Eugenio Suarez hits 3-run home run in 10th inning to boost Mariners past Pirates

After rallying to force extra innings, the Pittsburgh Pirates could only watch when Eugenio Suarez launched a Robert Stephenson slider that sailed over the left-field fence for a walk-off win.

Suarez’s three-run blast in the bottom of the 10th, Seattle’s third homer of the game, boosted the Mariners to a 6-3 win Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Park and clinched a series victory.

“We had many opportunities to extend it and we did not capitalize on that,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “We have to do that to win games.”

And to win series, something the Pirates haven’t done since sweeping a doubleheader April 29 to take two of three games at Washington. The Pirates (26-26) slipped to .500 for the first time since April 3 and are 1½ games behind the Milwaukee Brewers (28-25) in the NL Central. The Pirates visit San Francisco on Monday for a three-game series.

They had a chance to win with the bases loaded in the 10th. Andrew McCutchen started at second base as the automatic runner, reached third on Bryan Reynolds’ single to left off Taylor Saucedo, who struck out Connor Joe and Jack Suwinski before intentionally walking Rodolfo Castro. Saucedo, however, got Ke’Bryan Hayes swinging at a full-count changeup to strike out for the fourth time.

“I think he’s a little bit in-between,” Shelton said. “We’ve got a couple guys that are in-between. When that happens, you don’t swing at the right pitches.”

J.P. Crawford started on second for the Mariners and reached third on a groundout to second by Ty France. Stephenson struck out Julio Rodriguez, then walked Jarred Kelenic before Suarez homered.

“We have to make sure the breaking ball stays out of the middle of the plate and up,” Shelton said. “Because when it’s up and out over the middle of the plate, hitters when they take that swing, the ball is already back spun. If you get good hitters with power, they’re going to end up going out of the ballpark.”

The Pirates started Sunday by juggling their pitching staff, leaving their starting rotation in flux. Vince Velasquez returned to the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort and reliever Cody Bolton was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis, but the biggest move was something of a surprise. After being scratched from his scheduled start on Saturday, Roansy Contreras was bumped to the bullpen and made his first relief appearance in more than a year.

Pirates starter Luis Ortiz allowed three runs on five hits and four walks, giving up a pair of solo home runs.

Rodriguez smacked a 1-2 slider for a high-arcing, 356-foot shot solo shot just over Joe’s glove in left for his ninth home run to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Cal Raleigh led off the fourth by smacking Ortiz’s first-pitch fastball 349 feet to right for his eighth homer and a 2-0 Mariners lead.

Both homers were moon shots with 43-degree launch angles.

“I thought they were not going to be going out of the field at that time because they were so high, but they went out,” Ortiz said through interpreter Stephen Morales. “You have to give credit to the hitters.”

The Pirates cut it to 2-1 in the fifth, when Ji Hwan Bae singled to right, went to third on a Chris Owings single down the right field line and scored on Austin Hedges’ line-drive sacrifice fly to left.

Ortiz got into trouble in the bottom of the fifth, when Crawford hit a leadoff single to right, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Kelenic’s two-out double to left to make it 3-1. Ortiz walked Suarez to put a pair of runners on base but stranded both by getting Raleigh to ground out to third.

The 23-year-old Contreras, who had a 3-4 record with a 4.50 ERA and 1.42 WHIP in nine starts this season, made his first relief appearance since April 19, 2022, and tossed two scoreless innings while allowing one hit and recording a strikeout.

“Definitely a new role for me,” Contreras said through Morales, “but if that’s what the team wants I’ll be ready to come out of the bullpen and do my job, either way.”

On his weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said the decision to move Contreras to the bullpen was made before Velasquez reinjured his right elbow. Cherington said the Pirates have confidence in Contreras as a “starting pitcher long-term.”

Shelton said the Pirates would re-evaluate that decision after Contreras showed increased velocity on his fastball and better command of his slider.

“There’s a chance that Ro can go back into the rotation,” Shelton said. “He was outstanding.”

The Pirates announced that Carlos Santana was removed from the game in the sixth inning with lumbar spine muscular tightness. Joe moved from left field to replace Santana at first base, a position where the Pirates are perilously thin with Ji-Man Choi (Achilles tendon strain) on the 60-day injured list until June 13.

In the eighth, McCutchen got a leadoff single to short and advanced to second on Crawford’s throwing error, then scored when Reynolds ripped a triple to the right field corner off Justin Topa to cut it to 3-2. After Topa struck out Joe, the Mariners replaced him with closer Paul Sewald.

Suwinski, who replaced Santana in the batting order, worked a walk that saw Sewald’s full-count sweeper bounce between the legs of catcher Tom Murphy for a wild pitch that allowed Reynolds to score the game-tying run.

The Pirates were in position to take the lead in the ninth, when Bae hit a leadoff double and pinch-hitter Josh Palacios drew a one-out walk, but McCutchen grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the rally.

Bae made a spectacular catch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, reaching back while running toward the center field wall to rob Crawford of an extra-base hit and send the game into extra innings.

“Obviously, a lot of excitement,” Bae said through interpreter Daniel Park, “but I just wanted to win the game.”