Associated Press
CINCINNATI — Nick Martini came off the bench to hit a game-tying three-run homer run in the eighth inning and Christian Encarnación-Strand drove in Elly De La Cruz in the ninth and the Cincinnati Reds came from behind for a 7-6 win over the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.
Julio Rodríguez hit two home runs for the Mariners (77-71), who have lost three straight for the first time since August 12-14.
De La Cruz led off the ninth with an infield hit, stole second and scored with a head-first slide on Encarnación-Strand’s single to right.
The comeback win was the Reds’ (73-68) major league-leading 44th of the season. Alexis Diaz (8-4) pitched the ninth for the win. Andres Munoz (3-7) took the loss.
The Reds overcame four runs batted in by Rodríguez and Teoscar Hernández’s two-run homer in the first inning for their fourth win in their last five games.
Hernández’s homer was his sixth in his last 10 games and extended his season-high hitting streak to 14 games, one short of matching Rodríguez’s team season-high 15-game streak that was stopped on Sunday.
Rodríguez’s three-run opposite-field drive to right off former Seattle prospect Connor Phillips was one of four Mariner hits in the fifth inning and gave them a 5-1 lead. Rodríguez added a solo homer in the seventh.
Seattle went into the game tied with the Astros for first place. The Reds were third in the NL Central behind first-place Milwaukee and the Cubs.
Mariners’ rookie Bryce Miller overcame hitting three batters and giving up seven hits to finish five innings. He allowed one run and a walk with two strikeouts. He got help from left fielder Dominic Canzone’s lunging grab of De La Cruz’s bases-loaded liner to end the fifth.
Encarnación-Strand and Noelvi Marte each hit solo homers off Dominic Leone in the sixth. Marte’s was the first of his career.
Phillips allowed six hits and five runs with two walks and seven strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
UP NEXT
Seattle RHP Logan Gilbert (12-5, 3.56 ERA, 162 strikeouts) will face Reds RHP Lyon Richardson (0-1, 6.75 ERA, 9 strikeouts) in Wednesday’s series finale.
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