Yastrzemski homers as Giants survive Blake Snell's wildness, beat Mariners
SEATTLE -- 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 walked five batters in the second inning, two with the bases loaded, and issued a season-worst six walks overall. He was pulled after three innings in which he gave up two runs on no hits and threw 74 pitches, 42 for strikes.
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.
The Mariners finished with nine walks and 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.
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.
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.
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).