*Photo from the Union Bulletin*
This game slipped away from the spotlight due to the return of the NFL, but I'm sorry if you didn't watch this game. Julio Rodriguez homered twice, Eugenio Suarez homered twice, and the Seattle Mariners rallied to defeat the Atlanta Braves with a 8-7 victory on Sunday afternoon in Seattle.
After dropping the first game of the series, the Mariners took the middle game on Saturday, and, in almost unbelievable fashion, won the finale on Sunday to win the series. They improved their record to 79-61 this season, and have won 7 of their last 10 games.
With the win, the Mariners moved into a tie with the Tampa Bay Rays for the top AL Wild Card spot, and their playoff odds are now at 99.8 percent, according to FanGraphs. The end of the game in particular was a roller coaster, or a seesaw, whatever you prefer, but the Mariners got in done.
Seattle manager Scott Servais said of the wild win that "This is about as big of one as we’ve had all year. We’ve had some big ones. A number of come-from-behind wins, but not from the deep depths of the valley to the top of the mountain in that short a span. It’s pretty awesome."
The rookie phenom Rodriguez started the scoring, hitting a solo home run in the first inning to put the Mariners ahead 1-0 early. In the top of the 4th, Austin Riley tied it with a solo shot of his own, but Adam Frazier hit a two run triple and Sam Haggerty hit an RBI single in the bottom half, putting the Mariners ahead by a 4-1 score. In the 5th, Suarez hit a solo homer to make it a 5-1 game.
In the 6th inning, JP Crawford made it 6-1 Mariners with an RBI double. Michael Harris answered in the 8th for the Braves with a solo homer to make it 6-2. In the top of the 9th, Harris homered again, hitting a 3 run home run to cut the deficit to 6-5. Robbie Grossman then put the Braves ahead 7-6 with a two run home run. In the bottom of the 9th, Rodriguez tied it with a one out solo homer, and Suarez ended it with a two out solo shot, making it a 8-7 walk off win for the Mariners.
Rodriguez talked about his view of the team, saying "I feel like everybody comes in every day to put the work in. I feel like everybody is always doing the best for the team. I feel like we compete and we just show up. I feel like we have the chance, we have the guys to compete against anybody, and that’s why I was confident that we’d be able to come through in that last inning, because I know what we’ve got on this team."
Marco Gonzales got the start for the Mariners, allowing one run on two hits in 6 innings pitched. Matt Brash came on for the 7th, with Erik Swanson and Andres Munoz pitching the 8th. Diego Castillo got the first two outs of the 9th while allowing 3 runs, with Paul Sewald blowing the save with two runs.
Jake Odorizzi started for the Braves, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits in just 3 2/3 innings. Collin McHugh pitched 1 1/3 innings, followed by one inning from Tyler Matzek. Jackson Stephens and Dylan Lee pitched an inning each before Kenley Jansen blew his 3rd save in his last 7 appearances.
Jansen said of his recent funk that "Deep down it hurts because you feel like the offense definitely battled through it all the way to the end, and unfortunately the result wasn’t what we wanted. Stuff like that happens. You can call it unlucky, whatever, but I can’t let this bother me. I’ve been through this situation so many times. It can look ugly right now, but I know who I am deep inside."
Up next, the Braves get back in action against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night, with Spencer Strider in line to start. After a day off on Monday, the Mariners host the San Diego Padres on Tuesday, with Logan Gilbert getting the start.
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