Mariners rookie Harry Ford delivered his first major league walk-off moment before he even registered his first hit in the big leagues.
The recent callup came through with a pinch-hit, walk-off sacrifice fly in the 12th inning to cap off a wild 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night.
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The win puts the Mariners all square with the Houston Astros atop the AL West.
The win was the sixth straight for Seattle and the second straight in walk-off fashion in extra innings after Leo Rivas clubbed the winning home run in a 4-2 win over the Cardinals on Wednesday in the 13th. That was a surprise all its own given it was Rivas’ second homer of his career.
But Thursday’s finish came from an even less likely hero in Ford, who the Mariners called up when rosters expanded at the start of September. The former first-round draft pick was mostly brought on as an emergency catcher off the bench.
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But he found himself in a critical situation by complete circumstance on Thursday, when he was essentially the team’s last player available off the bench to hit for what was at that point the pitcher’s spot in the lineup due to a series of defensive substitutions made in extra innings.
Suddenly, the 22-year-old was stepping to the plate for his third major league at-bat with the bases loaded and no outs in a 6-6 tie. He wasted no time, hitting the first pitch he saw from Sammy Peralta just deep enough into right field for Jorge Polanco to tag up and score from third. The celebration ensued.
Officially, Ford is now 0-for-3 with an RBI to begin his MLB career. The one RBI is a big one, and he was as surprised as anyone to get the opportunity.
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“Honestly, I was getting ready to pinch run,” Ford told the Root Sports broadcast after the game. “I didn’t think I was going to get to hit but they told me I was going to get to hit and I was like, ‘let’s do it.'”
It was a fitting finish to a game that had all kinds of twists and turns. Seattle jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning, but the bats went cold after that as the Angeles chipped away at the deficit.
A Mike Trout solo home run in the fifth tied it at 4-4, and that score held until Taylor Ward’s RBI single gave the Angels their first lead of the game, 5-4, in the 11th inning. The Mariners matched in the bottom of the 11th when J.P. Crawford’s single drove in the tying run.
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LA once again plated a go-ahead run in the 12th, pressuring the Mariners to keep pace in the bottom half. Polanco quickly tied it at 6-6 with a leadoff double to score the automatic runner. The Angels intentionally walked Eugenio Suárez and Victor Robles got aboard with a bunt base hit to load the bases, setting the stage for Ford.
Seattle and Houston are now deadlocked with 15 games to go. The teams face off for three games in Houston Sept. 19-21 in a series that looks likely to decided the division crown.
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