Seattle Mariners vs Philadelphia Phillies Box Score on May 09, 2017

The Sports Xchange
May 9, 2017

PHILADELPHIA -- Seattle utility man Taylor Motter didn't start Tuesday, but he made sure to play a big part in finishing off a long game.

Motter's RBI double scored Jean Segura in the top of the ninth and the Mariners held on for a 10-9 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Motter, who replaced Robinson Cano (quad) in the fourth inning, got a splitter in the strike zone from Hector Neris (1-2) and roped it down the left-field line into the corner.

Edwin Diaz notched his seventh save with a clean ninth inning.

Nick Vincent (1-0) picked up the win after getting out of the eighth inning unscathed.

The game took 3 hours, 48 minutes. The two teams combined for 27 hits. Fittingly, they play a day game Wednesday afternoon.

Michael Saunders, Tommy Joseph and Aaron Altherr all homered for the Phillies (13-18). Cano and Ben Gamel went deep for Seattle (16-17).

Gamel gave the Seattle offense a jolt with four hits, four RBIs and three runs scored. He also made a crucial defensive play in the eighth with the bases loaded and one out. Phillies slugger Maikel Franco hit a fly ball Gamel's way in right field and Gamel, with his momentum coming forward, delivered a strike to home plate to cut down Daniel Nava trying to tag up.

The Phillies used a five-run fourth to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 9-5 lead. They sent 11 batters to the plate in the half inning, which took 25 minutes to complete. Freddy Galvis started the fun with a run-scoring double. He came in to score on a Ty Kelly sacrifice fly before the big blow of the inning, Altherr's three-run home run, his fifth of the season.

Philadelphia held that lead even after Seattle's three-run sixth. Kyle Seager made it 9-6 with run-scoring single. The Phillies should have been out of the inning still ahead by three, but a Franco error at third base on a Guillermo Heredia grounder allowed another run to score before Nelson Cruz -- pinch hitting -- made it 9-8 with a single.

Seattle, which has now won three straight and five of its last six, tied the game in the seventh on Gamel's RBI double.

Neither starting pitcher, Philadelphia's Jerad Eickhoff or Seattle's Ariel Miranda, had a night to remember.

Eickhoff failed to complete four innings for the first time in his career. He allowed eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. Tuesday was also the first time he registered more walks (three) than strikeouts (two). He's now allowed 14 runs in his last three starts.

Miranda had a shorter outing than Eickhoff, lasting 3 1/3 innings after allowing six hits and eight earned runs.

The fourth inning wasn't the only inning the Phillies put up a crooked number. In the bottom of the first inning, with the Phillies already ahead 1-0 on an Odubel Herrera RBI double, Saunders belted a two-run homer to right field. The next batter, Joseph, also took Miranda deep to stake the Phillies and Eickhoff a 4-0 lead.

Seattle cut into that lead in the third.

Eickhoff got the first two batters of the third inning out before allowing a single to Gamel that set up Cano's two-run homer to cut the lead to 4-2.

The Mariners jumped ahead in the top of the fourth when Gamel, with two men on base, crushed Eickhoff's 3-2 fastball to right for his second homer of the year. Eickhoff's night ended two batters later.

NOTES: Tuesday marked the 13th-ever matchup between the Phillies and Mariners. The Phillies are 8-5. ... The Phillies placed RHP Jeanmar Gomez, a reliever, on the 10-day disabled list Monday, retroactive to May 6, with right elbow impingement and recalled INF/OF Ty Kelly from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take his place on the roster. ... Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (back) will pitch in a rehab start at Triple-A on Wednesday. ... The brief, two-game series closed Wednesday afternoon when the Phillies send RHP Zach Eflin (0-0, 2.42 ERA) to the mound to face RHP Yovani Gallardo (1-3, 4.46).