5/12/23

Mariners 9, Tigers 2

(Detroit, MI) Another lineup change was exactly what the doctor ordered to begin the Seattle Mariners three-game series with the Detroit Tigers on Friday evening. Moving Julio Rodriguez to the three spot in the batting order seemed to also do the 2022 AL Rookie of the Year good and everyone else fed off of that energy while Marco Gonzales had another solid outing to continue the recent string of success by Mariner starters. Strong pitching and an offensive explosion gave the Mariners one of their biggest blowout wins of the season as they took care of the Tigers by a final score of 9-2.

The Mariners jumped on their former teammate early. After J.P. Crawford walked to leadoff the game, Ty France singled to put runners on first and second. Following a Julio Rodriguez pop out, Jarred Kelenic came through with an RBI single to center field to quickly give the M’s a 1-0 lead just four batters in.

After Marco pitched a scoreless 1st, Seattle busted the game open. Back-to-back walks by Tom Murphy and AJ Pollock were followed by a Jose Caballero single to load the bases with just one out. J.P. Crawford then hit a rocket at second baseman Jonathan Schoop but a tricky hop clipped off of Schoop for an RBI single for Crawford to make it 2-0. Ty France then recorded an RBI with a bases loaded walk to make it 3-0 with J-Rod coming to the plate. Rodriguez got the hit that might snap his skid as he laced one into left field to score Pollock and Crawford easily making it 5-0 M’s. That ended Matthew Boyd’s start for Detroit but it didn’t end the Mariners scoring. Jarred Kelenic grounded out but beat out the double play due to a Javy Baez throwing error which allowed Ty France to score. Just two innings into the game, Seattle had a 6-0 lead.

Marco Gonzales had another strong outing in what has been a bounce back year for the longest tenured Seattle Mariner. Gonzales made one lone mistake and it came in the bottom of the 5th. After the future Hall of Famer, Miguel Cabrera, drew a walk to start the inning, Schoop lined out for the first out. Jake Rogers then caught up to a 2-2 fastball that was up in the zone on the inner half of the plate and he got it all. Rogers smoked his fifth home run of the season and the two-run shot got Detroit on the board making it 6-2.

That was the only bump in the road for Marco. Gonzales finished the 5th and 6th innings only allowing six hits and two runs. The southpaw only allowed one walk while striking out a couple of Tigers before turning the ball over to the bullpen.

Seattle got one of those runs back in the top of the 7th. Singles by Julio Rodriguez and Eugenio Suarez put runners on the corners with two outs. Teoscar Hernandez welcomed new pitcher Jose Cisnero to the ball game by sneaking a grounder through the left side of the infield and into left field. Rodriguez scored easily on Teo’s RBI single to make it 7-2 M’s.

The biggest bright spot of the game came in the top of the 9th. Ty France began the inning with a single but Julio dealt the big blow. The 2022 AL Rookie of the Year sent a Tyler Alexander changeup into the bleachers in right field for a two-run shot and his seventh homer of the season. Julio’s third hit of the ball game dealt the final blow making it 9-2 and Tayler Saucedo pitched a 1-2-3 bottom half of the 9th to give the Mariners the win by that same score.

Seattle (19-19) again will look to get back to above .500 for the first time since Opening Day when they take on Detroit (17-20) on Saturday morning at 10:40am. Bryce Miller (1-0, 0.75 ERA) has been a revelation for Seattle since being called up and will to continue his incredible start to his career as he gets the ball for the M’s. Detroit counters with Alex Faedo (0-0, 3.86 ERA) who will make just his second appearance of the season but his coming off of a respectable outing against St. Louis.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Julio Rodriguez- 3-5, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
• Ty France- 2-4, RBI, 2 R
• Marco Gonzales (W, 3-0)- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO

Tigers

• Jake Rogers- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Riley Greene- 2-4, 2B
• Matthew Boyd (L, 2-3)- 1.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO

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