Shed Long had three hits and scored the go-ahead run in the 11th on an unusual inning-ending double play as the Seattle Mariners beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 on Thursday.
The Mariners swept the three-game series between last-place teams and sent the Pirates to their sixth straight loss.
Long reached base on first baseman Jose Osuna’s error to start the 11th and Omar Narvaez singled with one out to put runners on the corners. Austin Nola then hit a chopper to second baseman Kevin Kramer — rather than flip the ball to second, he ran at Narvaez, who alertly stopped and began to retreat.
Kramer then threw to first, and Narvaez was eventually tagged in a 4-3-6-2 rundown as Long scored. Kramer likely would’ve had no chance to throw home at the start to get Long.
Long also drove in two runs.
Pittsburgh’s Jake Elmore had three hits and two RBIs.
Brandon Brennan (3-6) pitched one scoreless inning and rookie Erik Swanson worked around a walk in the 11th for his first career save. Clay Holmes (1-2) took the loss, though the winning run was unearned.
Mariners left-handed Yusei Kikuchi lasted four innings in what figures to be his next-to-last start of the season, allowing four runs and eight hits with one strikeout and one walk.
Signed from Japan to a three-year, $43-million contract in the offseason, Kikuchi has made 31 starts and pitched 155 2/3 innings. He is 6-10 with 5.55 ERA.
Pirates starter Joe Musgrove gave up four runs — two earned — and five hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked two.
Seattle tied the score at 5-all in the seventh on Nola’s two-out single after Elmore put Pittsburgh ahead 5-4 in the fifth with an RBI single.
Both teams had four-run second innings.
Long’s two-run single capped the Mariners’ half in which Braden Bishop hit an RBI single and another run scored on shortstop Cole Tucker’s throwing error. The Pirates got run-scoring doubles from Elias Diaz, Elmore and Musgrove before Kevin Newman capped the inning with an RBI single.
Elmore’s hit snapped a 0-for-19 skid.
PARTIAL DAY OFF
Three of the Mariners’ starting infielders — 2B Dee Gordon, 3B Kyle Seager and SS J.P. Crawford — were not in the starting lineup for a day game following a night game. However, Gordon and Seager were used as pinch-hitters then remained in the game.
UP NEXT
Mariners: Open a three-game series at Baltimore on Friday night with RHP Felix Hernandez (1-6, 6.31 ERA) scheduled to face RHP Chandler Shepherd (0-0, 4.91). Hernandez’s lone win came in his first start of the season April 1 against the Los Angeles Angels.
Pirates: LHP Steven Brault (4-5, 4.98) will start against Brewers RHP Chase Anderson (6-4, 4.50) on Friday night in the first game of a three-game series at Milwaukee. Brault is 1-4 with a 6.17 ERA in his past eight starts, including giving up 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings to the Chicago Cubs in his last outing Sept 13.
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