SEATTLE (AP) — Mike Yastrzemski homered among his three hits, and the San Francisco Giants survived a wild outing by starter Blake Snell to beat the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Saturday.
Snell, who grew up near Seattle, walked five batters in the second inning, two with the bases loaded, and issued a season-worst six walks overall. He struck out two batters in a perfect third inning before being pulled.
Snell gave up two runs on no hits and threw 74 pitches, 42 for strikes.
“Internally, I just got mad at myself,” Snell said. “They had no hits, so giving up two runs on no hits is pretty bad. Coming in and talking to myself, figuring out something’s got to change, that’s what I needed. I’ve got to do a better job in the moment.”
Spencer Bivens (3-1) worked three efficient innings of scoreless relief, and the fifth Giants pitcher, Ryan Walker, handled the ninth for his third save. Walker hasn’t allowed an earned run since July 30, a stretch of 11 appearances.
“He’s unbelievable,” Yastrzemski said. “He’s our workhorse down there. You can throw him in any role, and he’s going to say yes, he’s not going to put up a stink. He’s gonna do whatever needs to be done for the team, and do it very well. I’m really glad that I don’t have to face him right now.”
The Mariners finished with a season-high nine walks but just four hits. Seattle (65-65) fell back to .500 a day after beating San Francisco 6-5 in 10 innings in Dan Wilson’s debut as manager. Scott Servais was fired after the Mariners lost eight of their previous nine.
The Giants (66-65) have been hovering around .500 for most of August.
George Kirby (9-10) labored through 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits. He departed after Yastrzemski hit a two-out double and Thairo Estrada followed with an RBI single to put the Giants ahead 3-2.
Yastrzemski made it 4-2 in the seventh with his 10th homer of the season.
“The way things have been going lately with the late innings and the one-run games, it felt like more than … a solo shot,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We gave up one run later, and it wound up being obviously the biggest hit of the game for us.”
Matt Chapman had a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the first inning for the Giants, and Tyler Fitzgerald made it 2-0 with an RBI single in the second.
The Mariners got within 4-3 in the seventh on a fielder’s-choice grounder by Randy Arozarena, but right-hander Camilo Doval — recalled before the game from Triple-A Sacramento — came on and got Mitch Haniger to ground out with the bases loaded.
“You’ve got to tip your cap sometimes,” Wilson said. “Their bullpen was pretty tough today, a couple guys that went a couple innings. We created create some traffic on them, but just weren’t able to get them in.”
ROSTER MOVE
The Giants optioned RHP Landen Roupp to Sacramento to make room for Doval.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: OF Victor Robles left the game in the first inning with a right index finger contusion after taking a pitch off his finger on a failed bunt attempt. X-rays were negative … Mariners SS J.P. Crawford (hand) was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Saturday with Triple-A Tacoma.
UP NEXT
Giants LHP Robbie Ray (3-2, 4.88 ERA) will pitch Sunday against his former team, which counters with RHP Bryan Woo (5-2, 2.12).
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