8/2/23

Mariners 6, Red Sox 3

(Seattle, WA) It was a big Mariners Matinee at T-Mobile Park on Wednesday as the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox met in the rubber game of their three-game series. Not only was it the series deciding game, but if Boston pulled out the win, they would own the tiebreaker with Seattle for the Wild Card race. Dominant starting pitching was the story for Boston early, but the Mariners would bide their time and got to the Red Sox bullpen. One big inning offensively and four stellar innings by the bullpen got the job done as Seattle gutted out a tough but big 6-3 win over the Red Sox.

Logan Gilbert did not have his best stuff but still was tough and gave Seattle a chance for the win. Some missed locations ended up hurting Gilbert in the top of the 3rd but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. He just missed the outside corner with a 3-2 slider for a leadoff walk to Connor Wong. With one out, Jarren Duran continued to be a thorn in the side of the Seattle Mariners. Logan got ahead of Duran 0-2, and actually located a splitter pretty well but not as well as he wanted. He tried to get the ball in the dirt but it was just below the zone and Duran sent it out to right field for a two-run home run. It was just Duran’s seventh home run of the season and it had given Boston a 2-0 lead.

Boston would chase Gilbert after the 6th after tacking on some more offense. Again it was Connor Wong leading off the inning in the top of the 5th with his 20th double of the season. A hard hit line drive by Yu Chang moved Wong to third with still nobody out. Gilbert bounced back with a couple of big strikeouts of Jarren Duran and Alex Verdugo to put runners on second and third with two outs after Chang stole second. Masataka Yoshida showcased his hitting prowess by pushing a grounder on the left side of the infield. J.P. Crawford made an incredible back handed play to save a run but had no play at first or third as Wong scored to make it 3-0. Rafael Devers hit a line drive into center that was flagged down by Julio Rodriguez and end the inning with Boston leading 3-0.

For how much pain Jarren Duran has cause the Mariners, Cal Raleigh has done just as much damage to the Boston Red Sox. With Boston’s starter Kutter Crawford out after five scoreless innings, Eugenio Suarez hit his 18th double of the season with one out off of John Schreiber to set up Raleigh in the bottom of the 6th. The Mariner catcher battled with Schreiber in his at bat and battled for nine pitches before doing damage on pitch number 10. Cal got a sinker at the bottom of the zone, his sweet spot, and hit a screamer over the right field wall for his 17th home run of the season. It was Cal’s third home run of the series and brought the Mariners back into this one just trailing 3-2.

In an interesting move, Boston kept Schreiber out on the mound for the bottom of the 7th. It would turn out to be a mistake by Red Sox manager Alex Cora. Schreiber walked Dominic Canzone on four pitches and then gave up a single to Tom Murphy to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Boston then went back to their bullpen and brought in lefty Richard Bleier to face pinch hitter Cade Marlowe in a lefty-lefty matchup. The young Marlowe sent a 1-2 grounder back up the middle for a base hit. Marlowe’s biggest hit of his very young career scored Canzone and tied the game at 3-3 with runners on the corners and still nobody out.

After J.P. Crawford struck out, Julio Rodriguez stepped up to the plate. He shattered his bat on a grounder to short that was hit too softly to be a double play. This time, it would be the Mariners opponents with the defensive issues. Rafael Devers and Yu Chang collided trying to field the ground ball and neither came up with it as it trickled into left. Murphy scored while Jose Caballero who ran for Marlowe made it to third with the Mariners now leading 4-3. For the eighth straight game, Eugenio Suarez recorded an RBI to keep the inning rolling. Geno slapped a line drive the other way into right field for a base hit. Julio went to third while Caballero scored to make it 5-3 with still only one out. Cal Raleigh popped up after that for the second out and then the M’s got tricky. Suarez took off for second on a pitch to Ty France that missed the zone. The throw down to second by Red Sox catcher Konnor Wong was low, but on the throw Geno stopped between first and second and Julio took of for home from the third. The throw to the plate would not be in time as Rodriguez stole home for the first time in his career to make it 6-3 Seattle thanks to a four-run inning.

The trio of Gabe Speier, Matt Brash, and Justin Topa shutout the Red Sox in the 7th and 8th innings to set up Andres Muñoz for the save opportunity in the top of the 9th. In his first opportunity as the new Mariner closer, Muñoz made easy work of the Boston order. A 1-2-3 top of the 9th with strikeouts of Reese McGuire and Connor Wong put a bow on the Mariners fourth straight series win as Seattle came back to defeat the Red Sox 6-3.

After a very quick three-game homestand, Seattle (56-52) will now go on the road for just a quick four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels (56-53) in another battle of Wild Card contenders. Game one will see Bryan Woo (1-3, 4.96 ERA) take the mound for the Mariners in his second career start against the Angels. Woo faced the Angels back on June 10th in his second career start and went 4 2/3 innings and allowed just two runs and four hits while striking out seven in a Mariners win. It won’t be easy for the M’s as they will take on the best baseball player on the planet in Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani (9-5, 3.43 ERA) is coming off of his first complete game in the MLB when he threw a one-hit shutout against the Detroit Tigers when he last took the mound. First pitch is scheduled for Thursday at 6:38pm.

Matt’s Takeaways

Some how these Mariners are making a move up the standings just when we thought it was time to punt on the 2023 season. Four straight series wins is impressive already, but doing it against four playoff contenders makes it even better. The Mariners now sit six games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West and just 3.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the Wild Card race. Since July 1st, the Mariners are tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the best record in all of baseball. That one series with Detroit was the only negative in the entire month. These guys are starting to get going and are starting to gain that confidence again. Chaos ball is starting to return and I absolutely love the Mariners moves at the deadline. I hated seeing Paul Sewald leave, but I believe Seattle got a very good return from Arizona. The let it ride strategy is the best thing for the 2023 and 2024 Mariners. I also understand the frustration with the lack of moves, but believe it or not the front office is saving everything to throw at Shohei Ohtani. The last three years have been building to a push for Shohei. Whether they get him or not the spending will come. After next week, the schedule gets much easier in the end of August. Now is the time to make a move and the M’s are starting to get dangerous.

Notable Performances

Red Sox

• Jarren Duran- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Connor Wong- 1-3, 2B, 2 R, BB
• Kutter Crawford (ND)- 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

Mariners

• Eugenio Suarez- 3-4, 2B, RBI, R
• Cal Raleigh- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Logan Gilbert (ND)- 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO

elisportsnetwork.com