SEATTLE -- Mike Leake is still getting paid in part by the Cardinals, and the veteran right-hander nearly made his former team pay further on Wednesday, throwing 7 2/3 scoreless innings before St. Louis rallied with five runs in the top of the ninth off the Mariners’ bullpen for a 5-2 win at T-Mobile Park.
Leake was acquired by Seattle in August of 2017 in a deal where the Cardinals agreed to pick up $5 million of his salary in each of the remaining three years, leaving the Mariners responsible for $11 million per season through 2020.
Leake has been an effective innings eater for the Mariners since his arrival and had gone 20-18 with a 4.28 ERA in 53 starts, but was at the very top of his game in his first time facing the Cardinals since his departure.
After a leadoff infield single in the first, Leake retired 11 batters in a row and wound up limiting the Cardinals to five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in a 96-pitch gem. With the no-decision, he remains 7-7 with a 4.32 ERA on the season.
But the Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against rookie reliever Austin Adams, who had recorded 12 1/3 scoreless innings in his previous 11 outings, then pushed across five runs following closer Roenis Elias’ entrance on an RBI single by Dexter Fowler, a sacrifice fly by Yadier Molina and a three-run blast by pinch-hitter Tommy Edman.
Leake left without talking to the media postgame.
“Mike was outstanding,” manager Scott Servais said. “He threw a lot of cutters. Certainly pitching against one of your former teams, you’re always fired up to go after them, and I thought he did a really good job.”
But Servais said he didn’t want Leake facing the top of the Cardinals’ order for a fourth time and didn’t hesitate in going to Adams, who got the final out in the eighth before running into trouble in the ninth.
“Not too many starters are going to go through it four times,” Servais said. "Austin has been one of the best right-handed relievers over the last three-four weeks, but we just couldn’t finish them off.
“I think the last inning we were ahead of seven of eight hitters, we had 0-2 or 1-2 counts, and couldn’t put them away,” he said. “You have to give those guys some credit. They found a way to get a bat on the ball. It’s disappointing because we did play a good ballgame, we just couldn’t finish it off.”
Adams gave up singles to Jose Martinez and Goldschmidt, sandwiched around a strikeout of Paul DeJong. But former Mariner prospect Tyler O’Neill worked him for a walk to load the bases after a close call on what could have been strike three, and Elias wound up suffering his second blown save in 13 opportunities since taking over as closer.
“I just couldn’t execute that 1-2 pitch,” Adams said. “I got ahead of guys, I just couldn’t get that one pivotal pitch.”
The Mariners have lost five of their last six in falling to 38-52. The Cardinals pulled back to .500 at 42-42 with just their second win in the past eight games.
Moore in the middle of things
Rookie utility man Dylan Moore, making his sixth start of the season in left field, got Seattle on the board with a solo homer in the fifth off Adam Wainwright, and the Mariners scored again in the sixth when Domingo Santana singled, went to third on a base hit by Daniel Vogelbach and scampered home on a wild pitch by reliever Tyler Webb.
The 411-foot homer was Moore’s fourth of the season as he continues finding different ways to contribute.
“Trying to make the most of my opportunities,” said the 26-year-old. “Sometimes they come few and far between, and I want to make every single one of them count, but not put too much pressure on any one at-bat either. For me, it’s one at-bat and if it doesn’t go my way, move on to the next one quickly.”
Moore has primarily been an infielder in his pro career, but he’s become a versatile defender and made an excellent running catch to haul in a foul ball down the line to get Leake out of the seventh and almost pulled off a huge play when he hauled in Molina’s line shot for the second out in the ninth and tried to throw out Paul Goldschmidt tagging from third on a throw that just tailed away from catcher Tom Murphy.
“I overran it just a little,” Moore said. “It was hit a little harder than I thought and I kind of had to jump and adjust. By the time I got my feet back under me and threw it, it was on line until the very end.”
“He made a heck of a play on the foul ball,” Servais said. “Dylan is really athletic and gets good jumps out there for a guy who hasn’t played that much. His speed makes up for it. He’s a baseball player. It doesn’t matter where you put him, he does a good job for you.”