Jarred Kelenic homered for the third straight game and Teoscar Hernandez added a solo blast as the visiting Seattle Mariners posted a 5-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.
Logan Gilbert (1-1) allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings for Seattle, which avoided a three-game sweep and concluded its six-game road trip with a 3-3 mark. Ty France extended his hitting streak to 10 games with two hits and an RBI and a run.
Kelenic’s homer to center field was measured at 482 feet.
The left fielder is batting .458 (11-for-24) with three homers during his career-high seven-game hitting streak.
Kelenic, the former Mets prospect dealt for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz in 2018, has a slash line of .351/.415./1.118 and five RBI’s so far this season after struggling in his past stints in the majors the last two years.
Chicago trailed 5-1 before Cody Bellinger belted a solo homer against Paul Sewald in the ninth inning.
The Cubs, who were held to five hits, had their seven-game winning streak against the Mariners come to an end.
Chicago claimed a lead in the first inning after Nico Hoerner scored on Bellinger’s sacrifice fly. Gilbert then settled in and retired 14 straight batters before Miles Mastrobuoni singled with two outs in the fifth inning.
Seattle moved ahead with two runs in the third to snap Cubs starter Marcus Stroman’s scoreless streak at 14 innings.
Eugenio Suarez singled in a run with two on and one out, Cal Raleigh walked to load the bases and Hernandez followed with an RBI single.
Stroman (2-1) pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out six.
The Mariners tacked on another run in the seventh against Brad Boxberger when France singled into left-center to score JP Crawford.
France is batting .364 (16-for-44) during his hitting streak.
Seattle, which snapped a three-game losing skid, added two insurance runs in the eighth when Kelenic and Hernandez began the inning with back-to-back homers against Julian Merryweather.
Julio Rodriguez had two hits from the leadoff spot for Seattle, which is in the midst of playing 15 consecutive interleague games.
The Cubs played without shortstop Dansby Swanson, who is listed as day-to-day with cramping in his lower left side.