Suárez caps late breakthrough against Cardinals

SEATTLE -- Luis Castillo looked human for the first time all season, the Mariners fell behind the Cardinals early, their bats were struggling other than red-hot Jarred Kelenic and they were once again going to need the late breakthrough that’s mostly eluded them.

And for the second night in a row, that’s precisely what Seattle chalked up en route to a 5-4 win at T-Mobile Park on Saturday.

Eugenio Suárez ripped a tiebreaking two-run single with two outs in the seventh, one inning after Teoscar Hernández evened the score at 3 with a two-run homer to center field. Those moments, along with Kelenic’s team-leading fifth homer (tied with Hernández), a solo shot in the second, put the Mariners on the brink of their second sweep of this homestand.

“It's huge because we know the things that we can do,” Hernández said. “Even when we're losing the game, we can come from behind and score two, three, four or five runs in just a blink of an eye and that gives us the confidence to keep going.”

In the small-sample theater, the results of these two games are minute in the 162-game context, but they’ve nonetheless represented an encouraging step. Here’s how those moments manifested -- and why they’re important.

Suárez’s timely slap

The Mariners third baseman doesn’t just embody “good vibes only” -- he thrived at manifesting them on the field late in games down their postseason stretch last fall as perhaps their best situational hitter. He has a .308/.406/.514 slash line with runners in scoring position since the start of last season for a .920 OPS that edges Julio Rodríguez’s .913 for best on the team.

Despite 222 strikeouts that are second-most in MLB in that stretch, Suárez has a knack for delivering in leverage situations. Castillo, who played with Suárez for five years in Cincinnati, can attest.

“The way I am, the way that no matter what's going on, I still keep the same composure, I learned that from Geno,” Castillo said through an interpreter. “He was one of the guys that first helped me when I came up to the big leagues. I've said it before and I'll continue saying it: Geno is probably the best teammate that I will ever have.”

Teo takes back the trident

It’s difficult to determine which feat was more impressive -- Hernández’s 392-foot blast to center in April, when the ball has lacked carry, or that he belted it in a full count after beginning the at-bat ahead 3-0. Hernández was called for two strikes on pitches that Statcast classified outside the zone, yet he stayed cool. How?

“It was the situation,” Hernández said. “We were trying to get going, trying to get a rally. And that made it easy for me. I've been working on that. ... As soon as they call it, there's nothing I can do. And I just went back and tried to get focused on the at-bat.”

After a 1-for-17 start to the season, Hernández has gone 20-for-65 since, good for a slash line of .308/.333/.569 (.903 OPS) in that span. He was also the key vessel in Friday’s win.

“I'm really looking forward to what he can do for our offense here as we get rolling and it starts to warm up a little bit and the ball starts jumping,” manager Scott Servais said, “because he's got big time power.”

Kelenic goes inside out

The Mariners’ budding slugger once again put his retooled swing on an epic display with a 370-foot opposite-field blast on a first-pitch sinking fastball on the inner half.

• New-look swing is behind Kelenic's breakout

"Staying inside that ball, staying through it -- it was a sick swing,” Servais said. “I mean, it takes a lot of work to be able to do that and [you have] to be very talented."

Kelenic is hitting .323/.384/.646 (1.030 OPS) through 65 at-bats this year, putting even more of a sample into the size of his much-improved season.

Don’t forget the pitching

“La Piedra” overcame 19 foul balls and 29 pitches in the first inning to finish five solid frames with eight strikeouts and three runs, a season high. In Servais’ eyes, Castillo “did his part.”

The most impressive moments on the mound, however, came in a hitless seventh from Matt Brash, who fanned three of the Cardinals’ best hitters with his sweeper.