Healy drives in 5 as Mariners cool off Rockies

First baseman breaks out of 0-for-13 slump to fuel victory

July 8th, 2018

SEATTLE -- The Mariners hadn't been getting many hits with runners in scoring position lately, and hadn't been getting many hits at all.
But the Seattle first baseman put an end to both trends on Sunday, lining a two-RBI double in the first inning before clobbering a three-run shot in the sixth to push the Mariners to a 6-4 win over the Rockies, whose five-game winning streak came to an end.
"That felt great; it felt like a monkey was lifted off my back," Healy said "It's awesome to come through, especially early in the ballgame there."

Healy entered Sunday mired in an 0-for-13 slump, but broke out with some hard contact. His double flew through the infield at 108.3 mph and the homer travelled at 109.1 mph, per Statcast™.
"You have to be patient," manager Scott Servais said. "There's gonna be some stretches where it doesn't look so pretty, but he made a really good adjustment in the ballgame today to get on a fastball early and get the breaking ball late in the game for the big homer."
threw 80 pitches in six innings. The Seattle starter surrendered four runs on three round-trippers -- solo shots to Charlie Blackmon and and a two-run homer to that gave the Rockies a brief lead in the top of the sixth.

LeBlanc said he thought he made mistakes against Blackmon and Gonzalez, but that the pitch Story took out of the ballpark was a good one.
"For righties to take one out to right field here, I'll let them take their chances," LeBlanc said. "It didn't sound the same way that the other two sounded, but he's a strong guy. All three of those guys are strong guys. There's no cheap opposite-field home runs here, so if he wants to try to hit the ball in right field against me, I'll let him take his shot."
After retired the only three batters he faced in the seventh, Alex Colome and combined to strike out the final six batters of the game in order. Diaz earned his Major League-leading 35th save, inching closer to the all-time mark before the All-Star break of 38, set by a decade ago.

Outside of Healy, the Mariners' struggles with timely hitting continued. The rest of the lineup went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Sunday after the team entered the game with one hit in its last 12 at-bats with RISP.
"We've been struggling a little bit with runners in scoring position," Servais said. "So [Healy] was the guy up there today. Right man, right spot."
SOUND SMART
LeBlanc, who hasn't lost a start since 2014, has yet to lose in a Mariners uniform. He improved to 8-0 with a 3.80 ERA in 29 games (21 starts) across his two stints with Seattle.
UP NEXT
The Mariners will get a day off on Monday before making their first trip to Anaheim this season. Mariners hurler Mike Leake will face off Tuesday at 7:07 p.m. PT against in a rematch of last Wednesday's tilt, in which Richards came off the DL and bested Leake to snap the Mariners' season-high eight-game winning streak.