8/1/23

Red Sox 6, Mariners 4

(Seattle, WA) Deadline Day always brings a little something extra in the baseball world. Everyone constantly refreshes their social media page to see who is getting traded and who is staying. Seattle Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto, is known for being a guy that loves making trades and making a lot of them. With the M’s in a spot where they could sell or they could buy, Seattle didn’t do much of either. No trades were made involving Seattle on Tuesday as the trade deadline passed which meant Teoscar Hernandez and Ty France would remain Mariners for the rest of the season. It wasn’t all good news however as the team turned their attention to game two with the Boston Red Sox. After a strong game one start, Seattle could not keep that momentum rolling as Boston evened the series with the 6-4 final.

While game one got off to a bad start for the Mariners, game two was the opposite. In the bottom of the 1st, a J.P. Crawford walk followed by a Julio Rodriguez single put runners on first and second immediately for Seattle. Eugenio Suarez began his strong game with a groundball that snuck into left field. Crawford scored and Julio moved up to third while Geno reached second on the throw to give the M’s a 1-0 lead. A Cal Raleigh walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Unfortunately, Seattle could not find a way to drive in another run as new Mariner Dominic Canzone flew out, followed by a Ty France strikeout and Mike Ford groundout to leave the bases loaded with just a 1-0 lead.

Bryce Miller ran through the Red Sox the first time through the order. Boston would make their adjustments however and finally got to the rookie in the top of the 4th. A leadoff double by Masataka Yoshida got the inning started for Boston. Miller would then walk Rafael Devers and hit Adam Duvall to load the bases with nobody out. Boston would not let their opportunity slip away. After getting the first out, Bryce Miller got Christian Arroyo to chase a 1-2 fastball off the plate but Arroyo would keep it fair down the right field line. Yoshida and Devers scored to give the Red Sox their first lead at 2-1. Reese McGuire added on a third run before the inning ended with a sacrifice fly, making it 3-1 Boston.

Everything began to fall apart for Bryce Miller after that. In the top of the 5th, Jarren Duran started the third time through the order with his 32nd double of the season to give the meat of the Boston order a chance to do more damage. Alex Verdugo took advantage of the opportunity. A 2-0 fastball up in the zone was not missed by Verdugo as he crushed just his eighth home run of the season to center field. The two-run bomb continued to build the Boston lead to 5-1.

The Mariners would find their own long ball just a half inning later. After Cade Marlowe led off the bottom of the 5th with an infield single, Eugenio Suarez came to the plate with Marlowe still on first and two outs. Geno turned on a changeup on the inside corner and snuck it just inside the foul pole down the left field line for a two-run shot for himself. The 15th home run by Suarez this season cut the deficit in half down to 5-3.

A big double play in the top of the 6th set up Bryce Miller to get through the 6th with just a two run deficit. Reese McGuire had other ideas. The newly recalled catcher launched a fastball 104-mph off the bat into the seats in right field for a solo home run. The first home run of 2023 for McGuire chased Bryce Miller after 5 2/3 innings and also made it 6-3 Red Sox.

Trent Thornton made his Mariner debut with a strikeout to end the top of the 6th and another new Mariner had his own first in the bottom of the 6th. Dominic Canzone recorded his first hit as a Mariner with his third double of the season to left. Ty France followed with his second double of the game and 26th of the season to score Canzone and get that run right back and make it 6-4. After Mike Ford struck out for the first out, Josh Rojas moved France to third with a ground out to bring up Cade Marlowe. The rookie outfielder tried to parachute one into left field, but the speedy Jarren Duran made a sliding catch to rob Marlowe of an RBI and keep it at 6-4.

Thornton pitched scoreless innings in the top of the 7th and 8th as well keeping the Mariners within striking distance. A one out single in the bottom of the 8th by Ty France moved Cal Raleigh to third and France moved up to second on a Boston error to put the tying run in scoring position with one out. Neither Mike Ford nor Josh Rojas could put the ball in play as both struck out to end the inning. That would be the last gasp for Seattle as Kenley Jansen threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to put a wrap on this one with Boston coming out on top 6-4.

Now the two AL Wild Card contenders will settle this series in the rubber game on Wednesday at 1:10pm. Seattle (55-52) will be going for their fourth straight series win and will send Logan Gilbert (9-5, 3.83 ERA) to the mound to try to complete that task. The Mariners won all five of Gilbert’s starts in July and Logan posted a 2.78 ERA in 32 1/3 innings in the span of those five starts. If Logan can keep that success up, Boston (57-50) will need a good start out of their starter as well. It will be Kutter Crawford (5-5, 3.86 ERA) in the finale for the Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon. Crawford is also coming off a strong month of July but is not a guy that will go too deep into ball games. He has only thrown 90+ pitches twice this season so Seattle will need to be patient at the plate and make him work to try to get Crawford out of there early.

Roster Moves

• The Mariners activated Josh Rojas and Dominic Canzone after Monday trade. Seattle options Juan Then and Taylor Trammell to Triple-A Tacoma in corresponding move.
• Seattle recalls RHP Trent Thornton from Triple-A Tacoma and designate Kolten Wong for assignment.
• Mariners trade RHP Logan Rinehart to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for RHP Eduard Bazardo.

Notable Performances

Red Sox

• Alex Verdugo- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R, BB
• Reese McGuire- 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Brayan Bello (W, 8-6)- 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO

Mariners

• Eugenio Suarez- 2-4, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Ty France- 3-4, 2 2Bs, RBI
• Bryce Miller (L, 7-4)- 5.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO

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