Mariners' furious comeback thwarted in 9th

KANSAS CITY -- It was shaping up to be the comeback win of the year for the Mariners, but instead, it turned into maybe their toughest blown save of the season.

Staked to a one-run lead after Seattle’s offense rallied for six runs in the eighth and ninth innings, Matt Brash surrendered a walk-off bunt single on a squeeze play to Kansas City’s Dairon Blanco, with speedster Samad Taylor surging home from third base to end a 7-6 contest that was all over the place and more on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Playing with the infield in, Taylor, who had a 17.3-feet secondary lead, took off on contact as the ball skipped toward first base. It took one hop before reaching Dylan Moore as Taylor was halfway down the line, but Moore bobbled it, eliminating a play at the plate.

“We knew they like to do it, but he laid down a good bunt,” Brash said. “It would have been a bang-bang play anyways. They've got a lot of speed. It's a tough play. It kind of is what it is.”

Taylor was in position to score after pinch-running for Michael Massey, who ripped a 99.5 mph single to follow Bobby Witt Jr.’s leadoff knock. After advancing to third on that play, Witt -- who was down, 0-2, before ripping a full-count single -- scored on a 324-foot sacrifice fly from Salvador Perez, who finished with four RBIs.

“They found some holes tonight,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “They found more holes than we did, quite frankly. That happens. They got balls in play, and obviously, they got it done at the end.”

Monday marked Brash’s first blown save and the Mariners’ second since dealing Paul Sewald to the D-backs ahead of the Trade Deadline. And it occurred one day after a critical balk against Andrés Muñoz that set up a decisive swinging bunt that allowed the Orioles to score a go-ahead run in the ninth inning on Sunday.

As they did in Sunday's matinee at T-Mobile Park, the Mariners' resilient bats tied the game when Seattle was down to its final out -- as Josh Rojas, one of the returns for Sewald, evened Monday’s score at 6 with an RBI knock. Julio Rodríguez then pushed across the go-ahead run with an RBI single, his first career go-ahead hit in the ninth inning or later to set up what would’ve been a resounding victory.

But again, a bullpen that’s been among baseball’s best all season couldn’t shut the door.

“The team fought to come back, and I didn't do my job,” Brash said. “But tomorrow's a new day, and I'm going to be asked to do it again. I’ll be ready.”

Sewald, who had a career-high 20 saves before the trade, would’ve certainly been in one of the spots the past two days. But for a club sorely needing offense and with trepidation to trading prospects, Seattle approached the Deadline by subtracting from a strength on the Major League roster to add a need.

The Mariners did so to acquire Rojas and Dominic Canzone, whose game-tying homer Sunday was among Seattle’s biggest highlights this season. They also netted infield prospect Ryan Bliss, who is swinging one of the Minors’ hottest bats this year.

Seattle knew that trading Sewald would then thrust other youngsters into his high-leverage pockets, chief among them Muñoz and Brash, who possesses some of the game’s best pure stuff but at times has struggled to harness it.

“It's a new experience for some of our young guys,” Servais said. “They certainly have the stuff, and they'll continue to get opportunities to do it. ... You really have to execute in those spots.”

To be sure, Monday’s final moment was the culmination of many that headlined a game that looked winnable well before the walk-off. It was just the most glaring.

In the sixth, Tayler Saucedo loaded the bases when charging for a soft chopper heading toward third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who might have been positioned to record the third out. Servais turned to Isaiah Campbell to get out of that jam, but the rookie issued a bases-loaded walk to make it a 5-0 game.

In the fifth, Witt raced for an inside-the-park homer via a line drive that Canzone appeared to lose in the lights. Immediately after, Rodríguez bobbled the ball at the wall as Witt rounded second, eliminating the chance to either prevent him from rounding third or make a close play at the plate.

Those sequences occurred when the Mariners were still hitless against Brady Singer, who didn’t lose the no-no until two outs in the seventh.

The upside of this three-game losing streak -- Seattle's first since the end of June -- is that the team is battling to the end. The downside is that these games could’ve easily swung the opposite way.