Mariners come from behind and walk off Twins in 10th

Minnesota drops series opener despite another stellar start from Bailey Ober.

Minnesota Twins starter Bailey Ober (17) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on June 28, 2024. / Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports

Cal Raleigh grounded into a fielder's choice to plate the winning run in the 10th inning as the Seattle Mariners mounted a late comeback to beat the Twins 3-2 in their series opener Friday in Seattle.

While Twins reliever Cole Sands got the first out of the 10th inning, Raleigh hit a chopper back to Sands and his throw to home plate was off the mark, allowing automatic runner J.P. Crawford to score the winning run. The Twins went down in order in the top of the inning.

The Mariners tied the game at 2-2 in the eighth inning when Luke Raley was able to score on a throwing error from third baseman Jose Miranda, whose throw off a grounder got past first baseman Carlos Santana. Seattle had runners on first and third as Twins reliever Griffin Jax issued a leadoff walk to Mitch Haniger before Josh Rojas hit a single to right field the next at-bat.

But Jhoan Duran — despite running into some trouble in the ninth inning — was able to keep the Mariners off the board in the frame to preserve a 2-2 tie and force extra innings.

Carlos Correa, who exited Thursday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks after being hit in the arm by a pitch, quickly demonstrated the wrist would not be an issuing moving forward, hitting a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth inning that gave the Twins (45-37) a 2-1 advantage.

Correa's home run marked the 17th straight game in which the Twins have homered.

Scoring on Correa's homer was Willi Castro, who reached after being hit by a pitch from Mariners starter Logan Gilbert. Castro later extended his hit streak to 11 games with an eighth-inning single.

The Mariners (47-37) took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning when Bailey Ober issued a two-out walk to Mitch Haniger before Josh Rojas hit an RBI double to right field the next at-bat.

But that was all the damage Ober would allow in what was quite the follow-up performance from Ober, who pitched a complete game in his previous outing, a 10-2 win over the Oakland A's on Saturday.  

Ober allowed just the one run off two hits while fanning nine across six innings.

But Gilbert also pitched a strong game, allowing just two runs off four hits while fanning three across six innings. Ryne Stanek, who pitched the 10th innin for the Mariners, picked up the victory to improve to 5-1. Sands took the loss and is now 2-1 on the season.

The Twins and Mariners meet for the second of their three-game series at 9:10 p.m. Saturday.