SEATTLE (AP) — Luke Raley and Julio Rodríguez homered for the second straight game — two of four solo shots by Seattle in the first three innings — and the Mariners beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 on Saturday night behind seven shutout innings from Bryan Woo.
Woo (5-3) allowed only two fifth-inning singles while matching his season high with nine strikeouts in a fifth straight victory for the Mariners — their longest winning streak of the season.
The 26-year-old right-hander did not allow a baserunner until Adrian Del Castillo singled with one out in the fifth, striking out five in a row at one point.
Cooper Criswell allowed a hit in the eighth, and Alex Hoppe issued the game’s only walk with two outs in the ninth and then failed to cover home on a wild pitch allowing Geraldo Perdomo to score from second and spoil the shutout.
Raley homered for the 13th time as Seattle grabbed the lead against Ryne Nelson (2-4) in the second. Dominic Canzone hit his sixth homer one out later for a 2-0 advantage.
Rookie Colt Emerson led off the third with his second homer, and Rodríguez followed one out later with his 12th for a 4-0 lead. Rodríguez has 10 homers in May, two more than he’s ever hit in a single month.
Randy Arozarena reached on a two-base throwing error by Jose Fernandez to begin the sixth before scoring on Cole Young’s sacrifice fly to make it 5-0, leading to Nelson’s exit after 99 pitches.
The right-hander, who had never surrendered more than two home runs in any of his previous 89 starts, allowed five runs — four earned — on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
The AL West-leading Mariners (30-29) move above .500 for the first time since they were 3-2.
Seattle hit four home runs in a 7-6 10-inning victory in the opener. The last time the Marisners hit as many as eight homers in the first two games of a series was in 1999 when they had 10 against the Twins.
Up next
Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (5-3, 5.25) was set to start Sunday opposite RHP Bryce Miller (1-0, 2.25) as the Mariners go for the sweep.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
The Associated Press
