Mariners ride early outburst to roll past Rox

May 30th, 2017

DENVER -- and homered as the Mariners won, 10-4, at Coors Field on Tuesday night, ending the Rockies' franchise record-tying streak of nine straight series without a loss.
Seager's fifth homer of the season, a two-run shot, keyed the Mariners' three-run second inning against Rockies lefty (3-5). Cano's leadoff shot in the seventh off Mike Dunn was measured by Statcast™ at an estimated 440 feet -- the Mariners' deepest homer of the season.
"Kyle's been awesome," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "He really swung the bat with authority. He probably could have had four or five home runs on this road trip. Today, he finally got one over the fence."
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Mariners lefty (5-2) pitched around four walks and three hits, but held the Rockies to two runs -- on DJ LeMahieu's two-run single in the fifth -- in five innings. Seattle's offense also was helped by 's four hits.

"Our pitching really hung in there," Servais said. "I was really happy. Miranda ran out of gas. Understanding the altitude here, he busted his butt down the line on a ground ball, and then he flies out and was almost on second base. He can really run. Unfortunately, not the greatest idea for pitchers all the time. It took a lot of gas out of his tank."
Anderson, who entered with a 2.55 ERA in his last four starts, coughed up six runs and 11 hits in five innings Tuesday and had nearly no command of any of his pitches.
"It just goes to show you no matter what you do, how good or bad you think you are, you've got to make good pitches, quality pitches," Anderson said. "That's how you get guys out.

"You don't get guys out in the middle. Hitters are just too good."
The loss and the Dodgers' 9-4 victory over the Cardinals pushed the Rockies out of first place in the National League West for the first time since May 2.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Compound misery:
Anderson has limited walks recently, and he had two on Tuesday. But his leadoff walk to set up Seager's shot to right-center and a 2-0 lead.
Third-inning escape: With the Mariners leading, 6-0, Trevor Story led off the bottom of the third with a double. But instead of letting the Rockies gain momentum, Miranda forced a flyout, struck out Anderson and worked an infield groundout from Charlie Blackmon -- who had taken him to the warning track in the top of the first.
 "It was one of those weird games where you kind of scratch your head -- one of those unsatisfied feelings," the Rockies' said. "But credit [Miranda]. He kept us off-balance, used his changeup well and was locating and getting ahead early. We never could get in rhythm."
QUOTABLE
"There's absolutely zero panic -- it's two games. We lose two in a row and [people believe] something's wrong. There's nothing wrong. People have bad days. Ours just happen to be on TV." -- Rockies first baseman , on the recent losses
"It gets contagious. Look at Segura. He had four hits today and could have easily had a couple of more. He gets the ball rolling, and we can all feed off of that. He just needs to get four hits every game, and we'll be pretty good." Seager, on the Mariners' 19 hits
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Before they dropped games Monday and Tuesday against the Mariners, the Rockies' last series loss was April 24-27, when they lost three of four against the Nationals. The last time the Rockies went nine series without losing one was May 21-June 21, 2007.
EXIT FIELD RIGHT
Cruz left the game in the middle of the second inning with right calf tightness. The Mariners' regular designated hitter started in right field for each of the two Interleague games at Coors Field. Cruz fielded a routine fly ball in the first inning and walked in his only at-bat, scoring when the next batter, Seager, homered.
"He should be fine tomorrow," Servais said. "I trust Cruzie, and he knows his value to the club. He came up after the second inning, when Seager hit the home run. He took off hard running right away, and he felt it, he said, 'Hey, Skip, I don't want to do anything stupid.' I said, 'Sounds good, we'll get Ben Gamel in there and he'll get us three hits.'"
Gamel was 3-for-4, finishing a homer shy of a cycle.
WHERE TRIPLES COME TO LIFE
Blackmon opened the Rockies' eighth with his eighth triple of the season on a bouncer down the right-field line that squirted free when Gamel tried to play it off the wall. Blackmon, who went into Tuesday second among outfielders in votes on the Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, needs just one more triple to match his career high, set in 2015. All of Blackmon's triples have come at Coors, where right field is deep and the ball can hug the fence in the corner rather than bounce true to the fielder.

UNDER REVIEW
With one out and Gamel on third in the top of the seventh, grounded to LeMahieu, who threw home to Hanigan. Gamel was ruled safe, making the score 8-2. Rockies manager Bud Black challenged the call, and it was overturned, as replays definitively showed that Hanigan made the tag before Gamel reached back to touch the plate with his left hand. Gamel was ruled out, keeping the score at 7-2.
Servais then issued his own challenge, claiming Hanigan violated the home plate collision rule. The review officials then ruled the out call to stand. Mike Zunino popped to short to end the inning in the next at-bat.

Hanigan turned his left ankle and was taken out of the game for pinch-hitter Tony Wolters in the bottom of the inning, but said afterward it was "no big deal." Black expects him available for Wednesday night's game at Seattle.
"There's a new rule put in a couple years ago, a catcher's not allowed to block the plate if they don't have the ball, and clearly in my opinion he did not have the ball, stuck his leg out and deflected Gamel's arm away from the plate," Servais said. "In my mind it was a no-brainer. He did not give him a lane to run in. That one shocked me. That is why the rule was designed. Otherwise, Gamel should just plow into the catcher and light him up. But the rule was put in place so that didn't happen. We have to get some clarification on that."
WHAT'S NEXT
Mariners:  comes off the disabled list in time for Wednesday's 7:10 p.m. PT tilt with the Rockies. He was 3-0 with a 1.43 ERA before going on the DL with a left forearm strain on May 5 (retroactive to May 3). He made a rehab start with Double-A Arkansas on Friday and allowed two runs on four hits while striking out five and walking none.
Rockies: Rookie righty (7-1, 3.19 ERA), who entered Tuesday's play tied for the National League lead in wins, will face the Mariners on Wednesday at Safeco Field at 8:10 p.m. MT.
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