3/30/23

Mariners 3, Guardians 0

(Seattle, WA) For the first time in 166 days the Seattle Mariners took the field at T-Mobile Park for a meaningful baseball game as the Cleveland Guardians were in town for the Opening Day of the 2023 season. With the talks of droughts over and plenty of optimism in the Pacific Northwest, the M’s looked to showcase that they were ready to take that next step in 2023. For the first time in 176 days, the Mariners were victorious in their home ballpark as a late Ty France home run and dominant pitching earned a 3-0 win and a 1-0 start in 2023.

The first hit of the season for the Mariners would be a 1st inning single by Ty France. However, the first real threat came in the bottom of the 2nd. A one-out double by Eugenio Suarez gave the M’s a runner in scoring position and a wild pitch moved Suarez to third with just one out. Unfortunately, Jarred Kelenic would strikeout looking and Tommy La Stella lined out to left to kill the threat and start a bad trend for the Mariners in game number one.

Hitting with runners in scoring position was not friendly to the Mariners on Thursday night. A runner was left stranded at third four times in the opener and twice the runner was on third with less than two out. The pressure was being put on by Seattle, but the big hit just wasn’t coming. Balls were being put in play and were being hit hard but the M’s just couldn’t find a hole to drive in a run. Through seven innings, the M’s were 0-12 with runners on base.

Cleveland wouldn’t fare any better against Mariner ace Luis Castillo. In his first Opening Day with Seattle, Castillo was pure dominance. Only one Guardian reached base against Castillo in his six innings of work. That one baserunner was Will Brennan who lined one right back at Castillo which partially hit Castillo in the head but his hair took the brunt of the blow. After being checked on after the scary moment, La Piedra showed he was just fine striking out the next three batters as the Mariner faithful breathed a sigh of relief. Castillo struck out six batters in his six scoreless innings with just the one hit allowed.

The bullpen was just as dominant when they took over. Matt Brash showed that he has taken big strides after a strong rookie season after moving to the bullpen. Brash created one of MLB’s viral moments from Opening Day by striking out Jose Ramirez who took a tumble after ripping through a filthy knuckle curve. Paul Sewald also cruised through the 8th with an easy 1-2-3 frame. That kept the game scoreless going to the bottom of the 8th.

Cleveland turned the ball over to the controversial reliever James Karinchak and the Mariner faithful had the normally lock down reliever completely rocked. After a pitch clock violation moved the count on J.P. Crawford to 1-2, the crowd got into the head of Karinchak loudly counting down the clock and that resulted in a walk for Crawford as Karinchak completely lost command. This was an important moment according to Scott Servais as he praised the T-Mobile crowd.

“They made it hard for him to focus and concentrate, and that’s truly the impact home-field advantage can make in our game,” said the Mariner skipper.

After a Julio Rodriguez flyout for the first out, Karinchak would have a long battle with new Mariner 2nd baseman Kolten Wong and on the eighth pitch of the at bat, Wong would win the battle after being hit. With runners on first and second and just one out, Ty France dug in and his third hit of the day turned out to be the big one. France would drive a fastball at the very top of the zone the other way into deep right field. The ball would carry enough to get over the wall for a three-run home run and gave the M’s a 3-0 lead.

That would be more than enough. Andres Muñoz would not have his best stuff but it was good enough for a couple of quick groundouts by Myles Straw and Steven Kwan for the first two outs. The situation would get a little tense after that. Amed Rosario singled and that was followed by a Jose Ramirez double to put runners at second and third and the tying run coming to the plate in the power hitting Josh Bell. The new Guardian got a 2-2 slider in the middle of the plate and hit a hard grounder to the right side of the infield. A sliding stop by France at first and a toss to Muñoz covering first would put a stamp on the Opening Day victory though as the Mariners hung on for a 3-0 shutout victory.

Seattle (1-0) got to enjoy the Opening Day win but will quickly shift their focus to game two of the four game series with Cleveland (0-1) on Friday night at 7pm. Robbie Ray will make his season debut and will look to get back to his Cy Young Award winning stuff. Hunter Gaddis gets the start for Cleveland after Triston McKenzie, who would normally pitch behind Shane Bieber, was injured at the end of Spring Training and will be on the IL to begin the season.

Matt’s Takeaway

Baseball is back and as the Mariners so often do, they make it that much sweeter as they start the season with a victory. The Mariners have the 2nd best winning percentage on Opening Day in MLB history trailing just the Mets. With the win, Seattle is now 30-18 on Opening Day in franchise history. Luis Castillo looked incredible which is a great sign as I picked him to win the AL Cy Young.

The guys were squaring up the ball which is a positive sign after a tough day of offense. I really liked Kolten Wong’s at bats. He saw a lot of pitches and was not giving in or getting away from himself. He stayed composed against one of the best pitchers in baseball in Shane Bieber. Also, even though Tommy La Stella wasn’t the ideal DH for Mariner fans, he had a very productive at bat with a ground ball that moved Jarred Kelenic to third late in the game. Speaking of Kelenic, he looked very comfortable at the plate. His base hit should take a lot of early season pressure off of the youngster who we are all rooting for to have a breakout season.

The best thing is the W though. The first one is in the books. There will be a lot more. This is just the start of a very fun season. Buckle up Mariner fans. And keep bringing the energy every single night.

Notable Performences

Guardians

• Shane Bieber (ND)- 6 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO
• Jose Ramirez- 1-4, 2B
• Will Brennan- 1-3

Angels

• Ty France- 3-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Luis Castillo (ND)- 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO
• J.P. Crawford- 1-2, BB, R

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