Mariners' Blash homers twice, plates seven

A grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning on a career day from Jabari Blash wasn't quite enough, somehow, to slow down the Shuckers on Wednesday.

The Mariners prospect went 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs and a career-high seven RBIs for Double-A Jackson on Wednesday afternoon, but hot-hitting Biloxi scored 10 late runs in a 14-10 win at The Ballpark in Jackson.

The 25-year-old Blash launched a two-run homer in the second inning off Shuckers starter Jacob Barnes and a grand slam with one out in the bottom of the ninth off Eric Marzec in addition to a pair of singles, but Jackson's five-run rally in the ninth ran out of gas, ending a game that featured a total of 24 runs on 35 hits. Jackson manager Jim Horner was ejected in the fifth, adding to an action-packed afternoon that also included two wild pitches, a hit batter, a passed ball, two pickoffs, a pair of errors and 17 runners left stranded.

The big game from Blash comes almost a year after he homered twice and knocked in his previous career high of six RBIs on May 25, 2014, with Triple-A Tacoma. The right fielder also had a career-best three-homer night last June.

Biloxi, in its first season as a franchise since relocating from Huntsville, set a franchise record with 14 runs on 20 hits. Orlando Arcia, Nick Ramirez, Michael Reed and Nathan Orf combined to go 12-for-20 with 10 runs scored, three doubles and six RBIs for the Shuckers (20-13), who scored four in the fourth and posted a pair of five-run rallies in the seventh and eighth.

Mariners No. 2 prospect D.J. Peterson went 2-for-5 with an RBI and Gabby Guerrero, the organization's No. 5 prospect, knocked in another.

Blash, who was limited to 82 games last year due to a suspension for a drug of abuse, began the season with Triple-A Tacoma but struggled in 11 games, batting .167 with 18 strikeouts and three RBIs. He was sent back to Jackson in late April and debuted with the Generals on May 2, beginning a stretch of eight Southern League games in which he's batted .313 with four homers and 14 RBIs.

Blash, who was the Mariners' No. 18 prospect at the time he was suspended last June 27, made his Double-A debut in 2013. He hit .221 with 18 homers and 59 RBIs in 289 at-bats last year.