8/10/22

Everyone knows about the Seattle Mariners playoff drought. Seattle has not played postseason baseball since 2001 which is as depressing to write as you could imagine it to be. Another drought was one that they had the opportunity to end on Wednesday. The Mariners hadn’t taken a season series from the Yankees since 2002. Seattle came into the final regular season meeting up 3-2 in 2022. Another fantastic pitching matchup, more dominant bullpen work, and another clutch Carlos Santana home run was the recipe as the Mariners got the job done 4-3.

The Mariners big offseason acquisition and reigning Cy Young winner Robbie Ray was tasked with neutralizing a strong lineup and outdueling a Cy Young candidate in Nestor Cortes. Just like Tuesday night, both guys brought their A game. Cortes did not allow a hit in the first five innings and was fun to watch with his changing deliveries and quick pitches. Robbie Ray was the usual Robbie Ray. He was grunting and throwing gas and challenging hitters with his best stuff. It had the feeling of another low scoring game.

A couple of two out singles in the 2nd gave the Yankees the first opportunity to score. A weak pop-up by Isiah Kiner-Falefa ended that threat. Ray also allowed a couple of two out walks in the 5th to put another Yankee in scoring position. He would strikeout Anthony Rizzo to end the trouble. Those two instances were the only time runners got in scoring position in the first five innings.

In the bottom of the 6th, the Mariners would breakup Cortes’ no-hitter and shutout on just one swing of the bat. Sam Haggerty, who is becoming a folk hero in the Pacific Northwest, hit a deep fly ball to left that clanked off of the foul pole for a solo home run. Haggerty’s fourth home run of the year gave the Mariners the 1-0 lead and fired up a large crowd.

New York would do what they do best and counter with power. In the top of the 7th, Kiner-Falefa would walk with one out to bring up the #9 hitter in Kyle Higashioka. The Yankee catcher would hit an outside fastball deep to center and out of the ballpark to give the Yankees the 2-1 lead with his seventh home run of the season.

That would end the day for Robbie Ray after 6.1 very good innings against one of the top two lineups in the American League. Ray continues to bounce back after two very bad outings against the Houston Astros.

Things would get a little tougher after Penn Murfee came in to face the top of the order. Future MVP Aaron Judge would continue his chase for history as he destroyed his 45th home run of the season to give the Yankees some breathing room. The Mariner faithful would hit the 7th inning stretch trailing 3-1.

A good stretch can work wonders is what we learned on Wednesday. Ty France would lead off the bottom of the 7th with a classic Ty France single the other way into right field. A passed ball would allow France to move to second with Mitch Haniger at the plate. While Haniger has had some injury problems, he has never had many hitting problems as he came up with another big base hit to left to score Ty France and cut the deficit to 3-2.

Nestor Cortes would see his day come to an end after six innings of nasty stuff showing how he got the nickname ‘Nasty Nestor.’ After five hitless innings he now had to watch and hope his bullpen could hang on to the lead to earn him the win.

They could not. One of the sneaky trades this season back in June once again paid off for the Mariners. Carlos Santana would hit his seventh home run for the Mariners off of Albert Abreu to give Seattle a 4-3 lead. Santana has been as clutch as he could possibly be. Out of seven home runs with the Mariners, six have been game tying or go-ahead home runs. His season total climbed to 11 and T-Mobile Park was rocking.

Diego Castillo returned to the mound for the first time since July 25th and looked like he had only gotten better. Castillo would get a couple of easy groundouts and a strikeout to pitch a clean 1-2-3 8th inning.

Then came Paul Sewald who has been a lockdown closer for the Mariners and a nightmare for Yankee fans. Sewald would strikeout Andrew Benintendi on three pitches for a quick first out. Isiah Kiner-Falefa would make solid contact but his line drive went right to second baseman Adam Frazier for out number two. Kyle Higashioka would hit a weak pop fly in foul territory and Ty France would put it away to give the Mariners the 4-3 win and the season series from the Yankees.

The Mariners (61-52) are now just half a game behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the top Wild Card spot in the American League. They are a game and a half ahead of both Tampa Bay and Baltimore who are tied for the final Wild Card spot and 2.5 ahead of Minnesota who are the first team on the outside looking in after losing the lead in the AL Central to Cleveland. The Mariners will have Thursday off before a nine-game road trip against division opponents. They will open up a three-game series on Friday with the Texas Rangers at 5p as George Kirby (3-3, 3.40 ERA) gets the start for the Mariners. The Rangers have not announced their starter as of yet. The Yankees (71-42) are still 10.5 games ahead of Toronto in the AL East and travel to Boston for a three-game set with their rivals starting on Friday.

My Takeaway

Everyone circled this stretch of games coming out of the All-Star break as the toughest stretch for the Mariners and going 10-10 would be absolutely perfect. Then the team lost Julio Rodriguez for 11 of those games. They also lost super utility man Dylan Moore for ten games, elite bullpen arm Diego Castillo for 15 games, Ty France for four games, and Jesse Winker for a couple. The team still managed to go 10-10 and beat the New York Yankees four out of six times. Guys are stepping up in massive ways. And now the team is getting healthy and the schedule is going to get a lot easier. T-Mobile Park is rocking every single night and the Mariners have a real home field advantage. The team is six deep in the rotation, the lineup is getting a new hero every night, and the bullpen…THIS BULLPEN! They have been just ridiculous and even Yankee manager Aaron Boone praised them after this series. This isn’t the 2021 Mariners that just got hot and made a late run. This team is good. This team can not only make the playoffs but can win a Wild Card series and reach the ALDS at worst. Buckle up Mariner fans. This is going to be fun.

Top Performers

Yankees

• Kyle Higashioka- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Aaron Judge- 1-2, HR, RBI, R, 2 BB
• Nestor Cortes (ND)- 6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 10 K

Mariners

• Carlos Santana- 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Sam Haggerty- 1-3, HR, RBI, R
• Robbie Ray (ND)- 6.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 7 SO