6/6/23

Mariners 4, Padres 1

(San Diego, CA) Following up a disastrous week like the Seattle Mariners had last week comes with a lot of pressure. The entire fan base is locked in and waiting to see how the team will respond to so much turmoil. Logan Gilbert seemed like the perfect guy to take the mound in a situation like that. Against a team that spent a lot of money on their lineup but haven’t seen the results would still be a tough task for the young starter. Gilbert was up to the task and then some on Tuesday night in San Diego leading the way with a very tough one-two bullpen punch behind him to help get the Mariners a 4-1 win over the San Diego Padres.

With two struggling offenses and two good starting pitchers on the mound in Logan Gilbert and Joe Musgrove, everyone knew it would be a low scoring contest and the first team to two runs might win. Both pitchers threw clean first couple of innings while leaving a runner stranded in scoring position.

Then the Mariners landed the first shot in the top of the 3rd. After a quick two outs, J.P. Crawford reached for a second time with a walk and Julio Rodriguez kept the inning alive with an infield single up the middle. The M’s continued that two out rally as Ty France shot a grounder just by shortstop Ha-Seong Kim for a base hit. Crawford scored easily from second on the RBI knock to put the Mariners out in front 1-0.

San Diego wasted no time striking back. Rougned Odor hit a rocket that one hopped the wall in right center for a ground rule double for Odor’s seventh two bagger of the season. Former Mariner, Austin Nola, then drew a walk and Ha-Seong Kim moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third with one out. Fernando Tatis Jr. then got one just off the end of the bat to Ty France at first but it was hit so softly the only play was at first which allowed a run to score to tie the game 1-1. Gilbert would strand the go-ahead run at third to keep the score tied headed into the 4th.

Only one baserunner reached in the 4th and 5th which kept the score even into the top of the 6th. With nobody on and two outs, Teoscar Hernandez put together his best at bat of the season. After falling behind 0-2, Hernandez battled up with a couple foul balls and did not chase anything out of the zone to run the count full. On the eighth pitch of the AB, Hernandez was rewarded. Teoscar took a changeup at the very bottom of the zone and sent it 420 feet to left center field for his 10th home run of the season. It felt as though that might be the one to get Hernandez going but more importantly, it gave Seattle a 2-1 lead.

After pitching around a one out double in the bottom of the 6th, Logan Gilbert threw a clean 1-2-3 final inning of his outing in the bottom of the 7th including striking out the final two batters he faced. After getting hit around by the Yankees in his last time out, Gilbert was once again able to flush a rough start. Logan faced a high profile lineup and looked like he was the dominant force out there. Gilbert went seven innings of one run ball allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out six Padres on the night.

Insurance came in the top of the 8th for the M’s starting with the very first pitch. Steven Wilson actually missed the zone with his first pitch above the zone but still paid for it. Julio Rodriguez destroyed a high fastball that one upped Teoscar’s bomb from earlier. Julio sent his 11th homer of 2023 into the upper deck in left field at 108 mph off the bat to extend the lead to 3-1.

Seattle was not done adding on in the 8th either. Ty France lasered a double off the base of the wall in left field for his team high 18th double of the year. Unfortunately, Jarred Kelenic couldn’t move him over as he went down swinging for the first out. That brought up Teoscar Hernandez and once again Teo came through for the M’s. Hernandez snuck a grounder into right field for his second hit of the game. The ball was hit soft enough to allow France to score from second for Teoscar’s second RBI of the game and Seattle had a 4-1 lead.

Andres Muñoz returned and pitched an easy 1-2-3 bottom of the 8th and was as disgusting as ever with his wipeout slider to go along with a fastball that topped out at 100 mph in his return. Paul Sewald came on to pitch the 9th and it wasn’t as easy for the Mariner closer. A leadoff single by Juan Soto put some pressure on Sewald but a strikeout of Manny Machado allowed Sewald to breath a bit. A walk to Gary Sanchez allowed the tying run to come to the plate with one out. That was when Sewald really settled in as he struck out Jake Cronenworth and got Brandon Dixon to hit a weak grounder to Jose Caballero at second to end the game and give the Mariners the 4-1 win.

Seattle (30-30) snapped the three-game losing streak and got back to .500 in the opener of the two-game set in San Diego. They will look to complete the two-game sweep on Wednesday at 1:10pm as George Kirby takes the mound. Kirby (5-4, 3.04 ERA) has been the clear #2 pitcher for the Mariners this season and is coming off arguably his best outing against New York last week. Kirby will take on Michael Wacha (5-2, 3.48 ERA) who was named the NL Pitcher of the Month for May after allowing just three runs in 32 innings in May.

Injuries & Roster Moves

• Andres Muñoz activated from 15-day IL
• Dylan Moore activated from 10-day IL
• Trevor Gott placed on 15-day IL (Back Spasms)
• Sam Haggerty optioned to Triple A Tacoma

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Logan Gilbert (W, 4-3)- 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO
• Teoscar Hernandez- 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Julio Rodriguez- 2-4, HR, RBI, R

Padres

• Joe Musgrove (ND)- 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO
• Fernando Tatis Jr.- 1-4, 2B, RBI
• Rougned Odor- 1-3, 2B, R

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