SEATTLE — One day after breaking up a no-hitter in the ninth inning, Mitch Haniger drove in four runs Wednesday afternoon and helped the Seattle Mariners close out a successful homestand with a 10-5 victory over Miami.
Kyle Seager also had four RBI as the Mariners bailed out a shaky Felix Hernandez and completed a 6-3 homestand that effectively resets their season after a dreadful 1-6 start.
“It was just a matter of time,” designated hitter Nelson Cruz said. “We know we can score runs. We’ve shown we can score runs.”
A balanced attack produced 10 runs by getting 11 hits and drawing 10 walks in a nice recovery from Tuesday’s 5-0 loss, when the Mariners didn’t get a hit until Haniger’s one-out double in the ninth inning.
“It’s good to get back on track after (Tuesday),” Haniger said. “Being shut out is never a good feeling. It was good to go out there today and put some runs up on the board.”
Hernandez (2-1) wasn’t sharp. He put the Mariners in a quick hole by surrendering two runs in the first inning and never appeared to find a comfort zone.
“I have no idea what happened,” Hernandez said. “I think I threw six pitches, and there were five hits. Their approach in the first inning was just to swing at the first pitch.”
In all, Hernandez gave up 12 hits, including booming homers to Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich. Even so, the King pitched into the seventh before turning over an 8-4 lead to Tony Zych with one on and one out.
“I’d be lying to say it was his best game,” catcher Mike Zunino said, “but that’s what you get from (Hernandez). Even when he’s not at his best, he still keeps you in a ballgame.”
Zych walked Stanton before getting Justin Bour to ground into a double play. Nick Vincent, Evan Marshall and Marc Rzepczynski closed out the victory.
There was drama in the final inning when long-time Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, in perhaps his final game at Safeco Field, turned a first-pitch fastball from Marshall into a leadoff homer.
The crowd of 27,147 cheered loudly as Suzuki circled the bases.
When the Marlins then put two runners on base against Marshall, manager Scott Servais summoned Rzepczynski for the final out. The Mariners, remember, blew a six-run lead in the ninth inning on April 9 at Anaheim.
Not this time. Rzepczynski threw one pitch and got the final out.
“An outstanding job by our guys to bounce back after a tough first week,” Servais said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole. More than a little bit.
“But we scratched and clawed and climbed out of it.”
Haniger reached base in all five plate appearances and raised his average to .323. His two-run single erased a one-run deficit in the second inning, and his two-run double fueled a four-run fourth that boosted the lead to 8-4.
“You guys talk to him every day, don’t you,” Dyson drawled as reporters clustered around Haniger. “That’s because he’s a superstar.”
Seager’s first RBI was a double in the third inning that broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Mariners the lead for good. He added a two-run single in the fourth and worked a bases-loaded walk in a two-run eighth inning.
Miami starter Edinson Volquez (0-2) lasted just three innings and gave up runs in each of them; four in all along with five hits and four walks in a 70-pitch struggle.
Dustin McGowan replaced Volquez and, with his first pitch, hit Zunino, who moved to second on Dyson’s one-out single. Both runners scored on Haniger’s two-run double into the left-center gap for a 6-3 lead.
An intentional walk to Robinson Cano and a single by Cruz loaded the bases with one out for Seager, who lined a two-run single to center.
Miami got one run back when Yelich opened the fifth inning with a 415-foot homer to left field when Hernandez served up a 3-1 cookie of a fastball.
Next came a four-pitch walk to Stanton, who had hit a 445-foot homer to center in his previous at-bat. It is the only walk issued this season by Hernandez after 24 2/3 innings over his four starts.
Stanton moved to second on a wild pitch and tried to score on J.T. Realmuto’s soft single to third when Seager tried for the out at first. Utilityman Mike Freeman, playing first, threw home for the out.
That allowed the Mariners to carry a four-run lead into the later innings.
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