Mariners lament fitful finish vs. Twins

SEATTLE — Twins manager Paul Molitor said he’d never seen a play like it in his forty-some years in baseball. And the Mariners hope to never seen another one like it, certainly not at their expense, after ending a 6-5 loss to Minnesota on Saturday night on a rare 2-4-5-6 double play as two runners were tagged out following a rundown.

Call it the ultimate twin killing.

With pinch runner Shawn O’Malley on third and Kyle Seager on first with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Twins closer Kevin Jepsen, Seager took off for second base when a curveball in the dirt got away from catcher Juan Centeno.

But Centeno fielded the ball and fired to second quickly enough that Seager got caught in a run down. O’Malley started breaking for home, but tried to dive back to third when second baseman Brian Dozier pulled out of the run down and fired to Eduardo Nunez.

Nunez tagged O’Malley right as his hand reached the base, then fired to second to tag Seager as he attempted to advance again.

“That was about as abnormal an ending to a game as you’re going to see,” acknowledged Mariners skipper Scott Servais.

“A lot of it blurs together over about four decades, I guess,” said Molitor, “but to record a double play where there’s not a force in order like that in a situation …

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