The Seattle Mariners maintained their hold on the third wild card spot in the American League by plating four runs in the sixth inning, taking care of the St Louis Cardinals by a 4-2 score Monday, Sept. 8 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

The Cardinals had scored first, when Alec Burleson sent a two-run home run to center field in the fourth inning. The Mariners were able to get doubles off starter Miles Mikolas to lead off both the fourth and fifth, only to strand the runners. They would finally break through in the sixth when after a leadoff walk and single, the Cardinals pulled Mikolas in favor of reliever Gordon Graceffo. However, he would allow a walk to Cal Raleigh to load the bases, and Julio Rodríguez to single in the hosts’ first run of the night. A double from Josh Naylor gave the Mariners the lead, even after they unsuccessfully challenged the call at the plate that Rodríguez was tagged out at the plate and not obstructed by Jimmy Crooks. A sacrifice fly by Jorge Polanco brought home Seattle’s final run.

The Cardinals would threaten in the ninth after a one-out walk to Iván Herrera, but closer Andrés Muñoz claimed strikeouts of Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman to wrap the win for Seattle.

Graceffo was tagged with the loss, allowing two runs on two hits with one walk. Mikolas went just over five innings in his start, allowing the first two runs on four hits and one walk, while striking out a pair. Bryan Woo struck out nine Cardinals batters in his six innings of work to get his 13th win of the year, with Burleson’s home run as one of the three hits allowed.

The Cardinals fall to 72-73, 4.5 games behind the Mets in the NL Wild Card and on the cusp of elimination from the NL Central division race. Meanwhile, the Mariners have extended their lead over the Royals in the AL Wild Card race to three games. Game two of the series is Tuesday at 8:40 p.m., with Matthew Liberatore getting the start for the Cardinals.