on a pickoff throw. After Maikel Franco struck out, Machi walked Saunders and Joseph, but got Galvis to bounce out to end the rally, with Philly up 9-5.
  • With one out in the sixth, Gamel singled and Motter drew a walk. Seager singled to right to plate Gamel. Valencia flied out but Heredia reached on a error by Franco and Motter scored. Nelson Cruz pinch-hit for Dyson and hit a ground-ball single up the middle to bring in Seager and make it a one-run game again.
  • M’s tied it in the seventh. With one out, Segura hit a line-drive single, then raced home from first on Gamel’s double to the wall in left. Gamel then tried to advance on a grounder to short and was thrown out at third by Galvis.
  • The Phillies got a runner to third with one out in the eighth. Daniel Nava tried to score on a medium-deep fly to right, but Gamel’s throw beat him by 15 feet and he was out easily for the double play.

The Takeaway

Slugfests are fun when you win, but the real thing to watch for from this one is the injury to Cano. The Mariners are paper-thin already, losing arguable their best all-around hitter for any length of time would be devastating.

Tweet of the Game

Players of the Game

Hero: Ben Gamel. A career night for the guy. Raised his average to .362 with an OPS of 1.051. Obviously those won’t last the entire season, but could be insinuating himself into more playing time even when Mitch Haniger gets back.

Goat: Ariel Miranda. Whew. Vitcim of the small ballpark, yes. But lacked location or finesse and walked three of four leadoff hitters. Recipe for disaster.

Mariners Notes

Mariners acquired minor league right-handed pitcher Bryan Bonnell from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for the Mariners International Signing Slot No. 71. Bonnell, 23, is 0-2 with 4 saves and a 4.09 ERA in 9 relief appearances with High-A Charlotte in the Florida State League. In three minor league seasons the 6-foot-5, 210-pound right-hander is 6-5 with a 4.41 ERA (49 ER, 100.0 IP) with 94 strikeouts in 50 games, including one start. He was selected by Tampa in the 36th round of the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas…The M’s also traded minor league right-handed pitcher Casey Fien to the Philadelphia organization in exchange for cash considerations. Fien’s contract was outrighted to Tacoma on May 3.

Next Game

Seattle Mariners (16-17) at Philadelphia Phillies (13-183) at 10:05 a.m. RHP Yovani Gallardo (1-3, 4.46) vs. Zach Eflin (0-0, 2.42).

What others are saying (and writing)

You know, other than the first and fourth innings, when Philly scored four and five runs, respectively, the M’s pitching was pretty good in the 10-9 win. Which is sort of like saying other than the letter from the president, you had a pretty good Tuesday Mr. Comey. … Carlos Ruiz received a nice homecoming welcome in Philadelphia. Who knew the fans there could be nice? … The Mariners need pitching. So this name came up. … Cruz sat yesterday. No DH in a National League park. … Not like this is a surprise, but Jerry Dipoto made two trades yesterday.