7/10/24

(San Diego, CA) In a newer “rivalry” dubbed the Vedder Cup, the Seattle Mariners traveled to San Diego to take on the Padres in the first leg of the annual two home, two away series. The series got its name from musician Eddie Vedder. The alternative rock/grunge star went to school in San Diego before moving to Seattle where he became a founding member of the world famous band Pearl Jam. A reach for a name for this rivalry is appropriate since the two teams have been forced into a rivalry with one another since interleague play began in 1997.

Back to baseball, the two teams were heading in opposite directions as of late. The Mariners were entering the series on a six series losing streak and one of their worst losses of the season in their Sunday finale against Toronto. San Diego played themselves back into the playoff picture, taking possession of the third NL Wild Card in what is a loaded race for what looks to be two playoff spots. Just a quick two-game series would be played with San Diego returning the favor with a two-game trip to Seattle in September. Both teams would look to build some momentum into the All-Star break and the Mariners especially were trying to get the taste of defeat out of their mouths.

Mariners 8, Padres 3 (Game 1, July 9th)

Back-to-back two-out doubles by Cal Raleigh and Victor Robles netted the M’s another run as they led 8-3 going into the bottom of the 9th. After dealing with an injury after being acquired by the Mariners in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, Gregory Santos made his long awaited Mariner debut looking to close out the win. A couple of sliders got away from the flamethrower but a groundout by Jurickson Profar was the first out in his Mariner career. Jake Cronenworth reached on a Jorge Polanco error, but it was harmless enough. Santos got Manny Machado to hit into a 6-4-3 game ending double play to put a wrap on his Mariner debut. A good start to the road trip was needed for the Mariners and they got it by defeating the Padres 8-3 in game one.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Cal Raleigh- 3-5, 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 R
• Julio Rodríguez- 4-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 3 R
• Logan Gilbert (W, 6-5)- 7.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO

Padres

• Kyle Higashioka- 1-2, HR, 2 RBI, R, BB
• Jake Cronenworth- 1-4, HR, RBI, R
• Adam Mazur (L, 1-3)- 4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO

Mariners 2, Padres 0 (Game 2, July 10th)

Game two of the short series felt like a game that both sides had a chance to take unlike the opener when the M’s were the heavy favorites. In the second game, Bryce Miller would take the hill for Seattle against Michael King who got bumped up and wasn’t originally scheduled to face the Mariners.

After a scoreless 1st inning, a little bit of a break helped Seattle strike first. A one-out walk for Cal Raleigh was the first baserunner of the game. As Ty France struck out looking, Raleigh took off for second and reached with his fifth stolen base of the season. Yes…Cal Raleigh has stolen five bases this season and has not been caught stealing yet. With Raleigh on second and two outs, Jorge Polanco hit a grounder which looked like a routine out number three to the first baseman. However, the ball flattened out on Luis Arraez and went right between his legs and into right field. Raleigh easily scored on the error and the break put the M’s out in front 1-0.

Bryce Miller only had one bad inning and it came in the home half of the 2nd. After a groundout to start the inning, Donovan Solano and Jackson Merrill both singled to put runners on first and second. David Peralta pulled a soft, seeing-eye single into right field. Luckily for the M’s, Solano’s lack of speed saw him get the stop sign which loaded the bases with one out. Looking for a double play, Miller squared off against Ha-Seong Kim. A good contact hitter in Kim would be tough to strike out and he did what he was supposed to do by hitting a fly ball to center. Julio Rodríguez made the catch and threw a dart to home plate. A great catch and tag by Raleigh cut down Solano at the plate for a double play. The perfect throw and tag kept the Padres of the board and seemed to dial in Bryce Miller.

Moving to the top of the 4th, Luke Raley snapped a tough streak with a leadoff single to center. That seemed harmless as Julio and Raleigh both went down on strikes for a quick two outs to bring up Ty France. This time it would be a seeing-eye single for the M’s as France pulled a grounder just through the left side and into left field for a two-out knock. Jorge Polanco came to the plate with runners on first and second and he put together a vintage Jorge Polanco at bat. A fastball at the bottom of the zone was flipped into right center for a base hit. Raley came around to score and Polanco’s clutch two-out knock extended the lead to 2-0.

After struggling in the 2nd inning, Bryce Miller locked in through the final four innings of his outing. Three hits for the Padres came in the 2nd but they only managed two more hits against Miller for the rest of the day. Pitching to contact, the second-year starter lived in the zone and got a lot of weak contact. Some nice defensive plays helped Miller close out his quality start, going six scoreless innings and allowing five hits without a walk and just one strikeout. It wasn’t the dominant line we’ve seen from Bryce, but it was a tremendous outing that got the job done for Seattle.

Seattle could not add on to their lead and Andrés Muñoz escaped Ryne Stanek’s jam in the 8th. Muñoz would come back out for the 9th looking to finish off the two-out sweep. Back-to-back walks to Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado put the Mariner closer in a bad spot immediately. Needing a double play, Muñoz got Donovan Solano to hit a soft chopper to shortstop J.P. Crawford. The ball was hit too softly and Crawford could only get Solano at first while the runners moved up to second and third. All-Star Jackson Merrill then stepped to the plate, but Muñoz was able to get him to chase a slider for the strikeout and a massive second out. David Peralta was the last chance for San Diego and for a second it looked like the Padres had tied it. A soft liner up the middle was just snagged by J.P. Crawford to take away the Peralta hit to end the game. The dramatic finish was worth it for the Mariners as they snapped their six series losing streak with a two-game sweep of the Padres, winning the finale 2-0.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Jorge Polanco- 1-3, RBI, BB
• Luke Raley- 1-3, R
• Bryce Miller (W, 7-7)- 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO

Padres

• Jake Cronenworth- 1-3, BB
• Michael King (L, 7-6)- 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO

What’s Next

A short series in San Diego got the Seattle Mariners (51-43) back on track to some extent as the M’s were able to get some momentum back on their side. Unfortunately their division lead did not grow at all. Houston has won the first two of their three-game series against Miami with the finale coming tonight. Texas also had a good week, taking two of three from the Los Angeles Angels. So as of writing this, the Mariners sit two games up on Houston and 6 1/2 up on Texas in the AL West. Next up will be an all-Texas showdown as the Rangers will visit the Astros for a three-game set to end the first half of the season.

For the Seattle Mariners, they will take a short trip down to Anaheim for a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. Once again, the Angels (38-54) are having a nightmare of a season with Mike Trout once again missing time. After having a failure of a run with both Trout and Shohei Ohtani, the Angels have not taken any strides forward in 2024. Facing a rebuild, the young talent has not really blossomed into much as of yet. While there is plenty of talent, things just haven’t come together especially with the lack of pitching that the Angels have.

One player to keep your eyes on this weekend is catcher Logan O’Hoppe. With Luis Rengifo on the IL and Taylor Ward not 100% coming into the series, O’Hoppe is the scariest bat in the Angels order. In what has been his first full season in the big leagues, O’Hoppe has showcased some really good power which is common in catchers, but also hits for a high average. His .283 batting average is the fourth highest in baseball amongst catchers and his OPS of .826 is the second highest among MLB catchers. When he does get a night off from catching, O’Hoppe can slide into the DH spot which takes away is very solid defensive skills but leaves his bat to deal with for Mariner pitching. Expect to see O’Hoppe in three of the four games this series.

• Game 1, Thursday 6:38pm- Luis Castillo (7-9, 3.72 ERA) vs. Jack Kochanowicz (MLB Debut)
• Game 2, Friday 6:38pm- Bryan Woo (3-1, 1.77 ERA) vs. Tyler Anderson (8-8, 2.81 ERA)
• Game 3, Saturday 6:38pm- George Kirby (7-6, 3.39 ERA) vs. José Soriano (4-7, 3.87 ERA)
• Game 4, Sunday 1:07pm- Logan Gilbert (6-5, 2.94 ERA) vs. TBD

elisportsnetwork.com