8/26/22

Mariners 3, Guardians 2

(Seattle, WA) Tasked with trying to beat a former Cy Young winner, the Seattle Mariners looked to kickoff Ichiro weekend in Seattle with a second consecutive win over fellow playoff contender Cleveland on Friday night. Logan Gilbert looked to snap a long winless streak and Julio Rodriguez tried to break in his new contract with a big game. Only one of those things would happen. The good news is that the Mariners would outlast Shane Bieber and a dangerous Cleveland bullpen in route to an eleven-inning victory over the Guardians.

It would be a scoreless first two innings as Bieber and Gilbert came out of the gates hot. In the top of the 3rd, Cleveland would put together the first scoring opportunity for either side. Austin Hedges would double to lead off the inning and would move to third on a sacrifice fly by Myles Straw. Cleveland’s own rookie sensation Steven Kwan would push across the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center to score Hedges and give Cleveland a 1-0 lead.

A couple of double plays killed Mariners threats in the 3rd and 4th. In the bottom of the 5th though Seattle would have an opportunity to even the score. Carlos Santana would single to lead off the inning and Adam Frazier would lay down a bunt but an error by third baseman Tyler Freeman allowed him to reach to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Cal Raleigh hit a fly ball in foul territory in left and Steven Kwan would give his best Derek Jeter impression by diving into the crowd while making a fantastic catch for the first out. Both runners moved up however, and J.P. Crawford would hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Santana and tie the game at 1-1.

Cleveland would take the lead right back in the 6th. Singles by Steven Kwan and Amed Rosario to start the inning put Logan Gilbert in a tough spot. A fly ball by Jose Ramirez would move Kwan to third and Josh Naylor would drive him in with a sacrifice fly to right field. The speed of Kwan allowed him to score easily to make it 2-1 Guardians.

Cleveland would once again put together a scoring opportunity in the top of the 7th. With Austin Hedges on first and Tyler Freeman on third with just one out, Scott Servais went to the bullpen and brought in Matt Brash. Brash would first face Myles Straw and a shallow pop fly to right field allowed Sam Haggerty to make the catch and keep Freeman at third. Brash then got Kwan to lineout to J-Rod in center to end the Guardian threat.

The Mariners put together their own threat in the bottom of the 7th. Eugenio Suarez and Carlos Santana would single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Contact machine Adam Frazier then hit a deep fly ball to Myles Straw in center to easily score Suarez and tie the game at 2-2. Cal Raleigh then hit into a double play to end the threat and send the game to the 8th.

In the bottom of the 8th, emotions would boil over. Jesse Winker would go down looking to end the inning and voiced his displeasure with the called strike three. Winker would be ejected which brought out manager Scott Servais. Servais was much more animated and would also be ejected by home plate umpire Dan Merzel.

Now in the 9th inning and with a thin bench and no manager, the odds were stacked against the Mariners. Diego Castillo would give up a leadoff double to Andres Gimenez to put the go-ahead run in scoring position with nobody out. Oscar Gonzalez would hit a soft grounder but a great play by Castillo would retire Gonzalez but Gimenez would move to third. Tyler Freeman was the next batter and hit a very shallow fly ball to right field, but Dylan Moore would make a nice running catch for the out and kept Gimenez at third. Richie Palacios then popped up to Eugenio Suarez in foul territory to help Castillo escape the jam.

In the bottom of the 9th, Mitch Haniger would line one towards the left field line. Steven Kwan would throw a rocket to second and it looked like Haniger would be out by a mile. A fantastic swim move by Haniger allowed him to avoid the tag and record a leadoff double. Suarez and Santana would then strikeout for two outs. Adam Frazier slapped a chopper towards third base and would reach on an infield single. With the winning run on third, Cal Raleigh would hit a ground ball to second and the Guardians would retire Raleigh to send the game to extra innings.

Matt Festa pitched the top of the 10th for the Mariners. With the ghost runner placed at second, Festa would strikeout Myles Straw for out number one. He would then walk Steven Kwan to put runners on first and second with one out and a couple of dangerous hitters due up. Amed Rosario would hit a chopper right back at Festa and the Mariner reliever would handle it no problem and start a 1-4-3 double play to end the inning.

J.P. Crawford led off the bottom of the 10th with Cal Raleigh starting on second. Crawford got down a sacrifice bunt to move the winning run to third with one out. Nick Sandlin would come in to pitch for Cleveland against pinch hitter Ty France. France never looked comfortable in this plate appearance and struck out on three pitches. Julio Rodriguez would be intentionally walked to bring up Dylan Moore who replaced the ejected Jesse Winker. Moore would strikeout swinging to send the game to the 11th.

Penn Murfee pitched the top of the 11th for Seattle and would intentionally walk Jose Ramirez. Cleveland had runners on first and second before Murfee ever threw a pitch. The first pitch he threw to Josh Naylor would be a grounder to Carlos Santana at first. Santana had trouble getting a grip on the ball and bounced a throw to second. J.P. Crawford would come up with a big pick to get Ramirez at second for just one out but also stopped the ball from going into left field which would have allowed a Cleveland run to score. Andres Gimenez then hit a soft chopper to Santana who had to charge the ball. Santana would throw it to catcher Cal Raleigh who tagged Amed Rosario out at the plate for a massive second out. After a walk to Oscar Gonzalez to load the bases, Tyler Freeman would groundout to Santana at first to help Penn Murfee escape the danger.

With Dylan Moore starting on second to begin the bottom of the 11th, Guardians manager Terry Francona would bring in his All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase. Clase had only allowed one run since the All-Star break but fell behind Mitch Haniger 2-0. Haniger then hit a line drive to right field and it would drop in front of Oscar Gonzalez for a base hit. Moore would get aggressive and try to score from second. The Cleveland infield had some miscommunication and the throw from Gonzalez would go past the pitcher and first baseman and wouldn’t be close to the plate. Moore would score and Haniger was the walk-off hero as the Mariners celebrated a 3-2 win.

Not only did Seattle (69-57) gut out a massive win against a potential postseason opponent, but they took advantage of losses by both Tampa Bay and Toronto. The Mariners are now even with Toronto and just a half game behind the Rays for the top Wild Card spot. The Baltimore Orioles would win on Friday night so the Mariners remain 2.5 games ahead of them. Ichiro will be inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame on Saturday prior to game three between Seattle and Cleveland. Those festivities start at about 6:25 and can be caught on Root Sports. Luis Castillo (5-5, 2.93 ERA) will then take the hill for the Mariners as he looks to bounce back from a tough outing in Oakland. Cleveland will go with Zach Plesac (2-11, 4.43 ERA) as they look to avoid dropping their third consecutive game.

Matt’s Takeaway

What else is there to say about Mitch Haniger? This guy has been as consistent of a player for the Mariners as anybody over the last five seasons. Every time they need a big hit or a big defensive play, Haniger is right there to get the job done. Julio Rodriguez got his massive extension. Now it might be time for the front office to sit down and find out what it would take to keep Mitch Haniger in Seattle as well.

Top Performers

Guardians

• Steven Kwan- 1-3, RBI, R, BB, Unbelievable Catch
• Austin Hedges- 2-3, 2B, R
• Shane Bieber (ND)- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO

Mariners

• Mitch Haniger- 2-5, 2B, RBI
• J.P. Crawford- 1-1, RBI, SAC, BB, Game Saving Defense
• Logan Gilbert (ND)- 6.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO
• Bullpen- 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO

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