7/4/23

Mariners 6, Giants 0

(San Francisco, CA) One of the best days of the MLB season is the 4th of July. All 30 teams are playing throughout the day with at least one game on nonstop from 8am throughout the rest of the day. For the Seattle Mariners, it was an opportunity to win their fourth straight game and wrap up a series win over the San Francisco Giants. Two stars shined brightest in game two as Logan Gilbert did something that hadn’t been done by a Mariner since 2019 and Mike Ford had a four hit game on his birthday to lead the M’s to a 6-0 win.

Consistent scoring for the Mariners set the tone early in the ballgame. J.P. Crawford recorded his third leadoff double in the last four games to start the game. Julio Rodriguez would then move Crawford to third with an infield single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Jarred Kelenic would hit a grounder to second and the Giants would only get Julio at second as Crawford scored on the fielder’s choice to give Seattle the very early 1-0 lead.

Seattle would add on in the top of the 2nd. Mike Ford began his memorable birthday with a single to leadoff the inning and Eugenio Suarez followed with his 14th double of the season down the right field line. After Tom Murphy loaded the bases on catcher’s interference, another wild pitch allowed Ford to score to extend the lead 2-0. Eugenio Suarez would get thrown out at the plate later that inning on a groundball to prevent the M’s from adding on anymore in the inning.

The power then came for Seattle in the top of the 3rd as they continued to score in each of the early innings. With nobody on and two outs, Mike Ford celebrated his 31st birthday with his seventh home run of the season over the wall in right field. The solo shot extended the Mariners lead to 3-0 and gave Ford his second hit of his birthday.

Logan Gilbert had some early scares on Tuesday afternoon. In the bottom of the 3rd, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Joc Pederson singled with two outs to give San Francisco their first real chance to score. A groundball to Kolten Wong got Gilbert out of the inning. In the bottom of the 4th, Mike Yastrzemski hit a one out double to give the Giants another chance to get on the board. A big strikeout of Patrick Bailey took some pressure off of Gilbert and then a Blake Sabol flyout to AJ Pollock in left ended that threat as well. Those two innings along with Gilbert’s three pitch 2nd inning had the table set for a big day for the young right-hander.

The 5th inning was pretty uneventful but Seattle would make up for that in the top of the 6th. After two quick outs, back-to-back singles by AJ Pollock and J.P. Crawford put runners on the corners with two outs. Julio Rodriguez continued to catch fire with a two out single into right field. Pollock trotted home as the two out rally made it 4-0 M’s.

With one out in the top of the 7th, Mike Ford stepped up to the plate a triple shy of the cycle. He was in the right ballpark to find a three bagger but a line drive down the left field line kicked off the wall and sent the ball right to the left fielder. Ford had to settle for his second double of the game and season. Unfortunately, Ford would not be able to record a triple and had to settle for a four-hit day for his birthday instead of the cycle.

In the top of the 8th, Seattle would land one more big blow that seemed to take the air out of Oracle Park. After Kolten Wong was hit by Jakob Junis on an 0-2 count, AJ Pollock silenced some Mariner fans that were calling for Pollock to be DFA’d. Pollock went down and got a slider at the bottom of the zone and sent it out to left field for a two-run shot and his fifth home run of the season. Seattle had a 6-0 lead and a 1-2-3 bottom of the 8th gave Gilbert a chance to pitch the 9th.

The last complete game shutout by a Mariner pitcher was on August 18th, 2019 by Yusei Kikuchi in Toronto. Logan Gilbert trotted out to the mound in the bottom of the 9th to try to update that date. He would strikeout J.D. Davis on a slider to start the inning and then got Michael Conforto to groundout to Kolten Wong to put himself one out away from his first career complete game shutout. Facing Mike Yastrzemski, Logan lived on the inner half of the plate to the lefty and got ahead 1-2. Logan would then finish off his best career start in the only way he possibly could. Gilbert blew a 97-mph fastball by Yastrzemski for his seventh strikeout and to give himself the complete game and shutout as the Mariners got their fourth straight win 6-0.

Now, The Seattle Mariners (42-42) will look for their fifth straight win as they go for the sweep of the San Francisco Giants (46-40) on Wednesday at 6:05pm. After Bryce Miller was placed on the IL earlier this week, Tommy Milone (0-0, 1.93 ERA) will make the start for Seattle in his second start of the season. The veteran went 4 2/3 innings and allowed one run on three hits back in April in a win over Colorado. Alex Cobb (5-2, 3.12 ERA) will go for the Giants in his second start since a short IL stint in late June.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Logan Gilbert (W, 6-5)- CG, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO
• Mike Ford- 4-5, 2 2Bs, HR, 1 RBI, 2 R
• AJ Pollock- 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R

Giants

• J.D. Davis- 2-4
• Mike Yastrzemski- 1-4, 2B
• Keaton Winn (L, 0-2)- 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO

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