SEATTLE - The Mariners nearly let a six-run lead slip away Sunday, but Colt Emerson made sure the day ended with a win.
The former Everett AquaSox shortstop delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth at T-Mobile Park, sending Seattle past the Minnesota Twins 7-6 and sealing a series win. With one out and the game tied at six, Emerson stepped in after Victor Robles’ single moved Josh Naylor from first to third. Naylor’s hard slide into third left him needing a check from trainers, and after Stuart Fairchild came on as his pinch-runner, Emerson knew the assignment was simple.
“It doesn’t take the pressure off me, but like 85% of the pressure is completely off because all I got to do is hit a weak fly ball. I’ve done that a million times, you know what I mean?”
Emerson said with a chuckle. “That’s all I got to do, and in that situation - I haven’t been on the fastball at all this whole series.
(Twin close Yoendrys Gomez) is throwing hard. I know I’m gonna get a fastball, so all I gotta do is get on time with one of them, and thank God I did.”
Emerson did a lot more than that. He ripped a 105 MPH line drive through a five-man Twins infield, and Fairchild scored easily for the winning run. Emerson finished 2-for-4 with a walk and the decisive RBI.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson liked what he saw from the 21-year-old.
“I thought his at-bats today were outstanding, said Mariners manager Dan Wilson, whose team improved to 55-58 to stay afloat in the AL West. “I love the line drive to left to kind of get him locked in a little bit, and he’s taking good swings. I thought he got a pitch he could handle that today, and put a really good swing out there in the ninth, and hit it hard.
“Those are the kind of things that give you confidence.”
Seattle had built a 6-0 cushion before the bullpen turned things messy. Cal Raleigh opened the scoring with a three-run homer, his 12th of the season, and the Mariners got strong work from George Kirby before the late unraveling.
Kirby, who had been mentioned in trade talks with the deadline less than 26 hours away before his first pitch, held Minnesota scoreless for seven innings. He worked around five hits and a walk, struck out three, and threw 94 pitches, 62 for strikes.
“With everything going on, just try and go out there and do my best,” Kirby said. “So it was a little bit of motivation, I guess.
But yeah, I love this place. I want to stay here.
I want to show them I’m worthy of it.”
After the Mariners sent Luis Castillo to the White Sox on Saturday, Kirby also acknowledged the noise around him.
“I’d be lying if I said no,” Kirby said. “I don’t have Twitter.
I’m not seeing anything, but you always hear stuff, whether it’s from my agent or just anybody. So I do my best to try and not worry about that.
“Kind of something deep in your mind you read about a little bit. With the Louis situation … I love him. I hope for the best for him and his family in Chicago.”
Seattle gave Kirby early help with a two-run first inning. J.P.
Naylor’s two-RBI double brought home Cole Young and Randy Arozarena after Young singled and Arozarena walked. Later, Young added an RBI single in the sixth, driving in Emerson as part of a 4-for-5 day from the leadoff spot.
Naylor also helped Kirby with the glove and on the bases, though his day ended with that painful-looking slide in the ninth.
The Twins had their chances early, but Kirby escaped damage in the second after allowing three hits. Royce Lewis reached on an infield single before Naylor turned Brooks Lee’s sinking liner into a double play by catching it and stepping on first. Alan Roden then sent a two-out popup just beyond Emerson’s reach, but with runners at the corners, Robles made the catch in shallow right-center on Ryan Kreidler’s ball despite a bump from Julio Rodriguez.
Once Kirby exited, the game flipped fast. Eduard Bazardo allowed a two-run homer to Trevor Lanarch after Emerson’s throwing error helped Ryan Kreidler reach base.
Jose A. Ferrer then gave up a three-run blast to Royce Lewis in the eighth, cutting Seattle’s lead to 6-5.
Andres Munoz took over in the ninth and immediately made things tense again when Luke Keaschall’s second pitch of the inning landed over the right field wall for Munoz’s sixth blown save of the season. Munoz allowed a single and a walk after the homer, then struck out Josh Bell and induced a groundout from Kody Clemens to keep the game tied and hand the spotlight to Emerson.
Seattle’s crowd of 41,710 watched the Mariners survive the collapse and finish off the Twins, who fell to 56-57.
The Mariners are off Monday before opening a three-game series against Detroit on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park.
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