Chase DeLauter homered twice and Jose Ramirez broke a tie with a two-run double with two outs in the seventh inning as the Cleveland Guardians defeated the host Seattle Mariners 6-4 in the teams’ season opener Thursday night.
Seattle’s Dominic Canzone hit two solo homers and Brendan Donovan and Luke Raley added one apiece.
Guardians reliever Connor Brogdon (1-0) got the victory and Cade Smith pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
With the score tied at 3-3 in the seventh, Brayan Rocchio lined a one-out single to center off Gabe Speier (0-1). An out later, DeLauter singled to left. Ramirez then lined a low breaking pitch over the head of Mariners left fielder Randy Arozarena, scoring both runners.
Canzone led off the bottom of the inning with a homer to deep right-center field but the Mariners were unable to score again.
DeLauter, playing in his first regular-season game after making his MLB debut in last year’s playoffs, added a solo shot to right-center leading off the ninth for the final margin.
With one out in the top of the first, DeLauter hit a towering shot to right that just cleared the fence.
Donovan led off the bottom of the inning with a drive that just stayed inside the right-field foul pole. He was making his Mariners debut after being acquired from St. Louis in the offseason.
Seattle took a 2-1 lead on Canzone’s homer to right-center with two outs in the second.
The Guardians regained the lead in the fifth. Rhys Hoskins led off by grounding a single to left and advanced to third on Daniel Schneemann’s double to left-center. With one out, Rocchio doubled down the right-field line to make it 3-2.
The Mariners responded as Raley led off the bottom of the inning with a liner that just cleared the fence in right.
The starting pitchers had similar lines, but neither factored into the decision.
The Guardians’ Tanner Bibee pitched five innings and gave up three runs on four hits. The right-hander walked two and struck out seven.
Logan Gilbert went 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits for the Mariners. The righty didn’t walk a batter and fanned seven.
–Field Level Media
