Mitch Haniger lined a three-run double to right field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Seattle Mariners a 4-3 victory against the visiting Detroit Tigers on Thursday night.
The Mariners snapped a three-game losing streak and moved into a first-place tie with idle Houston in the American League West.
It was Haniger’s eighth career walk-off with the Mariners, breaking a tie with Jim Presley for the franchise record.
With the Mariners trailing 3-1, Luke Raley led off the ninth with an infield single. The Tigers brought in reliever Will Vest (2-4), who allowed a single to right by Randy Arozarena to put runners at the corners.
Vest, a former Mariner, struck out Cal Raleigh and Justin Turner before walking Jorge Polanco to load the bases. Vest got ahead 1-2 in the count before Haniger lined a fastball to right. Outfielder Ryan Vilade charged the ball and tried to make a diving catch, but the ball bounced past him and rolled to the wall, clearing the bases.
Mariners reliever JT Chargois (2-0) got credit for the win after pitching a scoreless top of the ninth.
Detroit’s Parker Meadows had his fourth consecutive two-hit game since a nearly monthlong stint on the injured list with a strained right hamstring. Meadows drove in a run and scored another.
The Tigers didn’t have a baserunner through the first four innings against Seattle’s Bryan Woo.
They broke through in the fifth. Bligh Madris led off with a single into left field, and Justyn-Henry Malloy did the same to right. Meadows then grounded an RBI double down the right-field line to open the scoring. With one out, Zach McKinstry hit a two-run double into the gap in right-center to make it 3-0.
Raley went deep to right-center with one out in the sixth. It was Raley’s third homer in his past five games.
Woo gave up three runs on five hits in 6 2/ 3 innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts.
Tigers shortstop Javier Baez was a late scratch from the starting lineup because of neck soreness.
–Field Level Media