MIAMI — The American League’s best pitcher in April, at least by statistics and likely by MLB award, started off May in similarly dominant fashion while pulling his team from its losing ways.
With another large crowd of family and friends savoring his second start in his home state, Logan Gilbert delivered yet another strong outing in a season full of them, outdueling Miami All-Star right-hander Sandy Alcantara and leading the Mariners to a much-needed 7-3 victory.
The Mariners (12-10) snapped a four-game losing streak and avoided being swept in the three-game series. Seattle is 5-0 in games started by Gilbert this season with both of their wins on this difficult road trip coming in his outings.
The lanky right-hander held the Marlins without a hit through the first four innings, and allowed just his second run of the season in 5 2/3 innings with four walks and five strikeouts to improve to 4-0.
The Mariners offense, which had been less than productive during the losing streak, scored five runs off Alcantara, who came into the game with a 2-0 record and a 1.79 ERA and had only allowed five runs this season. In 33 starts last season and his four previous starts this season Alcantara allowed five runs or more on just two occasions.
J.P. Crawford gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a solo homer to deep right-center to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
Julio Rodriguez ended Alcantara’s outing with two outs in the sixth inning in impressive fashion. After a two-out double from Crawford and intentional walk of Abraham Toro, who had an RBI single off Alcantara in the fourth inning, Rodriguez stepped to the plate.
After seeing three straight sliders away, one of which he swung and missed at, Rodriguez jumped on a 97-mph fastball on the inside half of the plate, sending a missile to left-center and a no-doubt homer off the bat.
His first major league homer smacked off the facing of the promenade that sits well back off the outfield fence at Loan Depot Park and more than 30 feet above the playing surface. MLB Statcast measured the blast at 450 feet with a 110-mph exit velocity.
Rodriguez’s three-run homer gave Gilbert and the Mariners a 5-0 lead.
After allowing his first hit of the game with two outs in the fifth inning — a single to right off the bat of Jon Berti — and surrendering another single to Garrett Cooper, Gilbert watched as Ty France dropped Jorge Soler’s pop-up in foul territory for what should have been the third out. Undaunted, but perhaps a little irritated, Gilbert fired a nasty slider on the next pitcht to strike out the ultra-dangerous Soler swinging at end the fifth inning.
With Gilbert at 90 pitches, but also just given a five-run cushion, manager Scott Servais let him start the sixth inning.
Gilbert struck out Jesus Sanchez swinging and Avisail Garcia looking. But with two outs, he hung a breaking ball to Brian Anderson, who crushed it over the wall for a solo homer. It was the second run Gilbert has allowed this season. His only other run allowed came against the second batter he faced in his first start of the season back on April 9 when Minnesota’s Luis Arraez hit a solo homer off him. Gilbert would face another 106 batters before allowing another run.
The Marlins picked up a run on Andres Munoz in the seventh inning to cut the lead to 5-2 and brought Anderson to the plate with bases loaded and two outs. The hard-throwing Munoz struck him out looking with a 100-mph fastball on the corner,
The Mariners tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth as Jesse Winker smacked a two-run single for a three-hit game. Winker has five hits in his last two games.
