MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits in Week-25
3. J.P. Crawford, Seattle Mariners, 58 percent
As previously noted, Saturday’s Mariners-Orioles game was a thriller out of proportion to its insignificance in the standings. Although Crawford’s role played out early in the eventual 13-run decision, it was pivotal.
Baltimore had held a 4-3 advantage through the sixth and seventh innings. Obviously, given the Orioles’ 50-104 record, one-run leads are not exactly impermeable, especially with three innings yet to play. Still, the Orioles held a 65 percent chance of winning when the eighth inning began.
Omar Narvaez singled to start the eighth, and a wild pitch advanced him as far as second. In the interim, however, Dee Gordon lined out and Mallex Smith grounded out. After Shed Long walked, Crawford got his chance and made the most of it. He laced a three-run home run into the seats in left-center.
That gave Seattle the 6-4 advantage, and concurrently swung the odds of a Mariner victory all the way to 83 percent. It was those odds that Austin Hays counter-balance with his own home run in the bottom of the eighth…see above.
The contest lingered undecided until the 13th when Seattle’s Tim Lopes managed an infield hit that scored Smith, who had reached on an error by pitcher Tanner Scott.