Mariners 2, Indians 1
SEATTLE – Seattle Mariners rookie Taijuan Walker has had enough rough outings this season that manager Lloyd McClendon has had to defend his decision not to send the 22-year-old starter back to Triple-A.
On Friday night, Walker justified McClendon's loyalty.
In what may have been the finest outing of his young career, Walker baffled the Cleveland Indians while leading the Mariners to a 2-1 win.
Walker (2-5) pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, and he got all the offense he needed on designated hitter Seth Smith's two-run homer in the sixth. Walker matched a career high with eight strikeouts, without walking a batter, while his eight innings equaled the longest outing of his 21 career starts.
Walker, who has struggled with control at times this season, saw his season ERA drop from 7.33 to 6.18 with the performance.
Closer Fernando Rodney came on in the ninth and retired the first two batters before a walk and an RBI triple from pinch hitter Ryan Raburn made things interesting. After a mound visit from McClendon, Rodney got Cleveland left fielder Michael Brantley to pop out to left field to earn his 14th save of the season.
Seattle's Smith, who was batting cleanup for the first time this season, lived up to the role with a two-run home run in the sixth, giving Seattle a 2-0 lead.
That was the only big mistake for Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer, who matched Walker for most of the game. Bauer (4-2) allowed just six hits and two runs in seven innings, striking out 10.
Seattle struck out 11 times and now has 27 strikeouts over the first two games of the series.
Smith's home run extended the Mariners' streak of games with at least one homer to eight. Seattle (24-24) has now scored 86 of its 180 runs this season via home runs, giving the Mariners the highest percentage (47.8) in baseball.
Cleveland (22-26) came within one out of being shut out for the first time since April 22.
Walker gave up a leadoff single before retiring 13 consecutive batters, six by way of strikeout. Cleveland designated hitter Nick Swisher finally came through with a two-out single in the fifth inning to break the drought.
Bauer got out of trouble in the fourth to keep the scoreless deadlock going and then struck out the side in the fifth. Bauer gave up back-to-back walks to load the bases in the fourth before Mariners shortstop Brad Miller popped out to end that threat.
The Mariners ran themselves out of the first inning when the first two hitters singled but got caught stealing at second to extinguish any hope of a scoring threat.
Notes: Mariners left-handed starter James Paxton was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday, one day after straining the middle finger on his pitching hand. Paxton left Friday night's game after 83 pitches and underwent tests on Friday. There is no known timetable for Paxton's recovery. He is the second member of Seattle's Opening Day rotation to go on the disabled list, joining veteran right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma. ... Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano (flu-like symptoms) was not in the lineup for the second day in a row Friday. He pinch-hit in Thursday's ninth inning. ... Seattle called up left-handed reliever Lucas Luetge on Friday to take the place of left-hander Joe Beimel, who was placed on the restricted list so that he can attend his son's graduation over the weekend. ... Cleveland featured a Friday lineup with six left-handers and two switch-hitters among the first eight batters. Friday marked the only game in the four-game series when Seattle was scheduled to start a right-handed pitcher (Taijuan Walker).