6/13/24

(Seattle, WA) Returning home from a 3-3 road trip where it really felt like they left money on the table, the Seattle Mariners were right back to work on Monday night as they opened up a four-game series at T-Mobile Park with the worst team in baseball thus far in the Chicago White Sox. While Chicago has been just awful this season, they did come to Seattle after snapping their 14-game losing streak and splitting a four-game series with a playoff contender in Boston. The M’s would also see the top two pitchers on the White Sox staff and two of the best on the trade market in Garrett Crochet and Erick Fedde.

Mariners 8, White Sox 4 (Game 1, June 10th)

Right out of the gate, Seattle had to deal with a strong opposing pitcher when Erick Fedde took the mound. The M’s would be able to counter as Logan Gilbert got the ball for the home team in the series opener. It was pretty much exactly what Mariner fans had seen so much of this season. Tremendous pitching, with struggling offense.

Both pitchers absolutely cruised through the first five innings of the game. Both Gilbert and Fedde did not even allow much traffic on-base but it would be Gilbert to blink first. In the top of the 6th, a leadoff double by Korey Lee put a runner in scoring position for Chicago. Logan would settle in and get a couple big outs, striking out Corey Julks and getting Nicky Lopez to fly out to left field which kept Lee at second with two outs. That brought up the most dangerous hitter in the Sox lineup in Luis Robert Jr. He would come up big for the White Sox as he crushed his fifth home run of the season 403-feet. The two-out, two-run home run gave Chicago the first runs of the game as they took a 2-0 lead.

That lead continued to grow in the next couple of innings. Andrew Vaughn doubled to begin the seventh inning and Lenyn Sosa chased Gilbert a couple of batters later. A base hit to center drove in Vaughn to make it 3-0 and end Gilbert’s day after 6 2/3 innings of six hit and three run ball while striking out eight and not walking a batter.

A solo shot by Corey Julks to begin the 8th extended the White Sox lead to 4-0. Seattle found their spark in the bottom of the 8th. With Erick Fedde still on the mound to start the inning, Dominic Canzone would light the spark that turned into a raging inferno. Canzone sent his sixth home run of the season out to the J-Rod Squad to get the M’s on the board trailing 4-1. With Fedde out of the game and the flamethrower Michael Kopech on the mound, the M’s continued to fight. A single by Ryan Bliss and a walk for J.P. Crawford brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out. Josh Rojas represented that tying run and he singled to left to load the base for Julio Rodríguez. J-Rod would strikeout swinging and Cal Raleigh came to the plate. Raleigh would take a pitch in off the plate but would get rung up by home plate umpire Chris Guccione. Raleigh was not happy but manager Scott Servais got Cal out of there and instead got himself ejected instead of his catcher which would turn out to be a game winning move.

With the bases loaded and two outs, it looked like the opportunity would slip through the Mariners fingers. However, Mitch Haniger came up with his first big hit of the series with a base hit to right. Bliss and Crawford scored to make it 4-3 while Rojas made it to third. Luke Raley would then look to tie things up and got real bold with a 1-1 count. Raley squared around to bunt a 99-mph fastball that was up and in but got down the two-out bunt and got it down in a perfect spot. There was no play as Raley reached on the bunt single and Rojas scored and just like that the game was tied at 4-4.

Seattle would leave the bases loaded in the 8th and Ryne Stanek would come on to pitch the 9th looking to give the M’s the walk-off opportunity. A leadoff single by Oscar Colás put the go-ahead run on but back-to-back strikeouts of Korey Lee and Corey Julks took some pressure off Stanek. Nicky Lopez would then single to put runners on first and second, but Stanek came through with a huge strikeout of Luis Robert Jr. to end the inning and send the game to the bottom of the 9th still tied at 4-4.

Jordan Leasure remained in the game for Chicago and after retiring Ryan Bliss, he got in some hot water. Back-to-back walks by J.P. Crawford and Josh Rojas put the winning run at second for J-Rod. Julio would smoke a liner into left but it was hit too hard to score Crawford and instead the bases were loaded with one out. That brought up Cal Raleigh and he quickly got ahead 2-0. Leasure would sent a fastball right down the heart of the plate and Cal sent every home in grand fashion. A no-doubt grand slam was Raleigh’s 12th home run of the season and the Big Dumper was swarmed at home plate with his second career walk-off home run and while it wasn’t as big as the drought ender, it was a huge lift as the M’s took the opener 8-4.

Notable Performances

White Sox

• Luis Robert Jr.- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI
• Lenyn Sosa- 2-4, RBI
• Erick Fedde (ND)- 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO

Mariners

• Cal Raleigh- 1-5, HR, 4 RBI, R
• Mitch Haniger- 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB
• Logan Gilbert (ND)- 6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO

Mariners 4, White Sox 3 (Game 2, June 11th)

Game two featured a weird pitching matchup that formed just hours before first pitch. For Chicago, it would be the Major League debut of Drew Thorpe who was called up to fill out a thin rotation. For the Mariners, things shifted as Bryan Woo was scratched late and underwent an MRI in which everything came back clean. With Emerson Hancock being unavailable due to just pitching in Tacoma, lefty Jhonathan Díaz would get his first opportunity with the Mariners as the former Angel was thrust into duty.

It was not the greatest start for Díaz as he found himself in a big jam in the top of the 2nd. Three consecutive singles by Paul DeJong, Korey Lee, and Zach DeLoach loaded the bases for the White Sox with nobody out. Díaz would strikeout Nicky Lopez for an important first out and he was a double play ball away from escaping the inning. Martín Maldonado would find a rare base hit with a single to left that moved everyone up 90-feet while scoring DeJong and giving the Sox a 1-0 lead. That would be all for Chicago as a strikeout and groundout ended the big threat with minimal damage being done.

Seattle would have an immediate answer and got to the rookie in the home half of the 2nd. A two-out double by Luke Raley was the first Mariner hit of the game and put the tying run in scoring position. Mitch Garver would follow suit and drove a fly ball down into the right field corner and stayed fair. Raley scored with ease with two outs as Garver made his way to second with his 10th double of the season with the game tied at 1-1.

A couple more hiccups allowed the Sox to retake the lead in the top of the 3rd. It would not be Luis Robert Jr. causing the damage this time as he flew out harmlessly to begin the inning. It would be the guys right behind him that pushed the Sox back out in front. Andrew Vaughn stayed red hot for the White Sox with his seventh home run of the season and Paul DeJong immediately followed his lead. The veteran shortstop would also send a solo shot out into right field for his 13th homer of the year. The back-to-back blasts had the Mariners back in a hole as they fell behind 3-1.

Things would tighten back up as the M’s again responded in the home half of the inning. An error with one out put Josh Rojas on first with some good speed. He would be erased when Julio Rodríguez hit into a fielder’s choice but J-Rod beat out the double play attempt to put even better speed at first with two away. Julio got himself into scoring position with Cal Raleigh at the plate with his 15th stolen base on the year. Raleigh would come through with two outs as Cal placed a line drive just on the line down in right field. The ball would hop the wall giving Raleigh his sixth double of the season and allowed Julio to jog home as it became a one-run game with the M’s trailing 3-2.

Both Díaz and Thorpe settled in after that as the score remained 3-2 going into the 6th. The Mariner lefty would get chased after two Nicky Lopez singled to put runners on first and second with one out. It didn’t take long for Trent Thornton to get out of trouble, just needing two pitches to get Maldonado to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning and give the Mariners a chance against the White Sox bullpen.

A two-out walk to Josh Rojas forced the White Sox to go to their second reliver of the game as John Brebbia came in looking for the final out of the inning. He would struggle to find that out as J-Rod reached on an infield single to put runners on first and second with the man of the series coming to the plate in Cal Raleigh. Once again Cal came up big for the Mariners. Raleigh smoked another double down into the right field corner. Both Rojas and Julio were able to score with ease and the game was flipped as the Mariners took a 4-3 lead thanks to their catcher.

Chicago left a runner stranded at second in the 8th and Ryne Stanek would pitch the 9th in the save situation. There was no drama to be had in the 9th as Stanek ran through the Sox. A groundout by Nicky Lopez was followed by a couple of fly outs from Gavin Sheets and Corey Julks sealed the deal as Seattle celebrated another comeback victory, 4-3.

Notable Performances

White Sox

• Paul DeJong- 2-4, HR, RBI, 2 R
• Andrew Vaughn- 2-4, HR, RBI, R
• Drew Thorpe (ND)- 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO

Mariners

• Cal Raleigh- 2-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI
• Julio Rodríguez- 1-4, R, 2 SB
• Jhonathan Díaz (ND)- 5.1 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO

Mariners 2, White Sox 1 (10) (Game 3, June 12th)

After plenty of drama in each of the first two games, everyone in the Pacific Northwest was looking for a nice and relaxing win in game three on Star Wars night when Bryce Miller took the mound to square off against Jonathan Cannon. What they actually got? You guessed it! Much more drama.

Each team got just one runner in scoring position in the first six innings and both came on doubles. For Chicago it was Korey Lee and for the Mariners it was Dominic Canzone. Both were left stranded in scoring position and both Miller and Cannon cruised. For Bryce Miller, it was a tremendous bounce back effort after being the starter in the Mariners 8-0 blown lead in Kansas City. This time out, Miller came up with one of his best starts of the season, going seven shutout innings and allowing only two hits and two walks while striking out eight. However, as he left the mound after the top of the 7th, the scoreboard still read all zeros.

Good news for Miller was that by the time Seattle’s defense took the field again, he would be in line for the win. With nobody on and one out, Luke “Skywalker” Raley used a little bit of the force to put the Mariners out in front. Raley sent a first pitch changeup out into the right field seats for his seventh home run of the year. With the pitching dominating, the one run looked to be enough as the M’s led 1-0.

After Austin Voth struck out the side in the 8th, it would be Mike Baumann again looking for his first career save in the 9th. Instead, it would be a blown save after just one pitch. Luis Robert Jr. would pinch hit and crushed a first pitch fastball out into Edgar’s Cantina for his sixth home run of the season. In the blink of an eye things were even late again as Chicago tied it at 1-1. Baumann and Saucedo would finish off the 9th but Michael Kopech pitched a scoreless 9th as well which sent the game to extras.

Trent Thornton was on to pitch the top of the 10th with Danny Mendick starting at second as the automatic runner. Zach Deloach hit a grounder to Raley at first to move Mendick up to third with one out. Lenyn Sosa would then smoke a grounder to Josh Rojas at third and he was able to look Mendick back while throwing out Sosa for a huge second out. Fresh of the IL, Andrew Benintendi pinch hit for Corey Julks, but he also couldn’t come through for Chicago. Thornton would strike out the lefty swinging to end the inning and leave the go-ahead run at third which once again gave the Mariners a walk-off opportunity.

Luke Raley was the Mariners automatic runner starting at second in the bottom of the 10th as Steven Wilson came in to pitch for the Sox. Mitch Garver couldn’t move Raley over as he lined out to left for the first out. Domini Canzone was intentionally walked to get a right-on-right matchup and put the double play in order for the White Sox. Mitch Haniger entered as a pinch hitter and put together an incredible at bat. The veteran fouled off four two-strike pitches and also didn’t chase a couple pitches out of the zone to even the count at 2-2. He would get jammed a bit on a sweeper up in the zone, but was able to parachute it out into right center. Raley got a great read and flew around third to score as Haniger celebrated his walk-off. The drama was once again worth it as the M’s set themselves up for an opportunity at the sweep with a 2-1 win in 10 innings.

Notable Performances

White Sox

• Jonathan Cannon (ND)- 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO
• Luis Robert Jr.- 1-1, HR, RBI, R

Mariners

• Bryce Miller (ND)- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO
• Luke Raley- 1-4, HR, RBI, 2 R
• Mitch Haniger- 1-1, RBI, Walk-Off Base Hit

White Sox 3, Mariners 2 (10) (Game 4, June 13th)

Looking for a rare four-game sweep, the Mariners would make another adjustment to the rotation, pushing back Luis Castillo to pitch Friday and calling up Emerson Hancock to pitch in the finale. The young righty had a tough opponent as Chicago’s ace Garrett Crochet took the mound in the finale and the top tier trade target lit it up against the M’s.

The game remained scoreless through two innings of play but the White Sox got the home run ball going in the top of the 3rd. After hitting a fly ball to the warning track his first time up, Andrew Vaughn sent the ball a bit further in this AB as he sent his eighth home run of the season out to center field to put the White Sox on the board 1-0. The very next batter was Luis Robert Jr. and he did what he had done twice already in this series and that was hit a home run. Robert smoked his seventh homer of the season out into The Pen and for the second time in the series the Sox had gone back-to-back and this time they had taken a 2-0 lead.

Garrett Crochet was carving up the Mariners but Emerson Hancock kept the M’s in it thanks to some incredible defense led by J.P. Crawford making numerous highlight plays at shortstop in his bid for a second career gold glove. With just one hit allowed, Crochet threw exclusively fastballs until the bottom of the 5th. For the first time in the game, Crochet went off-speed with a changeup to rookie Tyler Locklear. It turned out to be a mistake by the lefty as Locklear sent one out into the bullpen for his first career home run. The solo shot gave T-Mobile Park some life as the M’s got on the board, trailing 2-1.

Both pitchers went seven strong innings but the lefty Crochet stole the spotlight. The breakout star threw 102 pitches in his seven innings of work and only one was not a fastball. Crochet dominated the Mariners with his heater, throwing 71 four-seam fastballs and 30 cutters, with his one changeup being his lone mistake of the game. The lefty allowed just one run on two hits with two walks allowed while striking out a career-high 13 batters. That puts Crochet’s season total in punchouts to 116 which is tied for the tops in baseball with Tyler Glasnow, 15 ahead of the next highest in Dylan Cease.

Both bullpens were dialed in as the game went into the bottom of the 9th still 2-1. Michael Kopech entered looking for the save and got off to a good start, striking out Dylan Moore. That brought Julio Rodríguez to the plate and he would challenge Julio with a 3-1 fastball and it ended up changing the game. J-Rod drove the high heater way out to right center field for his sixth home run of the season. The solo blast once again brought the Mariners back late, tying the game at 2-2 and sending it to extra innings.

Andrés Muñoz would pitch the 10th with Korey Lee starting at second and Zach DeLoach entering the game as a pinch hitter. He would go down swinging on a slider for the first out, but Nicky Lopez followed with a single to put runners on the corners with one down. Andrew Vaughn would have his lowest exit-velo with a soft chopper to third. There was no chance at the double play or for Rojas to get the runner at the plate and he had to settle for the sure out at first while Lee scored, making it 3-2 Chicago. After intentionally walking Robert Jr., Muñoz would get Gavin Sheets to fly out to send the game to the bottom of the 10th.

Mitch Haniger was the automatic runner for the M’s as Tanner Banks was the second Chicago reliever looking to close this one out. He would make things very difficult on the Mariners by striking out Tyler Locklear and Josh Rojas, putting all the pressure on Luke Raley. A harmless fly ball to center would end the Mariner hopes for the sweep as they dropped the finale in extras to the White Sox, 3-2.

Notable Performances

White Sox

• Garrett Crochet (ND)- 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 SO
• Andrew Vaughn- 2-5, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Luis Robert Jr.- 1-4, HR, RBI, R, BB

Mariners

• Julio Rodríguez- 1-4, HR, RBI, R
• Tyler Locklear- 1-4, HR, RBI, R
• Emerson Hancock (ND)- 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO

What’s Next

While they couldn’t pull off the sweep, the Seattle Mariners (40-31) did extend their division lead a little bit. Texas took two out of three from the LA Dodgers while Houston lost two of three to San Francisco. That gives the Mariners a 5 1/2 game lead over Texas and an 8-game lead over Houston.

That leads into a very big series for the Mariners as they end the homestand with a three-game series against the defending World Series Champions in the Texas Rangers. Texas (33-35) has dealt with an avalanche of injuries this season with most of their rotation spending some time on the IL throughout the first couple of months. They are getting healthier as Max Scherzer could rejoin the Texas rotation next week and Corey Seager returned to the lineup in their series in Los Angeles. Josh Jung isn’t expected to be back this weekend, but the Rangers have been building confidence and will have the big hitters in their lineup with Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia to go along with Seager.

We could obviously dive in on Corey Seager, but instead we will take a look at the expected starter in game two in Nathan Eovaldi. In three starts since coming off the IL, Eovaldi has consistently improved with each outing. The hard throwing right-hander had a bumpy return against Arizona, but rallied back with a solid outing against Detroit before dominating the San Francisco Giants through seven innings in his last start. Seattle did have some success against Eovaldi last season, but the veteran seems to get better as teams see him more. After struggling against the heavy fastball thrower in Crochet, the M’s will have their hands full against another one in Eovaldi.

• Game 1, Friday 7:10pm (Apple TV+)- Andrew Heaney (2-7, 4.06 ERA) vs. Luis Castillo (5-7, 3.35 ERA)
• Game 2, Saturday 4:15pm (Fox)- Nathan Eovaldi (3-2, 2.68 ERA) vs. George Kirby (5-5, 3.81 ERA)
• Game 3, Sunday 1:10pm- Dane Dunning (4-5, 4.80 ERA) vs. Logan Gilbert (3-4, 3.19 ERA)

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