Crawford’s Heroics Not Enough: Arozarena Walk-Off Lifts Mariners Past D-Backs

There’s a particular brand of frustration that comes with losing a game you had every right to win, and the Arizona Diamondbacks experienced it in full Friday night at T-Mobile Park. After clawing back from a 5-1 deficit and taking a one-run lead into the ninth inning, they watched it slip away in the cruelest fashion possible: a Randy Arozarena walk-off double in the 10th that sent the Mariners home with a 7-6 victory.

Make no mistake, this was a winnable game that Arizona squandered. The Diamondbacks’ bats came alive, particularly in the sixth inning when Gabriel Moreno‘s two-run double and a subsequent RBI groundout by Ildemaro Vargas fueled a three-run outburst. Jose Fernandez added an RBI single to keep the rally alive. The offense showed up. The problem, as is often the case in baseball, was the pitching.

J.P. Crawford was the story for Seattle, and it’s hard to overstate how dominant he was. The Mariners’ shortstop went deep twice, including a two-run homer in the third that gave Seattle early momentum. Crawford’s second blast came in the fifth, a solo shot that pushed the Mariners’ lead to 5-1 and made it look like this might be a runaway. Julio Rodriguez chipped in with a 113.6 mph liner for a two-run shot of his own, while Luke Raley added a solo homer in the sixth. The Mariners could have and probably should have put this game away early.

But Arizona refused to go quietly. Geraldo Perdomo smacked a solo shot in the fourth to get on the board. The real damage came in that explosive sixth, when Moreno and company turned a three-run deficit into a one-run lead. For a moment, it looked like the Diamondbacks had stolen this game back from the Mariners’ hands. They hung tough in the ninth as well, tying it up with a Vargas groundout to force extra innings. This was a team fighting, scrapping, refusing to fold.

Which makes the 10th inning all the more painful. After the Diamondbacks failed to add on in the top of the frame, Arozarena stepped up in the bottom half and delivered the dagger, a double to center field that scored Crawford from second base. Game over. Series momentum to Seattle.

The Mariners’ bullpen work down the stretch deserves credit too. Andrés Muñoz escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth with his team tied, and Cooper Criswell got the win despite pitching just one inning. That’s baseball in 2026, apparently: the win goes to the guy who throws the least. Juan Morillo took the loss despite an even more minimal appearance, though that’s hardly the real culprit here.

Arizona’s starting pitcher Zac Gallen did his job, scattering hits and stranding runners, but his teammates couldn’t deliver the knockout blow when they had the chance. That’s the real takeaway. The Diamondbacks put themselves in position to win this game multiple times and failed to capitalize.

Friday night will sting for a while in Phoenix.