The longest, strangest night of the season had the most unlikely ending for the Mariners.
Leo Rivas, a little-used 27-year-old utility player, belted a walkoff, two-run home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the 13th inning, sending the Mariners to one of their wackiest victories of the season, 4-2 over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park.
It was the Mariners' longest game since a walkoff victory over the New York Yankees on Aug. 9, 2022, and this one ended on the first plate appearance of the night for Rivas, who played the role of improbable hero with just the second home run of his MLB career.
Rivas had spent most of the season in Triple-A Tacoma, his 10th season in the minor leagues. Recalled to Seattle earlier this month, he hit his first career home run in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 1 near the end of a forgettable blowout loss for the Mariners.
This one he'll surely never forget.
That was awesome," he said. "I'm just so happy."
https://twitter.com/A_Jude/status/1966020705377726917
Rivas had come off the bench as a pinch-runner in the 11th inning after designated hitter Jorge Polanco doubled to tie the score at 2-2.
When Rivas stepped to the plate leading off the 13th against Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez, with automatic runner Josh Naylor standing at second base, the entire St. Louis infield was expecting a bunt. First baseman Willson Contreras had actually crept up three-quarters of the way to home plate, hoping to cut down Naylor at third base.
Rivas, too, figured he would be asked to bunt. The switch-hitter even went into the indoor batting cages behind the Mariners' dugout to practice bunting during the top half of the 13th.
When he did step into the batter's box, he was surprised to see a "swing away" sign from third base coach Kristopher Negrón, and his goal was to try pull the ball to the right side and advance the runner to third base.
And then … fireworks.
"It means a lot," Rivas said. "Not only me, but everybody's been through a lot. I just try and be present every day, every night. And I'm just happy."
The walkoff completed a three-game series sweep for the Mariners (78-68), who have won five in a row and remain one game back of the Houston Astros in the AL West.
The Mariners, incredibly, failed to capitalize on three bases-loaded situations late in the game, scoring no runs despite those promising opportunities in the eighth, 10th and 11th innings.
It was former Mariners reliever Riley O’Brien, a Shorewood High School product, who worked out of bases-loaded jams for the Cardinals in both the 10th and 11th innings.
He struck out Julio Rodríguez and Naylor to escape the 10th and got rookie Cole Young to ground into a double play to end the 11th.
After Polanco’s scorching double drove in a run off O’Brien in the 11th, tying the score at 2-2, the Mariners had loaded the bases with no outs.
And yet, nothing came of it.
Emerson Hancock pitched a scoreless top of the 12th, closing out his first relief appearance at T-Mobile Park with a nifty sliding play and a tag on the first-base line to get the final out.
He then pitched a scoreless 13th inning to set the stage for Rivas’ heroics.
"It's different, for sure, but it's just such an adrenaline rush of getting hot, get in the game, and just do your job and just throw strikes and execute pitches the best that you can," Hancock said after just his third relief appearance with the M's since being moved to the bullpen. "You're doing the same things. It's just a different process to get there, and I'm just trying to stay locked in. And when the phone rings, you just go in there and do what you need to do.
Hancock's performance capped a near-flawless series for Seattle's bullpen, which allowed only one unearned run over 16 1/3 innings against the Cardinals.
The Mariners finished 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position. The Cardinals were 2 for 22.
The Cardinals’ Iván Herrera, the second batter of the game, launched a solo homer off a hanging splitter from Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert to give St. Louis an early lead on the Mariners for the third night in a row.
The Cardinals had a chance to extend that lead in the second when they loaded the bases with no outs after a walk and two soft singles. But Gilbert escaped unscathed after striking out José Fermín, Nathan Church and Lars Nootbaar — letting out a primal yell after getting Nootbaar to swing over a splitter at the bottom to the zone.
It was a pivotal turning point for the Mariners, who answered right back in the bottom of the second.
Naylor, after getting eye drops in his left eye just before his first plate appearance, singled off the glove of Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy to lead off the inning.
Polanco followed with a sharp single up the middle, and Eugenio Suárez’s soft ground out to second base advanced both runners.
Dominic Canzone then lofted a deep fly ball to left field to easily score Naylor from third, tying the score at 1-1.
Gilbert managed to strand two more runners in scoring position to end the fourth inning to keep the score tied, and he was on his way to clearing the fifth inning until his 1-2 splitter hit Contreras in the leg.
That would be Gilbert’s 95th and final pitch of the night. M’s manager Dan Wilson made the call for Carlos Vargas out of the bullpen.
Gilbert allowed only the one run on five hits, with one walk, two hit batters and eight strikeouts. But his 31-pitch second inning led to the early exit with two outs in the fifth.
McGreevy, a rookie, allowed only one run over six solid innings for the Cardinals, allowing five hits, with no walks and four strikeouts.
© 2025 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
