Seattle Mariners Earn Much-Needed Victory With Walk-Off 4-3 Win Against Minnesota Twins

SEATTLE — On a day where rumors of trades and injuries surrounded the Seattle Mariners, the team found a way to pull through and earned a much-needed, 4-3 win against the Minnesota Twins on Saturday at T-Mobile Park.

Saturday seemed to be following a similar script to the Mariners' 5-3 loss against the Twins on Friday, but the M's found a way to change the final sequences in their favor.

Minnesota tied the game 3-3 in the top of the seventh inning after an RBI groundout from catcher Victor Caratini scored third baseman Brooks Lee.

After leaving a runner on in the bottom of the seventh and runners on the corners stranded in the eighth, Seattle cashed in in the ninth.

Left fielder Randy Arozarena, who was mentioned as a player discusses in trade talks with Monday's deadline approaching, hit a lead-off double in the bottom of the ninth and was moved to third after a deep flyout hit by right fielder Dominic Canzone.

After center fielder Julio Rodriguez was intentionally walked, setting the Mariners up with runners on the corner and one out, designated hitter Cal Raleigh hit into a groundout. Twins first baseman Royce Lewis briefly looked at second to see if he could get Rodriguez for a ninth-inning double play.

After a costly pause, Lewis delivered a throw to home plate that Arozarena beat out, resulting in the 4-3 victory.

"In that situation, a guy on first and a guy on third, you kind of try and do everything to avoid the double play," Arozarena said via interpreter Freddy Llanos in a postgame interview. "You look and it was a tough play for the first baseman. Cal hit that ball pretty hard and Julio did a good job kind of entertaining the first baseman. From that point, I just ran."

Seattle opened the game with a strong start but fell flat in the middle innings, which allowed Minnesota to work its way back.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Rodriguez hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first. After Raleigh and first baseman Josh Naylor struck out, catcher Mitch Garver worked his way back down from an 0-2 count to draw an 11-pitch walk with the bases loaded, giving the Mariners a 2-0 lead through the first.

Seattle bolstered its lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the second after Arozarena hit a solo homer to left field.

Arozarena finished the game 2-for-4 with a double, a homer, an RBI and three runs scored and drew a walk.

The Mariners maintained their 3-0 lead through the fourth inning, but the Twins chipped away until Caratini's eventual game-tying groundout.

Minnesota Luke Keaschall hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth and Trevor Larnach hit his own solo shot in the top of the sixth.

All three earned runs were surrendered by Seattle starting pitcher Logan Gilbert, who still finished with a quality start. He struck out six, walked one and allowed three earned runs on five hits (two home runs) in seven innings of work. He finished his outing despite taking a 107-mph comebacker off his calf in the top of the fourth inning.

"At some point, there's some urgency," Gilbert said after the game. "You got to get going and find a way to win. It's a tough game, you can't just force things. Or else, we would have done that four months ago. But I think there's some urgency right now."

Left-handed reliever Gabe Speier entered the game for Gilbert in the top of the eighth and got two outs before handing the ball off to closer Andres Munoz with one out to go and runners on first and second.

It was the two-time All-Star's first outing of the season of more than three outs.

After throwing a wild pitch that moved both runners into scoring position, Munoz struck out Lewis on seven pitches.

In the top of the ninth inning, Munoz struck out Caratini and Garver immediately delivered a throw to shortstop Colt Emerson, who tagged out Keaschall attempting to steal second for the final out of the inning.

Munoz earned the win and finished the game with two strikeouts and one hit allowed in 1.1 innings.

The M's entered Saturday in third place in the American League West and three games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the division. With the team being in the final two months of the season, there's as high of a pressure as ever for the team to do everything in its power to win.

As a result, the coaching staff communicated to Munoz that he could be called on for one-plus inning appearances.

"The good thing is that the communication has been really good," Munoz said after the game. "(They) communicated with me before the game and they let me know about the plan. ... Whatever the team needs to win."

The Mariners will attempt to earn the series win in the rubber match at 1:10 p.m. PT on Sunday and earn some momentum going into their "day off" Monday, which will coincide with the trade deadline.

George Kirby will start for Seattle (despite being mired in trade rumors) and Taj Bradley will start for the Twins.