Ninth Inning Rally Falls Short For Seattle Mariners Against Pittsburgh Pirates
The Seattle Mariners were coming off a three-game sweep against the Detroit Tigers going into Friday. Unfortunately it seemed like the funk Seattle was in against Detroit followed the team to Pittsburgh.
The Mariners' downtrend continued with a 5-3 loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday. The Pirates snapped a 10-game losing streak in the process and dropped Seattle down to 63-60 on the season.
What was originally thought as a potential interleague pitching duel between Seattle ace Logan Gilbert and Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes quickly turned into a teeter-totter of momentum.
The Mariners drew first blood against Skenes. Luke Raley hit a 412-foot, two-RBI home run to right field in the top of the fourth to put Seattle up 2-0.
Rails with a rocket 🚀 pic.twitter.com/kfMAbU0zPw
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 16, 2024
But — on cue given the Mariners recent luck — Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit an RBI double to pull the Pirates to within one in the bottom of the fourth. Pittsburgh pulled ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth after a solo home run from Yasmani Grandal and an RBI single from Andrew McCutchen.
Oneil Cruz bought Pittsburgh a little bit of breathing room with a two-run double in the bottom of the seventh to bolster the Pirates lead to 5-2.
Gilbert was pulled by the time Cruz came to the plate. He allowed four runs (three earned) in 6.1 innings pitched. Seattle made several miscues that made it easier for Pittsburgh to fight its way back. The Mariners committed three errors in the game — two in the fifth inning and one in the sixth.
Even with Seattle's miscues, it wasn't quite done fighting.
Jorge Polanco hit a solo home run to center field in the top of the ninth to cut the Pirates lead down to the eventual final of 5-3.
Raley singled and had Dominic Canzone, Mitch Haniger and Justin Turner hitting behind him with no outs. Haniger and Turner were pinch hitting for Josh Rojas and Leo Rivas, respectively. All three struck out swinging and left Raley stranded at first to end the game.
It was just the latest in a long, disappointing pattern for the Mariners — squandered early leads and missed opportunities by the offense.
Seattle has Skenes out of the way. But every loss from this point forward will have that much more weight in the American League playoff race. It's time for the Mariners to hunker down and get it done.
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