Arozarena's 4 RBIs lift Mariners over Cards 5-3 as Seattle closes within 1 game of AL West lead

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SEATTLE (AP) — Randy Arozarena hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the third inning as part of a four-RBI night as the Seattle Mariners beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Tuesday to close within one game of the AL West lead.

Arozarena hit his 27th homer, four more than his previous career high. He turned on a fastball down the middle from Matthew Liberatore (7-12), a no-doubt drive that prompted Arozarena to stunt a pose in the direction of the Mariners’ dugout.

Then in the fifth inning, Arozarena added to Seattle’s lead with a sacrifice fly in an inning that included Josh Naylor's 19th homer, a solo drive that he followed with an impressive bat flip toward the dugout.

Seattle moved with one game of division-leading Houston, its closest since mid-August, and maintained a 1 1/2-game lead over Texas for the final AL wild card.

George Kirby allowed three runs and seven hits over four sluggish innings. Five pitchers combined with two-hit relief, with Caleb Ferguson (4-4) striking out two in a perfect fifth and Andrés Muñoz working around José Fermín's two-out single for his 34th save in 41 chances.

St. Louis' Pedro Pagés poked a hard-hit groundball to the right side of the infield to lead off the ninth inning, but Naylor made a fine play to take away a single.

Naylor is in the midst of a four-game RBIs streak, over which he’s driven in seven runs and hit three home runs. In 17 home games at T-Mobile Park since being acquired from Arizona, Naylor is hitting .379 with 12 runs, five doubles, 13 RBIs, eight stolen bases and five walks.

Cardinals RHP Michael McGreevy (6-3, 4.68) and Mariners RHP Logan Gilbert (4-6, 3.61) start Wednesday night's finale of the three-game series.

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