MIAMI -- Things were not looking good for the Mariners early on Tuesday night, trailing by four runs and struggling to do anything against the red-hot Marlins.
But in the fifth inning, Seattle started to get things in gear and rally from that deficit, eventually taking the lead in the top of the eighth only to see the Marlins show some magic of their own.
In the process, Seattle’s bid for a three-game winning streak ended after the Marlins tied the score in the bottom of the eighth, before pulling out a 6-5 win in the 10th.
"A loss is a loss, and no one likes to lose," said catcher Cal Raleigh, who helped fuel Seattle’s comeback with a pair of doubles in the latter innings of the game.
“We fought and clawed to get back in it, but you don’t want to put yourselves in a hole like that. You want to be able to keep leads when you have them. I don’t think anyone is taking this as a moral victory."
The three-game series continues Wednesday at loanDepot park after both teams flew in from the West Coast.
Seattle has won five of its past seven; the Marlins have now won four straight and 10 of their past 13.
“Tough way to start the road trip," said Mariners manager Dan Wilson, whose team has a Sunshine State road trip before the All-Star break, with three in Miami and three against the host Tampa Bay Rays.
“I thought our guys fought hard tonight. … We started to crawl our way back, they kept fighting. We created some chances. We got some guys on base, put ourselves in some good positions. We were able to capitalize on some of them."
Miami was in control of the game early, scoring two in the second -- one off a blast from Owen Caissie that went off the upper-deck facade in right -- before pulling ahead 4-0 by the end of the fourth.
Starter Max Meyer, who was selected to his first All-Star Game, gave up his first baserunner with one out in the fourth -- but the Mariners would soon get to him.
“I thought Meyer threw the ball pretty well in the beginning,” Wilson said. “We knew he was going to throw a lot of sliders. He did, but he had pretty good command of it. He kept us pretty quiet for a while. Finally, we were able to get to him."
Down 4-0 in the fifth, Raleigh led off with a double then scored on a sacrifice fly from Luke Raley. Cole Young made it 4-2 with a home run into the right field corner.
Seattle failed to push across a run in the sixth and seventh despite having heat on the Marlins.
In the sixth, Miami pulled Meyer after the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs. Seattle failed to score after being set down in consecutive at-bats.
In the seventh, Raley led off with a double but was stranded at third.
“We kept putting pressure on them, had some good at-bats," Raleigh said. “Good job doing that, but we still came out on the wrong side of things which is unfortunate. But, we know we can keep clawing back. That’s a good sign."
Seattle did a lot of damage in the eighth, scoring three runs, with Josh Naylor charging home with the go-ahead run with two outs off a wild pitch from Miami reliever Calvin Faucher.
The tide had seemingly turned Seattle’s way -- and the Mariners were six outs away from that third straight win.
Except, the Marlins spoiled things by tying the score in the bottom of the eighth on a leadoff home run to left from pinch-hitter Heriberto Hernández.
After a scoreless ninth, Seattle failed to retake the lead in the 10th -- with Miami winning it on a drive to the base of the right-field wall from Jakob Marsee that scored Xavier Edwards from third with one out.
“The close ones like that are a little bit tougher to deal with," Wilson said. “But it was a good fight from beginning to end. Just not enough to get over the hump."
Wilson said that outfielder Randy Arozarena was “in a lot of pain" after taking a pitch off his left elbow in the eighth inning.
Arozarena did stay in the game, however, and singled in the ninth.
“I think he got hit in the same spot he did the other night," Wilson said. “We’ll see how he is tomorrow."