SAN FRANCISCO — The Mariners introduced Camilo Doval to a little something fans have dubbed “Chaos Ball.”
And it left the Giants closer, who was named to the National League All-Star team on Sunday, trudging off the mound with his shoulders slumped and his gaze stuck to his cleats in disgust and disappointment while most of the 40,691 fans at Oracle Park blamed home-plate umpire Lance Barrett for all that went wrong in the top of the ninth.
Ignited by the hustling pest that is Jose Caballero, who stole a pair of bases and prevented an out, benefiting moderately from a controversial hit by pitch on Ty France and getting a sacrifice fly from J.P. Crawford for the lead, a two-run double from Julio Rodriguez and an RBI single from Teoscar Hernandez, the Mariners scored four runs in the top of the ninth off Doval to break a 2-2 tie.
The Mariners would need all four of those runs when reliever Paul Sewald gave up a three-run homer to Blake Sabol with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and then allowed the go-ahead run to reach base.
But Sewald struck out Brandon Crawford to end the game and the drama, allowing the Mariners to hang on for a 6-5 victory on Monday.
It was Seattle’s third straight win and the most runs allowed by Doval in an appearance this season. The hard-throwing right-hander came into the game a 1.35 earned-run average and 24 saves.
The Mariners got an outstanding start from rookie right-hander Bryan Woo, who returned home to face the team he grew up cheering for as a kid.
If there were nerves, he didn’t show it. If there was any added pressure of having a large contingent of family and friends, including his 93-year-old grandfather and 85-year-old grandmother, he didn’t act like it. And if he was intimidated by pitching in front of a packed house on the road, Woo certainly didn’t pitch like it.
At times stone-faced and at other times stoic, never once showing emotion — positive or negative — the rookie right-hander delivered one of the best outings of his young career. He pitched a career-high six innings, allowing two runs on three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
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