Eugenio Suarez threw his arms in the air once, twice, three times as he rounded third base and jogged home, his teammates and a bucket of cold Gatorade waiting for him at home plate.
Julio Rodriguez hit the tying home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, and Suarez followed with the walk-off winner over the wall in left-center field off veteran closer Kenley Jansen to send the Mariners to a wild 8-7 victory over the Atlanta Braves before a sellout crowd of 45,245 at T-Mobile Park.
The game featured eight home runs in all, two each by Rodriguez, Suarez and Atlanta rookie Michael Harris.
Seattle relievers Diego Castillo and Paul Sewald each surrendered mammoth home runs as the Braves scored five runs in the ninth inning — all with two outs — to stun the Mariners and take a 7-6 lead into the bottom half of the ninth.
The blown save wasted a strong start from Mariners left-hander Marco Gonzales and, more importantly, appeared to waste a prime opportunity for the Mariners (78-62) to move up to the top spot in the American League wild card chase.
Trailing 6-2, Atlanta rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth inning off M’s reliever Diego Castillo, who gave up a massive three-run home run to rookie Michael Harris on a 3-2 slider with two outs. Castillo had walked Austin RIley and Matt Olson to lead off the inning, and the walks came back to hurt him.
With two outs, Paul Sewald relieved Castillo and gave up a line-drive single to pinch hitter Eddie Rosario. Robbie Grossman, Atlanta’s No. 9 hitter, followed with a no-doubt, two-run home run to right field to give the Braves their first lead of the game.
With the Mariners clinging to the final American League wild-card position, Gonzales pitched six sharp innings, striking out five and allowing only one run on two hits with no walks against an Atlanta lineup that has feasted on left-handed pitching.
Rodriguez hit a leadoff home run and Adam Frazier gave the Mariners the lead with a two-run triple off the wall in right-center field in the fourth inning.
Suarez hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, his 29th of the season, and J.P. Crawford added an RBI double.
The Mariners moved back into a virtual tie with Tampa Bay for the top wild card spot in the AL with 21 games remaining in the regular season.
The Rays (78-60), Blue Jays (78-61) and Orioles (73-67) had all lost Sunday.
After an off day Monday, the Mariners host the San Diego Padres (77-63) for a two-game series starting Tuesday.
NOTE: Mariners right fielder Mitch Haniger left the game in the sixth inning because of low back tightness. He was replaced in the lineup by Taylor Trammell.