The Seattle Mariners were in Florida on Monday, kicking off a series against the Tampa Bay Rays. The teams were expecting a pitchers' duel with M's ace Felix Hernandez and Jeremy Hellickson both on the hill, but they likely did not anticipate the game would be as close as it was. In the end, the game went 12 innings and ended with a 3-2 Rays victory.
Both teams scored one run each in the second inning, the Mariners on a Miguel Olivo home run and the Rays on a Sean Rodriguez RBI single.
The score would remain knotted at 1-1 for the next nine innings. Hernandez ended up going eight strong innings, giving up just the one run on five hits and four walks while striking out nine. Hellickson was perhaps even more effective, giving up six hits and issuing no walks while striking out seven M's in seven innings.
The bottom of the ninth inning came and went and still neither pitching staff was willing to concede a run, so the game went to extras.
The M's managed 11 hits in the game, with Olivo, Ichiro Suzuki and Justin Smoak having multi-hit games.
Olivo left the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, appearing to injure his groin while attempting to field a soft grounder hit by B.J. Upton. There is no word yet as to the extent of the injury. Jesus Montero came in to catch, meaning that the Mariners had to play the remainder of the game with the pitcher batting, since John Jaso had already pinch-hit earlier in the game.
In the top of the 11th inning, Montero hit a leadoff home run to right center field, but the Rays evened things up again in the bottom of the frame, when Luke Scott hit a leadoff double off of Brandon League and Upton was able to single him home with two outs.
The Mariners finally lost in the bottom of the 12th. League came out for a second inning and picked up one out before issuing a walk to Ben Zobrist and back-to-back singles to Carlos Pena and Elliot Johnson, the latter of which scored the winning run for the Rays.
For all news and information regarding the Seattle Mariners, please visit Lookout Landing. For updates and perspective on the Tampa Bay Rays, head on over to DRaysBay or check out SB Nation Tampa Bay.
