Jake Fraley was showered on opening night three months ago when he walked with the bases loaded for the first of the Seattle Mariners’ extra-inning victories and on Friday, which the club dubbed “re-opening night,” Fraley was once again the recipient of a game-winning celebration after yet another extra-inning win for the surging Mariners, who beat the Texas Rangers 5-4.
Fraley’s single with one out in the 10th inning scored Jake Bauers with the winning run as Seattle improved to 10-1 in extra innings this season.
Nearly four-and-a-half hours after the first pitch, Fraley chopped a grounder off Texas reliever Taylor Hearn (2-3) into right field and set off another wild celebration for the Mariners on the night T-Mobile Park was at full capacity for the first time since 2019.
Photo: AFP
Seattle won for the ninth time in 12 games, improved to 19-7 in one-run games and have won 13 straight overall at home against the Rangers.
“To be able to put on a game like that for all the fans of Seattle for this being the first day, it was huge,” said Fraley, who also homered.
Anthony Misiewicz (3-3) worked a perfect 10th to earn the victory, including a strikeout of Nate Lowe on the 12th pitch of the at-bat.
However, it never should have reached extras if not for sloppy defense.
Seattle’s third error of the night proved costly as third baseman Ty France’s errant throw with one out in the ninth allowed Eli White to reach second base.
White scored on Jonah Heim’s RBI double to deep center field to tie the game four minutes after it seemed that Seattle were on the verge of another comeback victory.
“It wasn’t our cleanest game, but we had a chance at the end and our guys executed and got it done,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
The Mariners scored twice in the eighth on Luis Torrens’ solo home run and J.P. Crawford’s two-out single that scored Fraley from second base. It was the third hit of the night for Crawford and gave Seattle a 4-3 lead.
Torrens’ homer was his sixth in his past 12 games.
“That was by far one of the coolest moments of my life on a baseball field. I’ve never had the whole stadium chanting my name. It was really cool,” Crawford said. “To have the whole stadium chanting your name, you’ve got to come through. You’ve just got to come through.”
Hector Santiago pitched in relief for Seattle in his first appearance since becoming the first player disciplined under Major League Baseball’s crackdown on grip-enhancing foreign substances when he was given a 10-game suspension.
The penalty is being delayed until an appeal is decided.
Santiago struck out the side in the eighth inning sandwiched around a single by Lowe.
Before the inning started, Santiago removed the rosin bag from the mound.
Santiago said that whatever was found on his glove on Saturday last week against the Chicago White Sox and led to his suspension was only rosin.
Santiago was checked and cleared by plate umpire John Tumpane after the inning finished.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Braves 1, Marlins 0
‧ Phillies 4, Padres 3 (10i)
‧ Pirates 2, Brewers 7
‧ Nationals 5, Dodgers 10
‧ Blue Jays 11, Rays 1
‧ Reds 2, Cubs 1
‧ Diamondbacks 4, Giants 11
‧ Indians 3, Astros 6
‧ Rockies 3, Cardinals 9
‧ Athletics 2, Red Sox 3 (10i)
‧ Tigers 2, White Sox 8
‧ Royals 7, Twins 4
‧ Angels 8, Orioles 7
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