Mets cool off 1st-place Mariners

NEW YORK — Daniel Vogelbach hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the eighth inning and the New York Mets cooled off the first-place Seattle Mariners with a 2-1 victory Friday night.

Brandon Nimmo homered, Kodai Senga struck out 12 and Ronny Mauricio had two hits in his major league debut for New York — including a double in his first at-bat that was the hardest-hit ball by a Mets player this season.

Seattle went 0 for 10 with runners on base.

“Voge came up with a big at-bat there at the end,” said Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford, who homered in the fourth inning. “Senga kept us off balance pretty much all night. And then when we had runners on, we just didn’t get the big hit.”

Seattle, fresh off a 21-6 August that marked the winningest month in franchise history, remained a percentage point ahead of Houston and a game in front of third-place Texas in the AL West. The Astros fell to the Yankees 6-2, while the Rangers lost to Minnesota 5-1.

“Anytime you give up two runs, you expect to win the game,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “But they outpitched us tonight.”

Vogelbach’s opposite-field single off Andrés Muñoz (3-6) scored Francisco Lindor, who led off with a single before stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch.

Phil Bickford (4-4) worked a scoreless eighth and Drew Smith earned his third save after an eventful ninth. Smith walked leadoff batter Cal Raleigh before immediately picking off pinch-runner José Caballero. The right-hander then gave up a two-out single to Dominic Canzone before striking out Ty France.

“Those outs are huge late in the game,” Servais said. “You’re kind of letting a pitcher off the hook when you’ve kind of got him where you want him with the leadoff guy on base. We’ve got to be more heads-up.”

Mauricio, one of New York’s top prospects, was called up from Triple-A Syracuse before the game and started at second base. He laced a 117.3 mph double to deep right field his first time up, spread his arms and pointed to his cheering family in the stands.

“It’s incredible. It’s the best,” Mauricio said through an interpreter. “It’s one of those moments that I’ll never forget.”

Julio Rodríguez singled and doubled to extend his hitting streak to 14 games for Seattle. He has 32 hits in his last 11 games, the most during an 11-game span in franchise history.

Logan Gilbert struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings.

Senga went seven innings and whiffed every member of Seattle’s lineup at least once except Canzone.

“Heck of a pitching performance on both sides tonight,” Servais said. “I thought Logan was really good, certainly on top of his game. Unfortunately, their guy was just as good.”

It was the third 12-strikeout game of the season for Senga, who also whiffed a dozen against Tampa Bay on May 17 and Arizona on July 5.

“That forkball had way more movement than I expected it to — that thing just dropped out the window. It was really impressive,” Crawford said. “He had everything working and was able to get out of some tight situations.”

THE KID IS ALL RIGHT

The 22-year-old Mauricio became the first Mets player with at least two hits in his major league debut since pitcher Steven Matz had three against Cincinnati in June 2015.

“It was in the fifth inning where I kind of stood on second base and I said, ‘Wow, is this a dream or is this real life?’” Mauricio said. “Once it set in, it just kind of validated all that hard work that we all put in to try to get here to this point.”

LET HIM RUN

Lindor’s stolen base in the eighth was his 25th of the season, tying the career high he set with Cleveland in 2018.

SEPTEMBER MOVES

With rosters expanding to 28 on Friday, the Mariners recalled utilityman Sam Haggerty from Triple-A Tacoma and activated pitcher Dominic Leone, whom they claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.

In addition to promoting Mauricio, the Mets recalled third baseman Brett Baty and pitcher José Butto from Triple-A Syracuse and optioned infielder Danny Mendick to the same affiliate.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: CF Julio Rodríguez (left foot) returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games and went 2 for 4.

Mets: Manager Buck Showalter said RF Starling Marte (right groin) felt better and was in much-improved spirits after spending the week undergoing physical therapy in Philadelphia.

UP NEXT

RHP Luis Castillo (11-7, 3.01 ERA) starts for the Mariners against LHP David Peterson (3-7, 5.23 ERA) in the middle game of the series Saturday night. Castillo allowed one hit over seven scoreless innings in a win over Kansas City on Sunday — the third time this season he’s limited an opponent to one hit in at least six innings. Peterson gave up one run in a season-high seven innings Sunday against the Angels.

METS 2, MARINERS 1

LOB—Seattle 6, New York 8. 2B_Hernández (27), Rodríguez (32), Mauricio (1), Alonso (15). HR—Crawford (13), off Senga; Nimmo (20), off Gilbert. RBIs—Crawford (45), Nimmo (55), Vogelbach (44). SB—Lindor (25), Locastro (5).

Runners left in scoring position—Seattle 3 (Suárez, Raleigh, Ford); New York 5 (Alvarez 2, Nimmo, McNeil, Vogelbach). RISP—Seattle 0 for 7; New York 1 for 8.

Runners moved up—Canzone, Lindor. GIDP—Ford.

DP—New York 1 (Mauricio, Lindor, Alonso).

Inherited runners-scored—Speier 2-0. WP—Muñoz(2), Senga.

Umpires—Home, Vic Carapazza; First, Adam Hamari; Second, Nick Mahrley; Third, Jacob Metz.

T—2:38. A—33,340 (42,136).