Field Level Media
May 19, 2019
Edwin Encarnacion, Daniel Vogelbach and Mitch Haniger hit home runs as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Minnesota Twins 7-4 Sunday afternoon to salvage the finale of a four-game series.
The American League Central-leading Twins had their five-game winning streak snapped. The Mariners had lost their previous three games and 15 of their past 19.
Seattle left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (3-1) went six innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits. He walked two and struck out six.
Kikuchi opened with four scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fifth because of two errors, one of which was his own.
Kikuchi walked the first two batters in the inning, Luis Arraez and Byron Buxton, before Jorge Polanco put a bunt down the third-base line. Kikuchi tried to make a play but threw the ball wide of first base and down the right-field line, allowing Arraez to score, Buxton to reach third and Polanco to take second. Polanco was credited with a hit on the play.
Buxton scored on Jonathan Schoop's groundout to Kikuchi. An out later, Eddie Rosario hit a slow grounder that skipped off shortstop J.P. Crawford's glove for an error, allowing Polanco to score to make it 3-1.
The Mariners responded in the bottom of the inning, as Crawford led off with a line-drive double to left field. Twins starter Kyle Gibson retired the next two batters before Haniger hit a two-run homer to center field to tie the score. Vogelbach, batting next, hit a 2-1 pitch out to center to give Seattle a 4-3 lead. Gibson got Domingo Santana, who doubled home the game's first run an inning earlier, to ground out to third to end the fifth.
Gibson (4-2), a right-hander, also went six innings, allowing four runs on nine hits. He didn't walk a batter and struck out six.
The Mariners added to their lead in the seventh with Encarnacion's three-run homer to left-center field off right-hander Trevor May.
Polanco's run-scoring single in the ninth drove in the Twins' final run. Mariners left-hander Roenis Elias got Schoop to fly out to right field with two runners on to end the game.
--Field Level Media