Eugenio Suarez had three hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Colorado Rockies 6-2 on Thursday to tie a franchise record with an 11th consecutive home victory.
Randy Arozarena added two hits and two RBIs for the Mariners (90-69), who won their seventh in a row overall and prevailed for the 17th time in the past 18 games.
After clinching a playoff berth on Tuesday and the American League West title on Wednesday, the Mariners claimed at least the league’s No. 2 seed and a first-round bye when the Cleveland Guardians lost to the Detroit Tigers earlier Thursday. The division title is the Mariners’ first since their record-tying 116-win season of 2001, which was when they previously won 11 in a row at home.
The Rockies (43-116) took their third straight defeat.
Mariners starter Emerson Hancock, who had pitched only in relief this month, started and threw four scoreless innings. The right-hander allowed two hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven.
Caleb Ferguson (5-4) tossed a scoreless inning of relief for the victory.
The Mariners opened the scoring in the second. Josh Naylor led off with a single, and one out later, Suarez went deep off the facade of the second deck in left field against Rockies right-hander Bradley Blalock (2-6). It was Suarez’s 49th homer of the season.
Seattle extended its lead with three runs in the fourth. Naylor was hit by a pitch and Jorge Polanco laid down a sacrifice bunt. Suarez lined a single to right to put runners at the corners before Dominic Canzone grounded into a run-scoring forceout.
An infield single by Mitch Garver and a walk to Leo Rivas loaded the bases for Arozarena, who lined a two-run single to center to make it 5-0.
The Mariners tacked on another run in the fifth as Naylor led off with a double, took third on a groundout and scored on Suarez’s single to right.
The Rockies scored their first run in the sixth. Blaine Crim doubled to center with one out and scored on Ezequiel Tovar’s two-out single to right.
Colorado added a tally in the ninth on a walk to Kyle Karros and singles by Ryan Ritter and Hunter Goodman.
Blalock allowed five runs on six hits over 3 2/3 innings, with two walks and one strikeout.
