8/8/23

Mariners 2, Padres 0

(Seattle, WA) It was going to take a pretty strong run for the Seattle Mariners to play their way back into the playoff race. Lingering around .500 for a vast majority of the season gave them that opportunity as they never fell too far behind. That big run started as soon as July rolled around and that run has now carried into August as the M’s began a short two-game series with a team that has been extremely disappointing this season in the San Diego Padres. Back when these two teams played a two-game series in San Diego in June one player stood out from the rest and he only played in one game. That player was Logan Gilbert who pitched game one in that series and somehow outdid himself in game one of this series. Gilbert didn’t need much help, but some fantastic defense behind him shutdown the San Diego offense as Seattle grinded across enough offense to make it six straight wins for the Mariners as they knocked off the Padres 2-0.

Logan Gilbert was completely dominant from the word go on Tuesday night. Incredible command was the key to the career outing for Logan Gilbert that was on par with his complete game shutout in San Francisco. While the offense was leaving runners in scoring position constantly in this game, Gilbert wasn’t even letting any Padres on base. Only one batter reached base against Logan Gilbert in his seven innings of work. That was a slow roller that Dylan Moore attempted to backhand but couldn’t come up with cleanly but Xander Bogaerts would have beat out the throw anyway. Other than that, Gilbert was nearly unhittable. Logan threw those seven scoreless innings of one hit ball without allowing a walk and striking out a career high 12 batters. Gilbert looks like he might be turning into that dominant pitcher he was at the end of last season.

That’s not to say the Padres didn’t have some hard hit baseballs. Julio Rodriguez just flagged down most of them. One catch in particular stood out and of course most of you have already seen it. Leading off the top of the 4th, the polarizing Fernando Tatis Jr. looked like he got ahold of one and sent it to deep center field. Julio Rodriguez went back on it and leapt to try to bring back the home run. J-Rod then slowly started walking back to center field as Tatis rounded the bases. Then, Julio opened his glove, revealing that he did make the catch to take away a home run from his friend for an out instead of a run. Even Tatis had to flash a smile as J-Rod threw up the X to the J-Rod Squad as Tatis made the slow walk back to the dugout.

For as dominant as Gilbert was on the mound, the offense was equally as frustrating for the Mariners. So many runners were being not only left on base, but left in scoring position. Even when they got on the board, it didn’t feel satisfying. In the bottom of the 5th, three straight Mariners reached with one out. Dylan Moore walked while J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodriguez both singled to load the bases. Eugenio Suarez would strikeout for a second out which put all the pressure on Cal Raleigh. San Diego reliever Ray Kerr was a little wild and fell behind Raleigh 3-1. Raleigh was gearing up for the heater when the home plate umpire stepped out from behind home plate and awarded ball four to Raleigh on a pitch clock violation. That led to a run coming in to give Seattle their first lead at 1-0.

Seattle would score a normal run in the bottom of the 7th to add on to their lead. With Kerr still on the mound, Seattle had the bases empty with two outs. Tom Murphy sent a grounder back up the middle for a base hit to put a runner on. Dylan Moore came to the plate and launched a fastball to straightaway center field. Trent Grisham went back and couldn’t quite bring in the ball. It would bounce off the very top of the wall but stayed in the field of play which benefited the Mariners. Murphy scored from first while Moore recorded his first triple of the season to extend the lead to 2-0.

That would have to be enough for the M’s as the score remained the same headed into the 9th. Andrés Muñoz entered after a couple of days off and was completely disgusting. Ha-Seong Kim somehow flipped a slider off the plate for a base hit to bring the tying run to the plate. Fernando Tatis Jr. pretty much swapped places with Kim as he hit into a fielder’s choice for the first out. Muñoz then put the finishing touches on Juan Soto’s first golden sombrero of his career as Muñoz painted a slider on the outside corner to strikeout Soto for the fourth time on the day. Manny Machado was a dangerous final out but a harmless grounder to J.P. Crawford finished off the game as the Mariners danced their way to their sixth straight win by a final score of 2-0.

Wednesday night’s game at 6:40pm will be big for a couple of reasons. First of all, Seattle (61-52) will be looking for their seventh straight win and a two-game sweep of San Diego (55-59) and their sixth consecutive series win. Also, it will be the MLB debut of the Mariners 2020 first round draft pick Emerson Hancock as he takes the rotation spot of Bryan Woo who was placed on the 15-day IL. Hancock is the third pitcher for the Mariners to make their debut this season after being called up straight from Double-A. Hancock was 11-5 with a 4.32 ERA with 107 strikeouts and 38 walks in 98 innings with Arkansas this season. A former division rival will return to T-Mobile Park as Yu Darvish (8-7, 4.41 ERA) makes the start for San Diego. Darvish has about one bad start a month but did only allow two runs against the Dodgers in his last start.

Notable Performances

Padres

• Xander Bogaerts- 1-3, 7 Assists, 2 Putouts
• Jake Cronenworth- 1-3, 2B
• Nick Martinez (ND)- 3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO

Mariners

• Logan Gilbert (W, 10-5)- 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 SO
• J.P. Crawford- 3-4, 2B
• Dylan Moore- 1-2, 3B, RBI, BB

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