SEATTLE -- The Mariners needed every insurance run they tacked on in late innings Friday night as their three-run lead entering the ninth turn into a one-run win over the Brewers.
"We haven't done that always this year," manager Scott Servais said of adding on to a lead. "We just pressured on them every inning."
Seattle scored seven runs on 11 hits, three of which were home runs in a 7-6 win. They did strand baserunners, leaving 12 as a team, but were 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Why was Friday different?
"Just the quality at-bats," Servais said. "Knowing that we had to keep going, keep pushing ."

The circumstances weren't in their favor, either. They had arrived in Seattle from Anaheim at around 4 a.m., Servais said. The opposing starting pitcher, Brent Suter, was making his Major League debut, so they weren't familiar with him. Their bullpen was taxed. 
Kyle Seager was the first to hit Suter with a home run, and it didn't come until the fourth inning. But the hits kept rolling from there.

"Especially [against] guys that we've never faced, it's kind of tough to get going," Nelson Cruz said. "You don't know what to expect, you know? Maybe the second at-bat you figure it out and you ask your teammates, because we've never seen him."
Even with a 4-1 lead after five innings, the Mariners kept chipping away. In the sixth inning, Cruz took advantage of shortstop Orlando Arcia's throwing error that put Ketel Marte on base by scoring Marte with a line-drive single. In the seventh, Leonys Martin walked and stole second to get in scoring position for Marte. Marte doubled, and Martin scored.
Adam Lind scored what ended up being the winning run in the eighth on a solo home run. At the time, it put the Mariners ahead, 7-4, and proved to be the key insurance run.