A day after absorbing a punch to the jaw by the Houston Astro’s (39-25) in Wednesday nights 7-5 loss the Seattle Mariners (39-23) gathered themselves and quickly headed for St. Petersburg, Florida for a day game and finished the day with a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays (28-33).
After taking a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh inning in their game against Houston on Wednesday Night, the Mariners saw the razor-thin one-run lead quickly evaporate in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Astros scored four runs in the bottom frame. Kyle Seager hit his 11th home run of the season to pull one back for the Mariners in the top of the eight but the damage had already been done as the Astro held on for the victory.
Houston’s seventh-inning run explosion might have been a surprise to the Mariners but not the Astro’s who have scored an American League-best 118th run in the 7th inning or later in games this season.
Sensing a team that was shaken but not stirred, Seattle pitcher Mike Leake pitched one of his best games of the season against the Rays, giving up eight hits, one walk, three strikeouts and allowed just two runs over eight-plus innings and improving his record to 6-3 with a decent ERA of 4.46. Leake is 3-0 in his last three starts with. 2.79 ERA in his last six starts.
Mitch Haniger went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs and Denard Span homered in his first game back at Tropicana Field since being traded to Seattle two weeks ago.
