The Mariners escaped disaster in the eighth inning Friday night. Cory Gearrin used a lulling pace and a perfect slider to escape a bases-loaded, one-out situation on a stunning 1-2-3 double play where the batter Eduardo Nunez stopped running after the first out was made at home on his slow bouncer up the first-base line.
But they couldn’t avoid the inevitable in the ninth.
Closer Hunter Strickland never looked right on the mound from his first pitch. After giving up a leadoff double, tossing a wild pitch and hitting a batter, Mariners manager Scott Servais and athletic trainer Rob Nodine came to the mound to see if he was injured.