J.P. Crawford drove a two-run home run into the right field seats off Robert Garcia in the ninth inning to give the Seattle Mariners a big 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.
J.P. Crawford drove a two-run home run into the right field seats off Robert Garcia in the ninth inning to give the Seattle Mariners a big 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.Crawford turned on a 2-0 fastball from Garcia on the inside of the plate for the game-winning blow deep into the Seattle night.
Crawford spiked his helmet in celebration as he began his trip around the bases. It was a critical blast for both the Mariners and Crawford, who was mired in a 5-for-54 skid before the ninth-inning heroics."He has been made for the big moments in this ballpark, and we've seen it a lot from him. And tonight, wow, what a huge moment for J.P. and the ball club," manager Dan Wilson said.Dominic Canzone set the table with a nice line drive single to right field in a lefty-lefty matchup with Garcia. Like Crawford's homer, Canzone turned on an inside fastball from Garcia to put the lead-off runner aboard. Crawford laid off a fastball and a slider low and away before pouncing on the fastball on the inside of the plate."Just don't miss the fastball. Put a good swing on it, try to get the guy over and I didn't miss," Crawford said on ROOT Sports.The win moves the Mariners two games clear of Texas in both the AL West division chase and in the final AL Wild Card spot."This team has a lot of fight and that's what we do," Crawford said.The Mariners took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning against Rangers starter Jack Leiter.Eugenio Suárez reached on an infield single, Jorge Polanco singled, and Leiter walked Canzone to load the bases with one out. After a Crawford strikeout, rookie Cole Young walked to score Suárez for the opening run of the game.Texas scored all three of their runs in the third inning against Mariners starter Logan Gilbert as they hoped that was enough in the ninth. A hit-by-pitch of Joc Pederson to lead-off the inning combined with an error on Canzone in right on a double by former Mariner Rowdy Tellez allowed the Rangers to tie the game at 1-1. Josh Smith drove in a run with a single, and Marcus Semien plated Smith with a double as they grabbed a 3-1 lead.Gilbert worked out of a jam in the fourth inning, striking out Tellez and Jonah Heim to keep the lead at only two. He allowed three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts for Seattle."Every year, we see what it comes down to last week of the season," said Gilbert, alluding to the two times they've missed the playoffs by a game. "So games like this, it's one game, but every single night we're out there, feels like you'd have to win. We have to find a way to win. It's not pressure, it's not playing tight. It makes it really, really fun. And like I said, we got two months of that, so it's going to be a lot of fun baseball coming down the stretch."Seattle chipped away with a run in the fifth inning with the help of a successful challenge from Wilson. A 12-pitch walk from rookie Cole Young eventually paid off. Julio Rodríguez grounded into a would-be inning-ending double play only to be called safe after review on Wilson's challenge. That allowed Josh Naylor to drive in Young with a lined double to left field to make it a 3-2 game.Leiter allowed two runs on just three hits with three walks and seven strikeouts for Texas.Gabe Speier survived a lead-off double by another former Mariner, Sam Haggerty, in the seventh inning, getting groundouts from Ezequiel Duran and Smith, and a strikeout of Heim to strand Haggerty at third. "We needed the punch out ," Wilson said. "It was a platoon advantage for Texas, and he just went right at him and did what Gabe does. We've seen him so effective against right-handers, too. And that was huge to get two outs there and then be able to get Smith again."A strong eighth inning from Eduard Bazardo set up Crawford's heroics in the ninth.Mariners battle Rangers for final wild card spotTrent Thornton out for season for Seattle Mariners with torn AchillesCole Young homers, Cal Raleigh hits No. 42 as Seattle Mariners shut out Rangers 6-0Seattle Mariners fully chasing World Series after Eugenio Suárez tradeMariners introduce new trade deadline acquisitionsTo get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.
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