Mariners beat Cubs 5-4 on Randy Arozarena’s walkoff HR
Arozarena homered twice in total as the M's won Kade Anderson's MLB debut.
Randy Arozarena of the Seattle Mariners celebrates after hitting a walkoff, two-run home run during the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday in Seattle. (Olivia Vanni/Getty Images)
(Olivia Vanni/Getty Images)
SEATTLE (AP) — Randy Arozarena hit a walk-off, two-run home run as the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago Cubs 5-4 on Saturday night.
Seattle Mariners 5, Chicago Cubs 4: Box Score
Arozarena took Cubs closer Jacob Webb (6-3) 404 feet to straightaway center to seal the come-from-behind victory for Seattle. The Mariners trailed 4-2 entering the ninth inning, and pulled within one run on a two-out, RBI single by Leo Rivas.
Kade Anderson made his much-anticipated MLB debut, yielding three earned runs across 5 2/3 innings. The 22-year-old Anderson entered the game as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. Anderson, the third overall pick in 2025, became the first player from his draft class to make his big league debut on Saturday.
Mariners reliever Michael Rucker (1-4) earned his first win of the season.
Seattle (62-68) moved 3 1/2 games behind Houston in the AL West and two games back for the final wild-card spot. The Cubs (74-56) dropped to a 4 1/2 -game lead in the NL wild card.
Chicago struck first against Anderson in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Alcántara. Seattle led twice before the Cubs’ three-run sixth inning, first taking a 1-0 advantage on a leadoff home run by Arozarena and then on an RBI groundout by Dominic Canzone in the fifth inning.
Mariners utilityman Brendan Donovan was a late scratch because he was hit in the head by a baseball in the batting cages before Saturday’s game. Weston Wilson started in his place at third base and batted eighth.
Up next
Mariners RHP Bryce Miller (4-7, 3.71) will start opposite Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (8-9, 3.77) in Sunday’s series finale.
Seattle Mariners news and more
• Mariners Injuries: Latest on Bryan Woo, J.P. Crawford
• Seattle Mariners activate reliever Carlos Vargas from IL
• M’s add former Tigers playoff hero on minors deal
Related
Mariners’ Kade Anderson takes it all in before impressing in debut
Randy Arozarena achieves rare feat in Mariners’ walkoff win
Mariners scratch Brendan Donovan after ball hits him in head
Roster Move: Mariners officially call up Kade Anderson, DFA LHP
Mariners Injuries: Latest on Bryan Woo, J.P. Crawford
Leo Rivas delivers walkoff as Mariners beat Cubs 6-5 in extras
Comments
1 Comments
Today's game was a completely absurd baseball anomaly.
Randy Arozarena hit a leadoff and walk-off home run in the same game, which is one of the rarest feats in baseball history. It's only happened 8 times in MLB history:
Billy Hamilton (1893)
Vic Power (May 7, 1957)
Darin Erstad (June 25, 2000)
Reed Johnson (June 15, 2003)
Ian Kinsler (July 19, 2009)
Chris Young (August 7, 2010)
Pete Crow-Armstrong (August 17, 2026)
Randy Arozarena (August 22, 2026)
I gets even weirder. Before this week, a player hitting both a leadoff homer and a walk-off homer in the same game had only happened 6 times in the entire ~150-year history of Major League Baseball (averaging once every 25 years). Notice the name above Randy's. Pete Crow-Armstrong. Not only did he do it less than a week ago, he's playing in the same game.
Happening twice in 5 days (Pete Crow-Armstrong on August 17, and Randy Arozarena on August 22) is a statistical fluke on par with seeing two unassisted triple plays in the same week.
Having the previous player who accomplished it (PCA) out in center field watching Arozarena's walk-off shot fly right over his head is pure baseball serendipity.
If you watched the game, you essentially witnessed a 1-in-a-million historical convergence on a single night at T-Mobile Park.