Victor Robles and Julio Rodriguez hit two-run homers in the fifth inning as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Tampa Bay Rays 6-2 Wednesday afternoon.
Randy Arozarena added a solo shot in the eighth against his former team as the Mariners improved to 4-2 under new manager Dan Wilson and remained 3 1/2 games behind division-leading Houston in the American League West.
Josh Lowe homered for the Rays, who dropped two of the three games in the series.
Mariners ace Luis Castillo (11-12) earned the victory, giving up two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out four.
Seattle’s Austin Voth, Collin Snider and Andres Munoz combined for 3 1/3 hitless innings of relief with six strikeouts.
Rays reliever Tyler Anderson (5-4) took the loss. He allowed five runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. He surrendered all three homers.
Lowe led off the second inning with a homer to right-center field, his second of the series, to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.
Seattle tied the score in the bottom of the frame as Arozarena reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by Rays opener Drew Rasmussen. Arozarena took third on a flyout to left and scored on Luke Raley’s sacrifice fly.
The Mariners broke the tie in the fifth after Dylan Moore lined a one-out double to left. An out later, Robles took Anderson deep to left-center to put Seattle ahead. J.P. Crawford, who was activated from the injured list earlier in the day after being out since July 23 with a fractured right hand, drew a walk and Rodriguez hit a two-run shot down the left-field line to make it 5-1.
The Rays got a run back in the sixth as Brandon Lowe, Christopher Morel and Dylan Carlson singled, the latter a two-out grounder up the middle that scored Lowe from second.
Arozarena went deep to left-center with two outs in the eighth to complete the scoring.
–Field Level Media