8/12/22

The Seattle Mariners have now survived the toughest part of their schedule. The twenty-game stretch after the All-Star break saw the M’s go 10-10. Now, the team is very healthy and they are playing teams that they need to beat and should be able to beat to stack up the wins and punch their ticket to the postseason. They started the nine-game road trip against AL West foes on a high note as the Mariners took game one against the Texas Rangers 6-2 and netted manager Scott Servais his 500th career win as a manager and all of them coming with Seattle.

The opening game of the three-game series on Friday night also saw the return of rookie sensation Julio Rodriguez after missing 11 games with a wrist injury. This was the best lineup the Mariners have rolled out this season and everyone was ready to see the bats in action.

It would be the Mariners lineup drawing first blood in the top of the 3rd. J.P. Crawford would lead off with a walk against the Rangers bullpen who were in charge of all nine innings of this one. Julio Rodriguez would then single up the middle to put runners on first and third with nobody out. Taylor Hearn would not be able to get out of trouble as Ty France would hit a groundball to the shortstop to score Crawford and give Seattle a 1-0 lead.

Texas answered immediately in the bottom of the 3rd against another Mariner rookie in George Kirby. The Rangers would have runners on the corners after back-to-back one out singles by Ezequiel Duran and former Mariner Brad Miller. Marcus Semien would replicate Ty France and hit a grounder to Eugenio Suarez at third to score Duran and tie the game at 1-1.

The game stayed tied for just a handful of batters as a one out double by Carlos Santana in the top of the 4th had the Mariners threatening again. A walk for Adam Frazier was followed by a Cal Raleigh strikeout and a Crawford walk to load the bases with two outs. J-Rod would be the batter in this big situation and came through with a base hit into right field to score two runs and put Seattle back on top 3-1.

George Kirby started getting in a groove after Rangers’ manager Chris Woodward was ejected in the bottom of the 4th. Kirby had no problem in the 4th or 5th but found himself in a bad spot in the bottom of the 6th. Jonah Heim would come through with a two out knock with runners on first and second and would score Corey Seager to make it 3-2. That would end Kirby’s day after 5.2 innings pitched. The dominant Mariners bullpen would protect the lead though as Matt Brash struck out Leody Taveras to end the inning.

The Rangers would threaten to tie the game again in the 7th. A couple of singles off of Brash had Josh H. Smith on third and Marcus Semien on first with two outs and the former World Series MVP Corey Seager stepping to the plate. Andres Muńoz would be tasked with getting out of the jam and he would do just that getting Seager to fly out to Rodriguez in center to end the inning.

Seattle would then get a bit of breathing room. In the top of the 8th, doubles by Adam Frazier and Cal Raleigh set the table for J.P. Crawford with one out. Crawford would have a long battle with pitcher Matt Moore but Crawford would get the last laugh with a sacrifice fly to deep left to score Frazier and extend the lead to 4-2.

A two-run lead would blossom further in the 9th. With Jonathan Hernandez taking over for Texas on the mound, back-to-back singles by Mitch Haniger and Jesse Winker had runners on first and second with nobody out. The speedy Dylan Moore would pinch run for Winker with Suarez coming to the plate. Suarez would power one the other way to the gap in right-center. Haniger scored easily and shortstop Corey Seager would drop the relay throw allowing Moore to score easily from first to blow the lead open to 6-2.

Erik Swanson would look to continue the absolute dominance of the Mariner bullpen over the last couple of months against the bottom of the Texas order. Swanson would make it look easy striking out Josh H. Smith, getting Ezequiel Duran to lineout to right, and striking out Brad Miller to give the Mariners the 6-2 win. The win would be extra special as manager Scott Servais would become only the 2nd manager in Mariner history to win 500 games with the team. He now sits 340 wins behind three-time Manager of the Year and should be future Hall of Famer Lou Piniella for the most all-time for the Mariners.

Thanks to a Toronto loss on Friday night, Seattle (62-52) moves into the top Wild Card spot in the American League and puts them in a position to host a three-game playoff series if they can hold that spot. The Mariners sit half a game ahead of Toronto and two games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles who hold the final AL playoff spot. The Mariners also have a 2.5 game lead over the first team out of the playoffs in Minnesota. Seattle and Texas (49-63) will continue their three-game set on Saturday at 4:15p on FOX. The Mariners will start Marco Gonzales (7-11, 3.98 ERA) against the Rangers Dane Dunning (2-6, 4.04 ERA) in game two.

Matt’s Takeaway

This lineup as it is right now, is the best Mariners lineup since at least 2016. The rotation might be the best and deepest the franchise has ever seen. The bullpen is the real deal though. Since June 21st, the bullpen has an ERA of just 2.32 which is the best in baseball over that time. It is every single guy out there contributing as well. No reliever on this team gives me any concerns about them protecting the lead. That is a massive weapon to have and with Diego Castillo looking as if he hasn’t missed a beat, there are three guys who can legitimately close out any ball game. If the Mariners have the lead late, you might as well pack up early cause these guys are just pure filth.

Top Performers

Mariners

• Julio Rodriguez- 2-4, 2 RBI, BB
• Adam Frazier- 2-4, 2B, 2 R, BB
• Mitch Haniger- 3-5, R, Incredible catch and throw from right field
• George Kirby (W, 4-3)- 5.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

Rangers

• Ezequiel Duran- 2-4, R
• Marcus Semien- 1-4, RBI
• Jonah Heim- 1-4, RBI

Mariners Managers All-Time Wins Leaders

1. Lou Piniella (1993-2002)- 840 wins
2. Scott Servais (2015-Present)- 500 wins
3. Jim Lefebvre (1989-1991)- 233 wins
4. Darrell Johnson (1977-1980)- 229 wins
5. Eric Wedge (2011-2013)- 213 wins