Leody Taveras hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Chicago White Sox 6-5 on a windy Wednesday afternoon to win their seventh consecutive road series.
Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh also went deep for the American League West-leading Mariners, who improved to 5-1 on their 10-game trip.
Tim Elko, Lenyn Sosa and Joshua Palacios homered for the White Sox, who have lost six of their past seven games — the lone victory in that span a 1-0 triumph Tuesday.
Mariners right-hander Casey Legumina (4-1), who served as the “opener” the previous night, got the victory. Andres Munoz worked the ninth for his major league-leading 16th save.
Trailing 5-4, Seattle’s Rowdy Tellez led off the eighth with a single to left off reliever Mike Vasil (2-2) and advanced to second when the ball rolled under the glove of outfielder Michael A. Taylor. Taveras, claimed off waivers from Texas on May 6, hit the next pitch over the wall in right-center for his first homer with the Mariners.
The Mariners took an early 3-0 lead as J.P. Crawford and Jorge Polanco walked in the top of the first inning before Rodriguez went deep to center.
The White Sox got on the scoreboard in the third on Elko’s leadoff homer to left.
Chicago took a 4-3 lead in the fourth on back-to-back one-out homers by Sosa and Palacios, the first to left and the second to right. Those came after Matt Thaiss led off with a single to center.
The Mariners evened the score on Raleigh’s solo shot to left leading off the sixth against reliever Brandon Eisert.
The White Sox took a 5-4 lead in the seventh. With one out, Elko reached on an infield single and Josh Rojas walked. Chase Meidroth grounded a single to right to plate the run.
Both teams started rookie right-handers and neither factored into the decision.
Chicago’s Shane Smith settled down after the first, with Raleigh’s double with two outs in the third the only other hit he allowed over five innings. Smith struck out six.
Seattle’s Logan Evans went six innings and gave up four runs on six hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts.
