7/9/23

Mariners 3, Astros 1

(Houston, TX) For the final day of the first half of the season, the Seattle Mariners had the opportunity to finish as strong as any other team in baseball as they looked for their third consecutive series win by taking three of four against the Houston Astros. Behind tremendous starting pitching and timely offense, the Mariners had given a jolt of life to themselves and the fan base by finishing strong just as they did one season ago. It would be a happy ending to the first half for the Mariners as Logan Gilbert dominated once again and led Seattle to a big 3-1 win.

Early in the ballgame there wasn’t much action. Seattle turned a double play in the bottom of the 2nd to erase an opportunity for Houston while a one out double for Mike Ford didn’t lead to anything in the top of the 3rd. Seattle would make up for that in the top of the 4th as they did all of their damage in that inning.

An error by the World Series MVP, Jeremy Peña at shortstop allowed Julio Rodriguez to reach to begin the inning. J-Rod then recorded his 21st stolen base of the season, swiping second and putting himself in scoring position with nobody out. Then, surprising absolutely nobody, Ty France was hit by a pitch to put a second runner on base. The best hitter so far this summer for Seattle would cash in on the RBI opportunity as Teoscar Hernandez smoked a liner into left center field. Julio scored easily from second as Teo legged out his 15th double of the season to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. Next batter, Jarred Kelenic, did the rest of the damage. Kelenic thought he had taken ball four, but the pitch would be called a strike to run the count full. The third-year Mariner liked the new result better as he put one in the right center gap for his 22nd double of the year. Both France and Hernandez trotted home as Seattle then had a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Logan Gilbert put on a pretty great encore to his complete game shutout in San Francisco. Gilbert ran through the Houston order except for one mistake in the bottom of the 6th. Martin Maldonado hit a solo home run for his seventh home run of the season and second in as many days to put Houston on the board trailing 3-1. Besides that, Logan Gilbert was tremendous once again. The tall righty struck out four of the final six batters he faced after giving up the home run to make it two straight top tier outings. Logan went seven innings and allowed only one run on three hits while striking out six and not allowing a single walk in another breakout performance.

While the Mariner offense couldn’t add on, they did not need to. Matt Brash rolled through the bottom of the 8th without allowing a baserunner and set the table for a Paul Sewald save opportunity. Sewald would retire both Mauricio Dubon and Alex Bregman for a quick two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Kyle Tucker then worked a walk which brought up former AL MVP Jose Abreu representing the tying run. The Mariner closer made quick work of him. A four-pitch strikeout put and end to the very strong road trip and close to the first half of the season as the Mariners celebrated taking the series and finale by the same margin of 3-1.

Now, the Seattle Mariners (45-44) head into the All-Star break six games back in the AL West behind the Texas Rangers and four games behind the Houston Astros for the final AL Wild Card spot. Seattle will have representation in the Home Run Derby on Monday at 5pm as Julio Rodriguez will look to build upon the fantastic performance he had in Los Angeles last season that saw him just fall short in the finals losing to Juan Soto. Julio will take on Pete Alonso in the first round in a rematch of their epic semifinal encounter last year.

Then, on Tuesday at 5pm the M’s will have representation in the 2023 All-Star game in their home ballpark. Luis Castillo will make his third All-Star appearance and his first as a Mariner. Julio Rodriguez will also be in the Midsummer Classic as he makes his second All-Star Game in his second season. Finally, a debuting All-Star will represent the Mariners as George Kirby was named to the American League All-Star roster for the first time in his career. The starting pitcher for the AL will be announced on Monday with Luis Castillo under consideration by the American League Manager, Dusty Baker.

After the festivities, Seattle will stay at home to begin a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers (39-50) on Friday at 7:10pm. The starters have not been announced for either team as every MLB team shuffles their rotation coming out of the All-Star break.

Matt’s Takeaways

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Logan Gilbert (W, 7-5)- 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO
• Jarred Kelenic- 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI
• Teoscar Hernandez- 1-3, 2B, RBI, R

Astros

• Martin Maldonado- 1-3, HR, RBI, R
• Brandon Bielak (L, 4-5)- 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

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