Dodgers beat Mariners 6-5 in 10 innings

LOS ANGELES (AP) Alex Guerrero's first career game-ending hit capped a big comeback by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Guerrero hit a bases-loaded single with two outs in the 10th inning, and the defending NL West champions rallied from four runs down to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-5 on Monday night.

''I've seen Alex for the past year and he's an unbelievable hitter,'' fellow rookie Joc Pederson said. ''When he got up there, I just had a good feeling. He slowed the game down, got a pitch he could hit and hit a rocket. It was huge. We battled as a team and put together enough runs to come out on top.''

Nelson Cruz, whose nine interleague home runs last season led the majors, hit the first two of the four homers by the Mariners against Dodgers starter Brandon McCarthy.

However, it wasn't enough as Yasiel Puig helped fuel the Dodgers' comeback with a home run and Howie Kendrick had a tying RBI single later in the fifth inning against James Paxton.

Dominic Leone (0-1), working his third inning of relief, gave up double to Andre Ethier leading off the 10th before retiring Puig on a comebacker. After walks to Adrian Gonzalez and Kendrick loaded the bases, Tyler Olson relieved and struck out Carl Crawford for the second out. Guerrero then lined a 2-2 pitch to right-center to end Seattle's third straight extra-inning game.

Yimi Garcia (1-0) pitched a perfect inning to get his first major league victory.

Dustin Ackley and Kyle Seager also connected off McCarthy, who gave up five runs and six hits in seven innings. He struck out 10 without walking a batter.

The only other time McCarthy gave up four homers in a game was in his second major league start on May 27, 2005, with the Chicago White Sox at the Texas Rangers.

''In that game I threw terribly, so that was more expected than what happened tonight,'' McCarthy said. ''I didn't feel I pitched terrible, but balls just kept leaving the yard. They're an extremely aggressive team, and anything that gets left out there they're going to hit.''

According to Baseball-Reference.com, McCarthy was the 11th pitcher since 1914 with to give up as many as four homers and strike out at least 10 batters - and the first since Milwaukee's Mike Fiers on Sept. 30, 2012, against Houston.

''My job is to always be around the plate as much as I can and attack hitters,'' McCarthy said. ''I know from time to time that sometimes you're going to miss your spot and somebody's going to drive a ball. You just hope it does minimal damage and doesn't come in a grouping like this.''

Paxton gave up five runs and six hits over 6 1-3 innings and struck out six. The Dodgers didn't get their first hit until Puig's leadoff single in the fourth started a three-run rally that sliced Seattle's lead to 4-3.

Guerrero hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly and Pederson followed with a two-run single, after Scott Van Slyke alertly tagged up at first and made it to second on Guerrero's fly with no one covering the bag.

''It cost us a run, but it didn't cost us a ballgame,'' manager Lloyd McClendon said. ''We wasted a lot of good performances tonight.''

Ackley got one of the runs back in the fifth with a two-out homer, which turned out to be the Mariners' final hit. The Dodgers tied it with two in the bottom half, including Puig's first-pitch homer.

''I made some mistakes, left some balls up there out over the plate and they capitalized on them,'' Paxton said.

Cruz staked Paxton to a 2-0 lead before he threw his first pitch. It was the 200th career homer for Cruz, who barely cleared the fence in right-center with one out in the fourth.

The next batter was Seager, whose homer increased Seattle's lead to 4-0. Seventeen of Seattle's first 25 runs this season have come on home runs.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Mariners: RHP Tom Wilhelmsen was placed on the 15-disabled list, retroactive to April 11, because of a hyperextended elbow. He was replaced on the roster by Leone, who was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma.

Dodgers: 3B Juan Uribe missed his second straight game because of a sore hamstring and was replaced in the lineup again by Guerrero, who hit his first big league homer on Sunday. ... Justin Turner, who didn't start for the second straight game because of a cut index on his left hand, pinch-hit in the seventh and flied out.

UP NEXT

Mariners: RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (0-1) is 3-0 in three interleague starts (Atlanta, Philadelphia and Washington), allowing three runs in 21 innings with 24 strikeouts.

Dodgers: LHP David Huff, who signed as a free agent in January, will make his season debut for his new club about 39 miles from his hometown of Huntington Beach. It's his first big league start since Sept. 29, 2013, with the Yankees. He is 0-3 with a 10.64 ERA in three career starts against the Mariners.