Muñoz falters, error sinks Seattle as win streak ends

CHICAGO -- They were steaming, sweltering, sweating and sinking. But while the Mariners were down for much of Wednesday afternoon, they were never out -- until the very end.

Seattle stormed back to take a one-run lead over the White Sox with one out in the top of the ninth when Eugenio Suárez ripped a go-ahead two-run single with the bases loaded. But Andrés Muñoz gave up a pair of critical hits in the bottom of the inning that tied the game for his second blown save on this road trip.

Then in the 10th, Seattle had Tim Anderson in a rundown to lead off the frame, but J.P. Crawford’s throw to Suárez hit Chicago’s automatic runner in the helmet, sending the ball into foul territory and allowing Anderson to score standing to send Seattle to a 5-4 walk-off loss at Guaranteed Rate Field.

It was a sour ending to an otherwise outstanding 8-2 road trip that has thrust the Mariners firmly into the division title race in the American League West. They fell to 1 1/2 games back of idle Texas and one game back of Houston, which was playing Boston later Thursday.

Crawford described the decisive play as “just trying to make something out of nothing,” and added, “I'm just trying to get an out. Looking at it, I shouldn't have thrown that ball, but like I said, I was trying to make something out of nothing and go for it all."

With Elvis Andrus squaring for a sacrifice bunt, Justin Topa threw a slider way out of the zone that forced Andrus to pull back, at which point Anderson was nearly halfway between second and third, leading to an attempted pickoff from Cal Raleigh to Crawford.

Anderson then took off for third, prompting the 78.3 mph, quick-hands heave that would have been there in time had it found its mark. But the ball ran out of room en route to Suárez, who was directly in front of Anderson as he slid.

“I think he did a really good job of getting me the ball quick,” Suárez said of Crawford. “And the ball got late sink, and that’s what I saw. That was tough. He’s not trying to hit him. He’s trying to get the ball to me as quick as he can.”

That sequence only manifested after Muñoz allowed two hits to Oscar Colás and pinch-hitter Andrew Benintendi, both at the bottom of the order and both via middle-middle sliders that tied the game at 4 after Seattle’s resounding comeback.

“He just hung two sliders,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “The fastball was really good, but the slider didn’t have the bite. ... Uncharacteristic of [Muñoz], when he usually gets the slider down, certainly late in the count, and he wasn’t able to execute.”

There was frustration in the visiting clubhouse postgame, but also recognition of how productive this road trip has been. Wednesday snapped the Mariners’ second eight-game win streak of the month -- a mark not reached in MLB since the 2017 Dodgers -- and despite extremely hot conditions, they were in it until the end despite having just one hit entering the seventh.

Wednesday’s 95-degree temperature at first pitch marked Seattle’s hottest game since a contest at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 18, 2020.

“That’s the most challenging game we’ve played, conditions-wise,” Servais said. “I mean that heat sucks a lot out of you, certainly at the end of a road trip.”

Even so, George Kirby was unfazed by the conditions, striking out nine and issuing no walks for his fourth consecutive outing, which raised his MLB-best strikeout-to-walk ratio to 10.14, nearly three better than second-place Zach Eflin (7.16). It also elevated his career rate to 7.64, which is far and away the best in AL/NL history since at least 1906 for a pitcher in his first 50 starts. Cleveland’s Shane Bieber is second at 6.00.

But it was the 100th and final pitch from Seattle’s uber-competitive starter that put a stinging end to his day. Kirby fell into a full count to Trayce Thompson with two outs and a runner on second base in the sixth, then surrendered a 398-foot pull-side homer on a slider low and away.

The Mariners now head home for a six-game homestand against Kansas City and Oakland, who are both in last place in their respective divisions. And given Seattle's surge up the standings, T-Mobile Park will be one of the hottest tickets in town.