By Lauren Smith
McClatchy News Service
ANAHEIM — The Mariners played their first intrasquad game of summer camp back in July, and in his first at-bat, Kyle Lewis turned on a fastball from teammate Justin Dunn and planted it in the bullpen.
Dunn, who was supposed to be Lewis’ ride home from the ballpark that day, joked Lewis would probably be walking home.
The two Mariners rookies have enjoyed continuing to play baseball together at the major league level this season after tearing up the Texas League with Double-A Arkansas last year. The two play MLB The Show together, talk about pitch sequencing, and Dunn has been quick to promote Lewis’ American League Rookie of the Year bid.
Lewis cranked another home run with Dunn on the mound Sunday afternoon in Anaheim — though this time they were on the same side — to put an exclamation point on another outstanding start from Dunn.
For the second time in a week, Dunn allowed a single hit across six innings of work, and Lewis’ homer in the seventh broke a scoreless tie, putting Dunn in line for a win against the Angels.
It didn’t quite stay that way — the Angels tied the game at one run apiece minutes later off Seattle’s bullpen — but it was another sign of good things to come from this young Mariners club.
Lewis did eventually score the winning run in the 10th to lift the Mariners to a 2-1 win at Angel Stadium, turning on the jets as he rounded third and dove just ahead of the tag at home. It was a refreshing win for the Mariners (14-22) after a 16-3 drubbing Saturday night.
Lewis opened the inning on second base per Major League Baseball’s new extra-inning rule, and Tim Lopes worked an eight-pitch at-bat with one out as a pinch hitter. Lopes took a pair of pitches and batted three more away after falling behind 0-2 to Angels reliever Jose Quijada, and eventually got a changeup he could handle, lifting it into left.
For a moment, it seemed Lewis would slow up and stop at third on the base hit, but third base coach Manny Acta waved him through, and Lewis outlegged the throw to give the Mariners the win.
Mariners Rule 5 Draft pickup Yohan Ramirez picked up the first save of his career in the 10th, striking out a pair of batters.
Dunn was superb in his second consecutive scoreless start — he hasn’t allowed a run in his past 12 innings pitched. He worked around two walks in the first inning to retire the side without damage, and at one point retired 13 of 14 batters.
The Mariners finish their series with the Angels at 1 p.m. today. That game is on ROOT Sports.
