After recent surge, D-backs face a daunting challenge in 10-inning loss to Mariners

SEATTLE -- For the first time in a while, there was no victory to celebrate in the Diamondbacks clubhouse Friday night. No light show like in the clubhouse when they're home or music playing when they're on the road.

A team that has become accustomed to almost nothing but winning over the past two weeks went about their postgame business quietly following a 7-6 loss in 10 innings to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.

Arizona had won 11 of its previous 13 games, all of which came against the National League's worst two teams in the Rockies and Giants.

They face a different challenge this weekend in the Pacific Northwest, facing a Mariners team predicted by many to make it to the World Series. And while Seattle got off to a slow start, it has picked up the pace of late and entered the game in first place in the AL West.

"We knew coming up here these games were going to be a dogfight," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.

And indeed, Friday night was a real battle, even if it didn't look that way at the beginning.

The Mariners got off to a good start when J.P. Crawford led off the bottom of the first with a homer, his first of two on the night, and the Mariners built a 5-1 lead through five innings with right-hander George Kirby keeping the Diamondbacks in check.

In the sixth, though, something clicked for Arizona as Gabriel Moreno smoked a two-run double to left-center to chase Kirby from the game.

Ildemaro Vargas and Jose Fernandez added RBIs later in the frame, and suddenly the game was tied at 5.

"That’s how we play," shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said. "Taking good pitches, putting the ball in play, making good contact. Corbin [Carroll] started it, and we followed it. Moreno took a great at-bat. That’s our identity. We’ve got to continue to play like that."

The Mariners did manage to take the lead back in the bottom half of the inning on a Luke Raley homer, but the Diamondbacks tied the game in the ninth off Seattle closer Andrés Muñoz.

The Diamondbacks left six runners on in innings seven through nine, pressuring the Mariners' high-leverage relievers without delivering a knockout blow.

"I was proud of the way our guys responded to the early deficit, and we tied the score, and we had some productive at-bats," Lovullo said. "We just couldn't get a meaningful hit, or, you know, big slug at the right time to break this game open. And sometimes that's the difference between a win and a loss."

Zac Gallen allowed five runs over five innings, all of which came on home runs.

"It's tough," Gallen said of the loss. "I mean, offense scores six runs, it should be good enough to win. It starts with me. I was just kind of pitching behind in counts all night, just predictable [pitch] sequences, kind of just exacerbated some damage there. I felt like, just from a how I felt standpoint, I felt like the ball was coming out of my hand good, just didn't really execute."