Weston Wilson and Randy Arozarena each went deep in Seattle’s four-run fourth inning Sunday afternoon, and the Mariners salvaged one win on their six-game Florida road trip by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 8-2 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Having entered Sunday with 12 runs on the road swing, the Mariners tallied three times in the second before adding four more on the home runs to end their season-high-tying five-game losing streak.
J.P. Crawford went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs, a run and a walk. Josh Naylor reached base three times on a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
Starter Emerson Hancock left in the second inning after suffering a hand injury in the first. He did not allow a hit over 1 2/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts and a walk.
Jose A. Ferrer (2-1) tossed 1 1/3 innings of one-hit ball while fanning two, including a key strikeout of All-Star slugger Junior Caminero.
The American League East-leading Rays retired former third baseman Evan Longoria’s No. 3 in a pregame ceremony. They only managed four hits as they were 4-3 on the homestand.
Jonathan Aranda homered to reach 64 RBIs, while Yandy Diaz was 2-for-4 with a run.
Ian Seymour (6-2) surrendered six runs (five earned) on six hits in 3 1/3 frames with three punchouts and three walks.
Owning an 0-5 record and 2-for-38 with runners in scoring position in Florida, the M’s crafted their best offensive frame of the series by sending three runs across early.
Victor Robles’ sacrifice fly plated Naylor, and Crawford looped a two-run double down the left field line to score Mitch Garver and Cole Young.
Hancock, who barehanded a hard comebacker by Diaz in the first, battled a finger issue and signaled to the staff in the bottom of the second. The right-hander then removed himself in place of Ferrer.
With two outs in the third, Ferrer yielded Diaz’s single and hit Aranda before fanning Caminero, who got caught looking in a full count on a 101-mph sinker on the 10th offering of the at-bat.
Wilson jumped on a 1-2 sweeper from Seymour in the fourth and sent it out to left for the right fielder’s second homer. Arozarena sliced a Cole Sulser sweeper to right-center for his 11th homer, a three-run blast, to push it to 7-0.
Aranda slashed an opposite-field shot to left, his 14th, to spoil the shutout chance in the eighth, but Crawford doubled in a run the next frame.
–Field Level Media
