Mariners complete successful weekend series against Braves

ATLANTA (AP) — The Seattle Mariners brought home two wins in a weekend series against the Atlanta Braves. 

Friday:

Chris Sale pitched 6 2/3 strong innings, Ozzie Albies went 3 for 4 with an RBI and the Atlanta Braves used a three-run eighth inning to beat the slumping Seattle Mariners 4-1 on Friday night.

The Mariners, who hold the final American League wild card spot, lost for the sixth time in seven games during their current nine-game road trip.

The Braves' outburst made a winner out of Tyler Kinley (5-3), who pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Kinley has 12 consecutive scoreless appearances for the Braves and has given up just 1 run in 15 games since being acquired from the Colorado Rockies.

Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth for his 24th save.

Sale, in his second start since missing 62 games with a broken rib, gave up one run and four hits with nine strikeouts and no walks in 92 pitches.

Jurickson Profar was 2 for 4 with two runs scored. He led off the eighth with a double, then scored on Matt Olson's single. Albies tripled home Olson, then scored on a single by Drake Baldwin.

The Braves were leading 1-0 when Sale was lifted with a runner on first and two outs in the seventh. Dominic Canzone and Leo Rivas singled off Dylan Lee to tie the game 1-1 before Lee struck out Harry Ford. It was the first at-bat of Ford's MLB career.

Mariners starter Logan Gilbert gave up one run in six innings. He struck out seven and surrendered five hits and one walk.

Saturday:

Julio Rodríguez hit two of Seattle's five home runs, Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 52nd homer of the year, and the Mariners beat the Atlanta Braves 10-2 on Saturday night.

Rodríguez, who went 3 for 4 with four RBIs, had his third multihomer game of the season and the seventh of his career.

Rodríguez and Eugenio Suárez hit home runs off Daysbel Hernández (4-3) in the seventh inning to propel the Mariners to just their second win in their last nine games as they hold on to the final AL wild-card spot.

Suárez continued to torment the Braves this season as he is now 11 for 29 (.379) with eight RBIs, five walks and five home runs against Atlanta.

Braves rookie Hurston Waldrep allowed multiple runs in a start for the first time in six starts this season. The right-hander allowed two runs on two hits with five walks and five strikeouts over five innings.

Mariners starter Bryce Miller allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Gabe Speier (3-3) threw 2/3 of an inning in relief.

Sunday:

Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 53rd home run and the Seattle Mariners had 20 hits as they scored their most runs since 2012 in an 18-2 rout of the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

Eugenio Suárez homered twice, raising his season total to 45, and Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor also went deep as the Mariners hit five homers in consecutive games for the second time in team history, the first since May 20-21, 1994.

Polanco and Naylor homered in an eight-run third inning and Raleigh hit a three-run drive in a seven-run ninth, giving him 113 RBIs. Suárez hit a solo homer in the sixth and a two-run shot in the ninth.

Seattle had its most runs since beating Texas 21-8 on May 30, 2012, and its most hits since getting 20 in that game against the Rangers. The Mariners won consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 24 against the Athletics and the following day vs. San Diego.

Seattle (75-68) has a 1 1/2-game lead over Texas (74-70) for the third and last AL wild card. The Rangers lost for the third time in four games following a six-game winning streak.

Luis Castillo (9-8) allowed one run and four hits in six innings.

Atlanta scratched scheduled starter Spencer Strider on Sunday morning and pushed him back to Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs.

Joey Wentz (5-6) gave up eight runs, matching his career high, and eight hits in 2 1/3 innings.

RHP Bryan Woo (12-7, 3.02 ERA) starts at home on Monday night against St. Louis RHP Miles Mikolas (7-10, 4.89).