Seager’s pinch-hit single in 9th helps Mariners rally past Rays

SEATTLE — Shed Long Jr. hit a tying double in the bottom of the ninth inning and pinch-hitter Kyle Seager singled home the winning run to rally the Seattle Mariners past the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5 on Thursday.

Seattle lost starter Justin Dunn to a sore right shoulder after two innings, but came from behind with the help of a two-run homer by Ty France and a solo shot from Luis Torrens.

Dylan Moore drew a four-pitch walk from reliever Pete Fairbanks (1-2) to start the ninth. Jake Bauers singled and Long tied it at 5 with his second double of the game.

Seager batted for Taylor Trammell and singled through the right side of a drawn-in infield to score Bauers from third.

“I wasn’t prepared for it,” Seager joked about his chance to hit. “I was watching the game.”

Seattle manager Scott Servais said Seager, the team’s regular third baseman, was supposed to be shut down for the day. But he told him to be ready with the Mariners trailing 5-4 in the top of the ninth.

“When it gets to that point in the game and you’ve only got one bullet to shoot, you might as well shoot it,” Servais said.

Hector Santiago (1-1) struck out three in a hitless inning for the win.

Seattle has won four of five. The Rays are 24-8 in their past 32 games, with the eight losses coming by a total of 12 runs. Five were by one run.

Randy Arozarena hit his 10th home run against Mariners reliever JT Chargois after Ji-Man Choi’s leadoff single in the fourth. Brett Phillips drew a walk, stole second and scored on Brandon Lowe’s single to make it 3-1 in the fifth.

Joey Wendle and Kevin Kiermaier added RBI singles in the sixth to help build a 5-2 lead.

It was the second loss in two days for Fairbanks, who allowed the winning hit Wednesday in the 10th inning of an 8-7 defeat to the Chicago White Sox. The Rays have dropped three in a row, shaving their AL East lead to a half-game over Boston.

“We’ve got a good team,” an angry Fairbanks said. “As long as I don’t blow it when we take leads into the ninth, when I’ve got that opportunity, we’ll be fine.”

DUNN UPDATE — Dunn said after the game he started experiencing discomfort in his pitching shoulder during warmups. The right-hander looked strong through two innings, with a strikeout against one hit, but experienced increased discomfort and felt he couldn’t return for the third. Dunn spent time on the 10-day injured list earlier this month, returning to the team June 10.

TRAINER’S ROOM — Evan White reinjured his strained right hip flexor in a rehab game at Triple-A Tacoma and has returned to Seattle. Servais hopes the setback won’t cost the Gold Glove first baseman more than four or five days. White reinjured himself while running to first.

UP NEXT — Rays right-hander Michael Wacha (1-1, 4.54 ERA) has not pitched more than three innings since returning from the injured list on May 23. Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (3-3, 3.67) returns to the mound after pitching seven shutout innings in his previous start.

Tampa Bay Seattle

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Lowe 2b 5 0 1 1 Crawford ss 4 0 1 1

Choi 1b 4 1 1 0 Haniger rf 4 1 1 0

Arozarena lf 4 2 3 2 France 3b 4 1 1 2

Meadows dh 4 1 1 0 Murphy c 2 0 0 0

Wendle 3b 1 0 0 1 Fraley ph 1 0 0 0

Walls ss 4 0 0 0 Godoy c 0 0 0 0

Kiermaier cf 4 0 1 1 Moore 2b 3 1 1 0

Zunino c 4 0 0 0 Bauers 1b 4 1 1 0

Phillips rf 3 1 0 0 Torrens dh 4 1 2 1

Long Jr. lf 4 1 2 1

Trammell cf 2 0 0 0

Seager ph 1 0 1 1

Totals 33 5 7 5 Totals 33 6 10 6

Tampa Bay 000 212 000 — 5

Seattle 001 012 002 — 6

E—Moore (4). DP—Tampa Bay 1, Seattle 0. LOB—Tampa Bay 5, Seattle 5. 2B—Meadows (18), Long Jr. 2 (3), Torrens (6). HR—Arozarena (10), Torrens (4), France (5). SB—Arozarena (11), Moore (10), Phillips 2 (9), Wendle (5). SF—Wendle (2). S—Trammell (2).

IP H R ER BB SO

Tampa Bay

Hill 5 6 4 4 1 5

Thompson H,10 1 0 0 0 0 1

Springs H,8 1 1 0 0 0 2

Wisler H,2 1 0 0 0 0 1

Fairbanks L,1-2 1/3 3 2 2 1 0

Seattle

Dunn 2 1 0 0 0 1

Chargois 2 2 2 2 0 2

Montero 1 2 2 2 1 1

Misiewicz 2 2 1 1 0 4

Sewald 1 0 0 0 1 0

Santiago W,1-1 1 0 0 0 0 3

Hill pitched to 3 batters in the 6th, Montero pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.

HBP—Chargois (Wendle).

Umpires—Home, Joe West; First, Quinn Wolcott; Second, Nic Lentz; Third, Edwin Moscoso.

T—3:08. A—9,092 (47,929).