Mariners fall to White Sox in 11 innings after Paul Sewald’s second blown save of season

SEATTLE – This one … this one might sting for a bit.

Two outs away from a feel-good victory in front of a sold-out home crowd, the Mariners couldn’t come up with a clutch hit late and couldn’t close out the Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.

Chicago’s Zach Remillard, making his major league debut as an injury replacement in the fifth inning, delivered two clutch hits late to give the White Sox a 4-3 victory in 11 innings and hand the Mariners one of their most demoralizing losses of the season.

“There’s some games where you just tip your cap (to the other team),” Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford said inside a quiet clubhouse afterward. “But today was one of those days where we should have won that game.”

Remillard drove in the tying run off Paul Sewald with one out in the ninth inning, just the second blown save of the season (in 15 tries) for the Mariners closer.

With the score still tied at 3 in the 11th , Remillard came through again, this time with a sharp single to right-center off Tayler Saucedo with two outs. That drove in Elvis Andrus from third for the go-ahead run.

White Sox manager Pedro Grifol called it his team’s best win of the season. The White Sox are 31-41.

It has to rank as one of the worst for the Mariners, who, after a promising start to this homestand, have again dipped below .500 at 34-35.

“This one hurts a little bit,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We let it slip away.”

The culprit this time, as it’s been most times, has been the Mariners’ inability to manufacture consistent production up and down the lineup, particularly with runners on base.

Crawford homered on the first pitch thrown by White Sox starter Lucas Giolito in the bottom of the first , and the Mariners scored another run later in the first to jump out to a 2-0 lead.

A sign of an impending breakthrough, perhaps?

Hardly.

More like a breaking point.

After touching up Giolito for three runs on eight hits (and three walks), the Mariners were held hitless over the final six innings, striking out eight times in their final 18 at-bats.

The Mariners were 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners on base – including the automatic runners in the 10th and 11th .

One night earlier, in a 3-2 victory over the White Sox on Friday, the Mariners were 2 for 15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners.

“We’re getting runners on (but) we’re not getting the clutch hit to bring guys in,” Crawford said. “If we want to be good, if we want to be better, we’ve got to start dialing in and getting those runs in by any means.”

In the bottom of the 11th, the Mariners couldn’t muster anything against White Sox reliever Jesse Scholtens.

Eugenio Suarez, the automatic runner to open the inning, never budged from second base.

Scholtens struck out Tom Murphy for the first out.

After an Andrus error on a AJ Pollock grounder, Scholtens got Jose Caballero to pop out for the second out and got Crawford to ground out to second to end it.

Julio Rodriguez, the automatic runner to open the 10th , stole third base (and Teoscar Hernandez stole second) with one out.

On the next pitch, pinch hitter Cal Raleigh struck out swinging through an Aaron Bummer slider, who then got Suarez to ground out to end the Mariners’ last best chance.

“Their bullpen shut us down,” Servais said.

The Mariners, in turn, used all of their best relievers for the second night in a row. Servais’ bullpen options could be limited Sunday as the Mariners turn to rookie right-hander Bryce Miller to try to win the series.

“We rely so heavily on our bullpen,” Servais said. “When when you do that day in, day out, you can’t fault the effort or execution.”

Young flame-thrower Andres Munoz, activated off the injured list earlier this month, threw on back-to-back days for the first time this season, something the Mariners had hoped to avoid doing until later in the season.

Munoz, as usual, pitched a dominant eighth, following shut-down stuff from Matt Brash and Justin Topa.

Sewald, in to protect a 3-2 lead, had a rare hiccup in the ninth.

Andrus hit a leadoff single to left. With one out, Sewald walked Andrew Benintendi on a 3-2 fastball that was nowhere near the zone. That might be the one pitch Sewald would most want back.

The next batter, Remillard, turned on a 92-mph fastball and leaked just enough middle-in. He hit it through the hole, past a diving Crawford, to score Andrus and tie the score at 3.

Remillard entered the game as a replacement for the injured Tim Anderson (shoulder) in the fifth. He is the second player in MLB history with three hits and a walk off the bench in his debut, joining St. Louis’ Ernie White on May 9, 1940.

Mariners starter Logan Gilbert had a nice rebound performance Saturday after posting his worst start of the season last weekend in Anaheim. He allowed two runs in 5⅓ innings, scattering six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

“It was kind of a grind today,” Gilbert said.

“But I was able to bounce back and make some pitches when I needed to.”