Brandon Pfaadt strikes out career-high 11, Diamondbacks beat Mariners 3-2
SEATTLE (AP) — Brandon Pfaadt had a career-high 11 strikeouts, Ketel Marte broke a tie with an RBI double in the eighth inning, Christian Walker homered and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday.
Marte doubled off reliever Trent Thornton (0-1), scoring Kevin Newman from second to help end Arizona’s three-game losing streak.
“It feels great,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “I’m happy for these guys. They’re just grinding and getting after it and doing everything they can to win baseball games.”
Arizona relievers retired all nine batters they faced. Joe Mantiply (2-1) pitched the seventh for the victory, and Kevin Ginkel picked up his fifth save in seven opportunities.
Former Diamondback Josh Rojas led off the game with a homer for Seattle. It was his sixth career leadoff homer and his second in the three-game series.
Walker tied it with a homer in the second inning, his fifth.
Pfaadt equaled his previous career high of eight strikeouts in the fifth and finished his day by striking out the side in the sixth inning. He gave up up two runs on five hits in six innings and did not walk a batter. He relied heavily on his sweeper, throwing it 38 times out of his 96 pitches.
“We were sweeper heavy in the scouting report, but you never know until you get out there and see how it plays. It was playing today,” Pfaadt said. “We definitely threw more than normal and it just played right.”
Leo Rivas, making his major league debut for Seattle, tripled in the third inning and scored on Julio Rodriguez’s single. Rivas is the fourth player in Mariners history to triple in his first career plate appearance, and the first since Yuniesky Betancourt did it on July 28, 2005, against Cleveland.
The Mariners were poised to score more in the third, loading the bases with no outs. Pfaadt got Ty France to fly out and then Mitch Garver hit into a double play to end the threat, and the Mariners didn’t have another baserunner the rest of the game.
“Unfortunately, today I thought we had them right where we wanted them. We had their starter on the ropes a little bit in the third inning and he was able to wiggle out of it,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. "It’s frustrating because I thought we were right there. In that game, in those moments early in the game you’ve got to create some separation and we just weren’t able to do that.”
Seattle’s Logan Gilbert also had a start start as he pitched into the seventh, giving up two runs on four hits and striking out a season-high nine. The only Diamondback to get a hit off Gilbert in the first six innings was Walker, who followed up his second-inning homer with a double in the fourth.
In the seventh inning, Joc Pederson and Eugenio Suarez had back-to-back doubles to tie it 2 and end Gilbert’s outing.
It was the 16th straight game a Mariners starter allowed two runs or fewer, extending the franchise record.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks LHP Tommy Henry (1-1, 5.55 ERA) will start as Arizona opens a three-game series against the Dodgers at home Monday. Mariners RHP Bryce Miller (3-2, 2.22) will start Monday as Seattle continues a homestand against Atlanta.
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