7/16/23

Mariners 2, Tigers 0

(Seattle, WA) Being swept coming out of the All-Star break can completely kill a team and end their season right there. Being swept by a team that you should beat is even worse. The Seattle Mariners went into the finale of their three-game series with the Detroit Tigers on Sunday looking to avoid just that fate. Bryce Miller’s return gave fans a sense of optimism after missing his last start due to a finger blister. Miller looked as good as new on Sunday although he was only asked to go five innings. The bullpen then took care of business the rest of the way to help Seattle avoid that death knell as they salvaged a game in the series by winning the finale 2-0.

While the pitching was fantastic, the offense continued to struggle for the most part. A hot start would help give the pitching staff their first lead of the series early. A leadoff double for J.P. Crawford put a runner on scoring position immediately for Seattle. After Julio Rodriguez reached on an infield single that kept Crawford at second, Teoscar Hernandez continued to have a bumpy start to the second half and hit into a rare 3-4-1 double play to move Crawford to third but with two outs. Jarred Kelenic stepped up to the plate on his 24th birthday and after Mike Ford had a massive day on his birthday on the 4th of July, Kelenic continued that birthday tradition. He sent one the other way deep to left field that hit the top of the wall to just stay in the park. Kelenic reached second with his 24th double of the season to score Crawford and give Seattle the 1-0 lead.

Seattle could not string together any more rallies and it was clear that they were going to have to win a low scoring affair. They did get another run to add some more breathing room in the bottom of the 4th. With nobody on and two outs, Cal Raleigh got a fastball from Reese Olson right in his sweet spot at the bottom of the zone and he went down and did damage. Raleigh smashed a no-doubter out to right center for his 12th home run of the season to extend the lead to 2-0.

Bryce Miller went out and did exactly what he did the first time he faced the Detroit Tigers. Normally a fastball heavy pitcher, Miller again mixed it up more than he has against any other team. Detroit did have a bit more success against the rookie as they mixed in hits as they had a baserunner in each of Miller’s five innings of work. Only once did they have two runners on base and none ever reached third. Miller danced around danger every single time while pitching to contact. For the second time this season Miller did not allow a run against the Tigers, this time in five innings while allowing five hits and one walk while striking out just three. It wasn’t the most dominant Bryce Miller, but it was great to see him back on the mound and giving the M’s a chance to win.

With no more offense coming for Seattle, the bullpen had to get the final 12 outs while protecting a two-run lead. Matt Brash and Justin Topa started the day for the bullpen with 1-2-3 innings in the 6th and 7th with three strikeouts. Andres Muñoz also pitched an easy three up, three down top of the 8th with Julio and Kolten Wong making nice plays to help him out. Paul Sewald came in for the first time in the second half and after striking out Spencer Torkelson to start the 9th, gave up a single to Kerry Carpenter. That brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Matt Vierling. Sewald painted the corner with a 2-2 fastball for a strikeout. Javier Baez then came up as the last chance for Detroit but Sewald took advantage of the lack of plate discipline for the Tiger shortstop. Two sweepers well off the plate were chased by Baez for a three pitch strikeout to end the game and give Seattle the 2-0 win.

After a rough series to start the second half, Seattle (46-46) will meet the Minnesota Twins (48-46) for the first time this season as the teams begin a four-game series in T-Mobile Park. After finishing the first half stronger than almost any pitcher in baseball, Logan Gilbert (7-5, 3.66 ERA) will try to carry over that momentum into the second half. Against San Francisco and Houston, Gilbert went 16 innings and allowed just one run on eight hits with no walks and 13 strikeouts in his final two starts before the break. They will take on All-Star Sonny Gray for the Twins in the opener. Gray (4-3, 2.89 ERA) has been phenomenal since joining the Twins last season but has not gotten a win on his record since April 30th.

Matt’s Takeaways

I am not going to sugarcoat anything here. The Mariners stunk this weekend. It was such a body blow after feeling so good after the All-Star break. The pitching struggled for the most part against a lackluster offense. These aren’t shots at Detroit. I absolutely love some of their players and Riley Greene is possibly my favorite up and comer in all of baseball. But they should not be dominating the Mariners like this. The offense just continues to be so inconsistent and it feels like if the Mariners aren’t hitting home runs, they don’t have a chance. This team lives off home runs, but they don’t hit nearly enough. Seattle is still .500 so I am not saying the season is over. What I am saying is that Jerry Dipoto should be very cautious at the deadline. There is no point in trading pieces for the future to help a team maybe sneak into the playoffs where they just don’t have enough to win it all. And while I hope more than anything that I am wrong, I just don’t think this team is good enough to even get to the World Series let alone win it all. Please prove me wrong.

Notable Performances

Tigers

• Kerry Carpenter- 2-4
• Zach McKinstry- 1-4, 2B
• Reese Olson (L, 1-3)- 5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO

Mariners

• Bryce Miller (W, 6-3)- 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
• Jarred Kelenic- 1-4, 2B, RBI
• J.P. Crawford- 3-3, 2 2Bs, R, BB

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