SEATTLE — Frustrated and shut down by All-Star Sonny Gray for the primary 4 innings, the Seattle Mariners modified their strategy to resolve one of many high pitchers within the American League.
Jarred Kelenic’s two-run single capped Seattle’s huge fifth inning in opposition to Gray, and Eugenio Suárez added a two-run homer within the seventh because the Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins 7-6 on Monday evening.
The Mariners overcame a shaky first few innings on the mound from Logan Gilbert at hand Gray his second straight loss and snap the Twins‘ three-game win streak popping out of the All-Star break.
“I thought the quality of at-bat got better as the game went on,” Seattle supervisor Scott Servais mentioned. “It didn’t start off so good and Sonny Gray is really good. But after we made a few adjustments, understanding that you’re not going to hit the long ball off Sonny Gray. You’ve got to take your singles, work your walks and we were able to do that and put a big inning together.”
Minnesota made it attention-grabbing within the ninth when Max Kepler hit a three-run homer with two outs off reliever Ty Adcock to drag inside 7-6. Seattle nearer Paul Sewald entered and struck out Ryan Jeffers for his nineteenth save.
Gray cruised by way of 4 innings however fell aside within the fifth as Seattle despatched 9 batters to the plate and scored 4 occasions. Tesocar Hernández began the rally with a one-out double, Jose Caballero had an RBI single on a two-strike pitch and Julio Rodríguez laid off a number of borderline pitches to attract a stroll with the bases loaded that tied the sport at 2-all.
PHOTOS: Mariners get clutch 2-out hits from Kelenic and Suárez in a 7-6 win over the Twins
Kelenic adopted by combating off an inside fastball and dropping it into shallow left discipline to attain a pair and break the tie.
“I was just trying to stay middle, the other way,” Kelenic mentioned. “I wasn’t trying to hit a grand slam there. It wasn’t necessary. I was just trying to put the ball in play and like you said, it wasn’t crushed by any means, but it got the job done.”
Gray (4-4) wasn’t in a position to get by way of the sixth and his outing ended after a wild pitch that allowed Cal Raleigh to attain from third. Gray allowed 5 runs, 5 hits, walked 4 and struck out 5. In his final begin earlier than the break, he was knocked round for six runs by Baltimore.
“He didn’t have the feel for those breaking balls that he usually has and that’s what I think led to what we watched in the last couple of innings,” Twins supervisor Rocco Baldelli mentioned.
Suárez hit his twelfth homer with two outs within the seventh off reliever Oliver Ortega after Kelenic’s single stored the inning going.
Gilbert (8-5) was the AL participant of the week previous to the All-Star Game after two terrific begins, together with a five-hit shutout of San Francisco and 7 innings of one-run ball in opposition to the Astros.
But the sharpness from these two stars wasn’t there in opposition to the Twins. Gilbert labored exhausting to get by way of three innings on 71 pitches, throwing 26 within the first. Consecutive doubles from Michael A. Taylor and Carlos Correa, and Alex Kirilloff’s sacrifice fly gave the Twins a 2-0 lead.
Gilbert settled right down to get by way of the fifth with no extra harm. He struck out 5 and walked one.
“I felt a little out of sync not making pitches consistently,” Gilbert mentioned. “Sometimes I’d make a good pitch. Sometimes it’d get away from me a little bit, where I feel like the last few weeks I’ve kind of been in a good place with that.”
Joey Gallo hit his seventeenth homer within the sixth off Mariners reliever Gabe Speier.
STUMBLING DOUBLE
Kepler tried to get a rally going for Minnesota within the fourth in barely unconventional style. He lined a shot to proper discipline for what ought to have been a straightforward double. But he appeared to journey over his bat leaving the batters’ field, tumbled to the bottom and needed to hustle to get into second base with a headfirst slide.
UP NEXT
Twins: RHP Bailey Ober (5-4, 2.61 ERA) has pitched no less than six innings and allowed three earned runs or fewer in his previous 5 begins. In his final two, Ober has allowed one earned run in 13 innings with 13 strikeouts.
Mariners: Rookie RHP Bryan Woo (1-1, 3.63) makes his first begin after the All-Star break. Woo threw six innings in every of his last two begins earlier than the break and allowed a complete of three earned runs.
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