Their winning streak is done, ending at 10 games. They went from leading the American League West by a half game to trailing the Astros by a half game.
And it all happened in a regrettable half inning for the Mariners in a disappointing 7-5 loss Wednesday to the Kansas City Royals.
When the bottom of the eighth started, Seattle held a 4-3 lead with a rested Matt Brash on the mound ready for one-inning of setup work. When the Mariners finally got the third out, they were trailing by three runs and Brash had already been pulled from the game.
How did it all go so wrong?
It started when Brash walked Salvador Perez on six pitches. Not one of the four balls were remotely close to the strike zone to get the free-swinging veteran catcher to offer at them.
Walking the leadoff guy makes it a little more difficult," manager Dan Wilson said.
With Michael Massey replacing the un-fast Perez as a pinch runner and representing the tying run, Brash gave up a two-run home run to Adam Frazier that gave the Royals the lead.
Wait, what? Adam Frazier?
Yep, the former Mariner, who is not known for his home run hitting prowess, fouled off a nasty 3-2 slider to keep his at-bat alive. Brash came back with a 96-mph sinker on the outside corner. Frazier stayed on the pitch, lifting a fly ball down the left-field line. The ball somehow stayed fair, curling around the foul pole and barely clearing the wall. MLB Statcast had the ball coming off the bat at 93 mph and traveling 338 feet. It was only the 11th homer this season that traveled less than 340 feet. Wilson called it a "seeing-eye" homer.
It was Frazier's sixth homer of the season.
"I knew I got it all right, I was just hoping it would stay fair," Frazier said in a postgame interview. "I wasn't even sure it left the park."
Off the bat, Eugenio Suárez didn't think the ball was a homer.
"When I saw it from third base, I thought it was an easy foul ball," he said. "But it stayed in the air and stayed fair. I've never seen that on a ball here in Kansas City. For me, I thought it was a pop-up foul ball."
Instead, it was a go-ahead gut punch. If Brash would've been able to limit the damage to the unexpected homer, the Mariners were certainly capable of overcoming a one-run deficit in the ninth.
But Brash left a 1-2 changeup on the plate that Jac Caglianone laced for a double. Carter Jensen followed with a single to center on a first-pitch slider that scored Caglianone. It looked like Brash might escape when Tyler Tolbert sacrifice bunted Jensen to second and Mike Yastrzemski struck out. But Bobby Witt Jr. smacked a 3-2 slider into right-center for a run-scoring double that made it 7-4. It ended Brash's evening. It was just the third time in his career he'd given up three earned runs in a relief outing.
"Matty's been here before," Wilson said. "He will bounce back, and he's the guy we wanted in that situation, and he'll be ready to pitch."
Those extra runs loomed large in the ninth. Suárez led off with a single for his fourth hit of the game. Josh Naylor followed with a single up the middle to put runners on the corners. Seattle picked up a run when Dom Canzone bounced into a double play. Luke Raley followed to keep their hopes alive, but J.P. Crawford, who had homered in his previous at-bat, grounded out to third to end the game.
"We're going to fight, that's our identity," Suárez said. "We are not going to give up, we're not going to give in and make the game easy."
Bryce Miller had to work to get through five innings, allowing three runs on eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts. He allowed multiple base runners in four of his five innings on the mound.
"It was not the easiest five innings I've ever had," Miller said. "I had to grind."
His three runs allowed came in the first inning. Miller allowed a two-out single to Vinnie Pasquantino and an infield single to Maikel Garcia on a slow roller that Crawford fielded but couldn't make a throw on. The extra out loomed large when Perez crushed a three-run homer to dead center on a 2-0 fastball on the outside part of the plate.
"I'd like a redo on that pitch to Salvy," Miller said. "It was on the black. But that specific pitch, I was trying to go up and in. I missed away and he got to it. He's a good hitter, and you just gotta make sure you get to your to your locations against him. For example, the last at-bat I had against him, I went sinker in and I got it in, and we got the ground ball."
The Mariners answered immediately in the top of the second against lefty Cole Ragans. Suárez, who had been hitless in his previous 32 at-bats coming into the game, smashed a fastball over the wall in left field for a two-run home run. Suárez's 46th homer of the season cut the lead to 3-2.
Before the game, Suárez said he simply needed to have one hit to fall to get him going.
"It was one of those days that you just feel better," he said. "You see the ball really well and you make good decisions when you swing."
Ragans, who was making his first appearance since June 5 due to shoulder inflammation, was on a strict pitch limit. He exited with two outs in the fourth inning, have thrown 62 pitches.
Facing a parade of relievers, the Mariners finally picked up a run in the top of the seventh. Suárez led off with a double for his third hit of the game and later scored on Mitch Garver's game-tying sacrifice fly to center.
Seattle would grab a brief 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth when Crawford led off with a solo homer to right field. But they should've probably got more. With two outs, Julio Rodríguez got picked off at first base with Cal Raleigh on third base and Suárez at the plate.
"You don't want to give away outs in those situations," Wilson said. "That was a tough one there.
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