SEATTLE -- For all that’s gone maddeningly wrong for the Mariners on this frustrating homestand, they escaped from a hold-your-breath ninth inning on Wednesday.
Backup catcher Jhonny Pereda blasted his first career homer during the seventh to push Seattle ahead, then Randy Arozarena upped the ante with a two-run insurance shot moments later -- lifting the club to a much-needed 5-4 victory over the White Sox at T-Mobile Park.
“That was so special,” Pereda said. “As soon as I hit the ball, I was like, 'Oh my god, my first homer!' I couldn't believe it.”
With the win, and in the immediate aftermath of a brutal defeat on Tuesday, the Mariners won the series against up-and-coming Chicago.
Yet, they had to stave off another late-inning scare when the White Sox clawed back with a run in both the eighth and ninth innings.
“The priority here is to get us playing our consistent baseball,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said, “and getting out and feeling like every night, we're putting the [at-bats] up, we're getting the pitching we want, and getting into a little bit of a flow and a bit of a rhythm.”
Essentially, the Mariners needed every run to reach the finish line, as Eduard Bazardo fell into an eighth-inning jam that ceded a run -- which would’ve tied the game without Arozarena’s big blast -- then José A. Ferrer gave up a leadoff homer to pinch-hitting Randal Grichuk in the ninth, which would’ve put them behind without Arozarena’s fifth of the season.
Ferrer, however, was able to zero back in to strike out Munetaka Murakami, Derek Hill and Colson Montgomery to send Seattle fans home happy -- albeit while still catching their breath. And he was pitching for the third day in a row, for the second time this season.
“Not an easy inning by any stretch,” Wilson said. “Grichuk has done that to us before, and did it again today. I didn't think that ball was going out, but it did. But then after that, it was just one after another. I thought he pounded the zone.”
Bazardo and Ferrer were among four relievers that the Mariners needed to close it out, capped by Ferrer locking down his third save. The club preferred to avoid using Andrés Muñoz after he gave up consecutive RBI singles in the ninth inning the night prior.
The good news for the Mariners’ bullpen is that it’s getting healthy. The club activated Matt Brash on Wednesday morning, and the setup man pitched a scoreless seventh and earned the win; he did take a comebacker off his glove hand but was OK. Gabe Speier, meanwhile, made his first rehab outing at High-A Everett later that night.
The bullpen’s efforts came after Emerson Hancock lasted just five innings. Hancock was on the hook for two Chicago runs, but things could’ve gotten much worse in a dicey first inning, when he walked the bases loaded with no outs but remarkably escaped unscathed.
Pitching aside, how bad did they need the long ball on Wednesday? The Mariners advanced to 21-13 when hitting a homer, compared to a 3-14 record when they haven’t cleared the fence.