Lazaro Montes blasts HR in 9th to lift Mariners past Rockies 5-4

J.P. Crawford hit his 18th career leadoff homer and Carlos Vargas earned the win for Seattle.

Sep 18, 2026, 8:58 PM

Lazaro Montes of the Seattle Mariners hits a go-ahead solo home run in the ninth inning on Sept. 18, 2026 in Denver. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

(Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

DENVER (AP) — Lazaro Montes led off the ninth inning with a 426-foot home run and the Seattle Mariners beat the Colorado Rockies 5-4 on Friday night.

Seattle Mariners 5, Colorado Rockies 4: Box Score

The Mariners are six games back of the Chicago White Sox for the third AL wild card with eight games remaining.

J.P. Crawford hit his 18th career leadoff homer, Randy Arozarena had three hits and Carlos Vargas (2-0) got one out for Seattle (72-82).

Montes’ blast into the second deck off Jordan Romano (0-4) gave Seattle its second straight win. Cole Carrigg led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, stole second but was picked off by Andres Munoz, who struck out Mickey Moniak to pick up his 28th save.

Colorado’s TJ Rumfield singled to extend his on-base streak to 22 games, the longest by a rookie in franchise history. The Rockies (56-98) are on the verge of being the first team since the 1965 New York Mets to lose 100 or more games in four straight seasons.

Rockies rookie starter Gabriel Hughes pitched 4 2/3 innings and remained winless in 13 starts and 14 games. He needed 34 pitches to get through the first but retired 11 straight before a one-out walk in the fifth.

Crawford hit his 13th home run and Josh Naylor added a two-run single in the three-run first inning. The Rockies scored single runs in the first and fourth against starter Bryan Woo, who allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings, and took the lead in the fifth on Jake McCarthy’s RBI triple and Connor Norby’s run-scoring single.

The Mariners tied it on Dominic Canzone’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Up next

Mariners RHP Bryce Miller (4-9, 4.19) was set to make his first Coors Field appearance and second career start against Colorado on Saturday night. The Rockies had not announced a starter.