Inside The Mariners

Seattle Mariners Fall Prey to San Diego Padres And Manny Machado's Historic Day

The Seattle Mariners allowed seven RBIs off three combined hits from Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. in a 7-3 loss against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.

Teren Kowatsch

Seattle Mariners right fielder Victor Robles reacts after an inning-ending double play during a game against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle Mariners right fielder Victor Robles reacts after an inning-ending double play during a game against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park. / Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
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SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners have had multiple instances of high-scoring games over the last week with double-digit run totals against the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals.

The San Diego Padres took over the roll of offensive juggernauts as franchise stalwarts Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. both homered to down Seattle 7-3 on Tuesday.

The loss dropped the Mariners to 73-72 on the season and kept them 4.5 games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West. Seattle also dropped to four games behind the Minnesota Twins for the third and final AL Wild Card spot.

"Certainly a tough one tonight," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Tuesday. "A lot of momentum swings early in the ball game. Back-and-forth quite a bit. ... Seemed like their home runs came with a couple guys on and our's were solos. But some great at-bats late in the game. Again, effort has been outstanding. Guys are just continuing to battle. Just came up a little short today."

As bad as the game ended, the Mariners started the contest well.

Cal Raleigh hit a solo home run to right field for his 30th long ball of the season — matching a single-season career-high — to give Seattle a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Raleigh's first-inning shot gave him 89 career home runs — the second-most for a catcher through their first four years in MLB history. Raleigh is only behind Mike Piazza (92) in that category.

Luke Raley gave the right field more love one inning later with his own solo homer that bolstered the Mariners' lead to 2-0.

Then the Padres came roaring back.

San Diego took advantage of a bad day from Seattle starter George Kirby. Tatis Jr. drew first blood against the 2023 All-Star pitcher with a three-run homer to center field that put the Padres up 3-2 in the top of the third.

That score held through the fifth inning.

Then Machado decided to make history.

The Padres third baseman hit his 164th career homer with San Diego in the top of the sixth. It was a two-run shot to center field that bolstered the Padres' lead to 5-2. It gave Machado the record for the most home runs all-time in San Diego history.

"I thought (Kirby) looked strong still," Wilson said. "I thought his fastball was good. I thought he came out with one of the better fastballs he's had in a while. And it just didn't go his way in the sixth. It was a tough inning for him."

Machado wasn't satisfied with just the homer and hit a single with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh that brought in two more runs. Machado's two hits gave him four RBIs on the night. His seventh-inning single gave the Padres a 7-2 lead.

The Mariners weren't quite out of it and loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, got another two on (one at second) in the eighth and had another runner at first in the ninth.

Seattle wasn't able to bring any of those runners home. J.P. Crawford had an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh before the bases were even loaded for the eventual final of 7-3.

The Mariners left eight runners stranded for the game and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. San Diego left six on base and went 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Despite how the game ended, Seattle still avoided a worst-case scenario. It's still within five games of the Wild Card and the AL West and there's eight more games left in its current homestead.

But managing just three runs off 10 hits is a rough way to lose no matter what a team's standing is.

The Mariners will get the chance to shake off Tuesday's loss during the final of the two-game set at 6:40 p.m. PT on Wednesday.

Bryan Woo will start for Seattle.

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Teren Kowatsch

TEREN KOWATSCH

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