Goldschmidt, Greinke lead Diamondbacks past Mariners 5-2

Herald news services

PHOENIX — Spike got spiked.

That, and little offense behind Mike “Spike” Leake, was the difference in the Seattle Mariners’ 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.

The Mariners still took two out of three games from a club that entered Friday leading the National League West.

Meanwhile, the Mariners (74-57) continue to have a hard time gaining ground in the American League West. The Astros won to take a 61/2-game lead on the Mariners atop the division and the Athletics won to move 51/2 games ahead for the AL’s second wild card.

Mariners pitching had bottled up slugger Paul Goldschmidt for almost all of this series until he got a hold of an 89-mph sinker from Leake and launched it for a three-run home run and a four-run D-Backs lead in the third inning. The blast gave Goldschmidt his fourth career 30-homer season.

“Honestly, it’s not something I’m thinking about,” he said. “We’re obviously here in a playoff race and just trying to find a way and go out and perform and help us win. Even if I don’t do that (hit 30 homers) and the team wins, that’s most important.”

Leake had thrown 11 consecutive scoreless innings over his previous two starts before that five-run third inning.

Otherwise Arizona had nothing on him in six innings.

That was plenty.

But just hours after the Mariners rallied for two runs in the ninth inning of their extra-innings win Saturday night, they put something together in the ninth Sunday.

Ben Gamel scored after a leadoff single when Dee Gordon’s line drive to left field careened off of the heel of David Peralta’s glove. Nelson Cruz then was the tying run at the plate with no outs when he pinch hit for reliever Roenis Elias.

Cruz fell behind 1-2, but drew a walk to load the bases for the Mariners’ hottest hitter this series — Mitch Haniger.

Haniger was 6-for-13 this series up to that final at-bat in the ninth inning and he earlier Sunday just missed his third home run in as many games in his return to Chase Field. He made his big-league debut there with the Diamondbacks before heading to Seattle with Jean Segura in a trade before last season.

So with the bases loaded in the ninth Haniger rocketed a shot with 105-mph exit velocity down the third-base line.

Eduardo Escobar lowered his glove and caught it, then almost doubled up Chris Herrmann at third base.

There was still one out for Robinson Cano, but he grounded into a game-ending double play. The Mariners were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. In comparison, Arizona was 3-for-4.

“We did put some pressure on them, had our chances there late,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said, “just not enough.”

That was after it started so well for the Mariners.

Kyle Seager, who hit the game-tying two-run double in the ninth inning in Saturday’s 10-inning win, delivered an RBI single to score Mitch Haniger with two out in the first inning Sunday.

That helped erase a little of what has been a disastrous month for Seager offensively. He entered the day batting .188 in 22 games in August.

But without Cruz — despite his pleading, the 38-year-old did not start in the Mariners’ outfield in the NL park for the second consecutive day — the Seattle offense mustered little else against Arizona starter Zach Greinke.

The 34-year-old Greinke allowed the one run in 6 2/3 innings, which was unearned because Haniger reached on an error by former Mariners shortstop Ketel Marte.

He also helped kick start the Diamondbacks’ rally in the third inning. He followed Jeff Mathis’ one-out single with one of his own before Jon Jay’s single loaded the bases against Leake.

A.J. Pollock tied the game with a sacrifice fly and Leake looked to be out of the inning when David Peralta hit a slow ground ball. It just got past Leake and Jean Segura charged to field it, but it rolled out of his glove, though Peralta was likely safe at first even if Segura fielded it cleanly.

It allowed Greinke to score and that set up a two-on-and-two-out situation for Goldschmidt. He was 1-for-10 against the Mariners to that point this series despite entering with a .414 average and six home runs over his previous 15 games.

He was due.

And he sent the inside sinker over the left-field wall for a no-doubt three-run homer.

Backbreaker.

Leake fell to 0-4 in his past 10 starts and hasn’t won since June 23 despite several strong outings in that span.

“It’s part of the game,” he said of the long stretch without a win. “There’s ups and downs. It’s what you learn throughout your career. It’s just part of it and you’ve just got to keep doing a good job.”