The Mariners snapped a four-game losing streak and took advantage of Houston’s loss to last-place Oakland to pull within 1½ games of the AL West-leading Astros. Seattle also tied Toronto for the third and final AL wild-card spot.
A night after losing to the Angels in part because of their failure to get two-out hitting, the Mariners put together two big innings centered around clutch hits with two outs.
Seattle scored three times in the first off starter Patrick Sandoval and added four runs in the fourth inning. Suárez and Ty France both had RBI singles and Dylan Moore had an RBI double in the first inning, all with two outs.
Crawford provided the big blow in the fourth with a deep shot to right-center that eluded the reach of center fielder Brett Phillips and cleared the bases. Julio Rodríguez followed with an RBI single, and Suárez hit his 20th homer in the fifth.
Seattle rookie Bryan Woo was terrific, pitching 5-2/3 innings after having his start pushed back as the Mariners try to manage his innings late in the season. Woo (3-4) gave up four hits, struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter in 83 pitches.
Seattle manager Scott Servais had an extended conversation with Woo on the mound when he was replaced in the sixth, and the right-hander was feted with a standing ovation walking to the dugout.
Sandoval (7-13) labored through five innings in order to save arms for Wednesday when it’ll be a bullpen day for the Angels. Sandoval gave up eight runs but only five were earned. Mike Moustakas’ error at third base in the first inning on Rodríguez’s grounder helped lead to Seattle’s big inning.
Moustakas easily could have been charged with a second error in the fourth on France’s grounder that was ruled a hit. He was replaced in the fifth because of left wrist soreness.