8/5/24

(Seattle, WA) Coming back home after a six-game road trip, it was glass half empty or glass half full for the Seattle Mariners depending on how you looked at it. The positives were that the M’s went 4-2 on the road trip and the new roster seemed to be clicking as the M’s were back even with Houston atop the AL West. The negative was that they lost two out of three in Boston and lost the tiebreaker to the Red Sox which could come into play if the teams are even in the Wild Card race.

Either way, Seattle seemed to be playing better and while they would have a very tough opponent waiting for them to start a nine-game homestand, they would also catch the opponent at the right time. With the best record in the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies have as good of a roster as any other team in the sport. However, things have not been good for the Phillies who came to Seattle losing five consecutive series dating back to before the All-Star Break. Both teams would look to flush a tough July and start out August on a high note.

Mariners 10, Phillies 2 (Game 1, August 2nd)

Back home and in the City Connects, the Seattle Mariners began a long nine-game homestand against the struggling but still NL leading Phillies on Friday night. Bryan Woo got the ball for the M’s after a good but short outing against the White Sox, looking to build his pitch count and inning count back up. For Philadelphia, it would be Tyler Phillips getting the start as the rookie looked to continue his 15-inning scoreless streak.

It took no time at all for the Mariners to end Tyler Phillips’ scoreless streak. After Woo pitched a scoreless top of the 1st, Victor Robles came to the plate with J.P. Crawford’s walkup music in a show of respect to one of the most beloved Mariners while he is on the IL. Apparently, that song has an effect on the leadoff hitter as Robles destroyed the first pitch thrown by Phillips. With a 110-mph exit velo, the ball sailed 426-feet into the bleachers in left field for a solo bomb. Robles was fired up as he pointed at Crawford as soon as the ball left his bat as he circled the bases with his third home run of the season. One pitch in and the Mariners had a 1-0 lead.

After pitching around a Nick Castellanos double, Woo ended up getting plenty of run support in the bottom of the 2nd as the Mariners broke things wide open. The inning started with a one-out walk to Dylan Moore and Mitch Haniger followed with a single. Luke Raley came to the plate with two men on and did something only one other Mariner had ever done. Phillips challenged Raley with a fastball right down the middle and Raley got every bit of it. Joining Daniel Vogelbach as the only Mariners to hit it into the upper deck, Raley annihilated the fastball 459-feet for his 12th home run of the season. The three-run nuke opened things up, making it 4-0 with plenty more offense to come in that inning.

Leo Rivas struck out for the second out but the next rally followed. Victor Robles singled and stole second while Randy Arozarena drew a walk. With runners on first and second with two outs Cal Raleigh came to the plate and only saw one pitch in the zone as he drew a walk to load the bases. Justin Turner came to the plate in his first home game as a Mariner. It wouldn’t be the only first for JT on this night. With a 2-1 count, Phillips landed a sweeper on the outside corner, but Turner was able to pull it with power. A deep flyball cleared the Phillies bullpen for a grand slam and Turner’s first home run as a Mariner. That ended the day for Phillips as the rout was on with the Mariners leading 8-0.

Heading into the bottom of the 4th, Seattle still led 8-0. They would load the bases once again with one out after singles by Arozarena and Turner sandwiched around a Cal Raleigh walk. Josh Rojas had a chance to do some damage but sent a grounder down to Bryce Harper at first. Philadelphia cutdown Turner at second but couldn’t get Rojas at first, allowing Arozarena to score and making it 9-0.

After a really short outing his last time out, Bryan Woo put together his best outing since he dominated in the Bronx. It was the longest outing of Woo’s career but the 7th inning gave him some trouble. Singles by Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto put a couple of runners on with one out. Woo settled in and got Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott to fly out, ending the inning. A fired-up Bryan Woo left the field to a loud ovation, going seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits without a walk and six strikeouts. Another highlight for Woo was a step in the right direction to building him back up for the stretch run.

Mitch Haniger’s 10th home run of the season came in the bottom of the 7th and made it 10-0. In the 9th, Jhonathan Diaz took over and stressed out Mariner fans a little bit. A double by Alec Bohm was quickly followed by an RBI triple by Brandon Marsh to end the shutout bid, making it 10-1. A walk to J.T. Realmuto and a single by Westin Wilson added another run, making it 10-2 with runners on first and second with still nobody out. Diaz finally settled in, getting Bryson Stott to groundout and Johan Rojas to strikeout for two outs. The dangerous Kyle Schwarber hit a harmless grounder to Leo Rivas to finally put an end to the game, with the Mariners taking the opener 10-2 to set the tone for the weekend.

Notable Performances

Phillies

• Brandon Marsh- 1-4, 3B, RBI, R
• Alec Bohm- 2-4, 2B, R
• Tyler Phillips (L, 3-1)- 1.2 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO

Mariners

• Justin Turner- 2-4, HR, 4 RBI, R
• Luke Raley- 1-4, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Bryan Woo (W, 5-1)- 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO

Mariners 6, Phillies 5 (10 Innings) (Game 2, August 3rd)

Game two pitted Bryce Miller against an opener for Philadelphia in Orion Kerkering. Following Kerkering it would be former Ranger Kolby Allard doing the bulk of the work for Philadelphia.

Things started off better for the Phillies and worse for the Mariners as Philly struck early. A single for Kyle Schwarber was followed by a Trea Turner double to put runners on second and third just seven pitches in. Miller got a big out by getting Bryce Harper to pop out to Randy Arozarena in shallow left for the first out and keeping the runners at second and third. Seattle traded a run for an out as Alec Bohm grounded out to Josh Rojas at third. That made it 1-0, but Miller escaped the jam with minimal damage as he struck out Brandon Marsh to end the inning.

A double play killed the Mariners 1st inning threat. The score remained 1-0 going into the 5th and that’s when things turned ugly. With one out, three consecutive Phillies reached to load the bases and end Bryce Miller’s outing after just 4 1/3 innings. Tayler Saucedo came in out of the bullpen and the lefty’s struggles continued. After getting a big out in another Bryce Harper flyout, Alec Bohm clutched up with a two-out two-run single back up the middle. He would then steal second and Brandon Marsh kept things rolling with another two-out, two-run single to break things open. A 5-0 lead for Philly put the M’s in a big hole midway through.

With the bases empty and one out in the bottom of the 5th, Seattle finally got on the board. Mitch Haniger’s midseason turnaround continued with some more power. Haniger dropped the barrel on a first pitch fastball at the bottom of the zone and sent it out to left center. It was Haniger’s 11th home run of the season and got the M’s on the board trailing 5-1.

After JT Chargois spun a scoreless 6th, Seattle made their move. All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman took over as the third pitcher for the Phillies but immediately faced some traffic. Randy Arozarena led off with his 22nd double of the season but Hoffman bounced back with a strikeout of Cal Raleigh. Justin Turner then got hit by a pitch to put two runners on for Jorge Polanco. The switch hitter pulled a grounder into right field for a base hit. Arozarena scored, making it 5-2 with the tying run coming to the plate. A Dylan Moore strikeout followed by a Mitch Haniger walk loaded the bases with two outs. Luke Raley entered to pinch hit for Mitch Garver and it was the right decision. On the first pitch Raley smoked a line to the wall in right field. Turner and Polanco scored but Haniger had to stop at third on Raley’s 12th double of the season. With a 5-4 deficit and runners on second and third, Josh Rojas pulled a hard grounder that went off the glove of a diving Bryce Harper. That allowed Haniger to score and Raley tried to score as well but got throw out at the plate for the final out of the inning. The four-spot was enough to get the M’s back in it as the game was tied 5-5 after six.

Both bullpens were solid as the game remained tied with no threats for either side as the game went to extra innings. Edmundo Sosa ran for Alec Bohm at second to start the 10th with Collin Snider taking over on the mound. A walk to Brandon Marsh put runners on first and second with nobody out. Snider rolled after that with back-to-back strikeouts of J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos for two outs and Bryson Stott coming to the plate. A shallow fly ball to left would be handled by Randy Arozarena for the final out and gave the Mariners a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the 10th.

The speedy Randy Arozarena started at second representing the winning run. Former Angel closer Carlos Estévez stayed on for a second inning of work but opted to intentionally walk Cal Raleigh to set up the double play. A flyout by Justin Turner and a strikeout by Jason Vosler quickly added up to two outs. Dylan Moore would then get hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs. Mitch Haniger then strode to the plate and fell behind 1-2. A fastball clearly in the zone was called a ball due to how the catcher received the ball. After a foul ball, Haniger took two more pitches out of the zone for a walk-off walk. From down 5-0 the Mariners came back to walk-off the Phillies in ten innings to take the series with a 6-5 win and set up the opportunity for a sweep.

Notable Performances

Phillies

• Brandon Marsh- 2-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB, SB
• Alec Bohm- 1-5, 3 RBI, R, SB
• Kolby Allard (ND)- 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO

Mariners

• Mitch Haniger- 2-3, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, 2 BB
• Luke Raley- 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI
• Bryce Miller (ND)- 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO

Phillies 6, Mariners 0 (Game 3, August 4th)

Saving the best pitching matchup for last, Sunday’s finale featured two Cy Young contenders. Logan Gilbert took the mound coming off a rough start in Boston and would have to be on his A game facing Zack Wheeler for Philadelphia.

It took only three pitches for the Phillies to take the lead. The unique leadoff hitter in Kyle Schwarber changed the way some teams look at lead off hitters. Many teams like having speed on right away but Phillies manager Rob Thomson set his lineup to try to get a 1-0 lead right off the bat. Schwarber did just that by launching his 23rd home run of the season out to right. In the blink of an eye the Mariners had an early deficit, trailing 1-0.

Both Gilbert and Wheeler were dialed in after that. Gilbert had to throw a low more pitches and work with a little more traffic. However, neither starter allowed another run thanks to some tremendous outfield catches by Victor Robles and Brandon Marsh. Gilbert saw his day come to an end after six innings of four hit and one run ball with no walks allowed and seven strikeouts. For Wheeler, he got pulled after eight scoreless innings of two hit ball with one walk and nine strikeouts. The high level pitching matchup lived up to the hype in what could conceivably be a World Series preview.

Before Wheeler left the game, he got a lot more run support. Yimi García gave up his first run as a Mariner as Bryson Stott hit his eighth home run of the year to lead off the inning and make it 2-0. After retiring the next two Phillies, García walked Trea Turner to keep the inning alive. Tayler Saucedo entered the game and things got ugly. Bryce Harper took Saucedo deep for his 25th home run of the year and doubling the Phillies lead to 4-0. Alec Bohm followed going back-to-back for his 12th home run making it 5-0. Brandon Marsh singled to chase Saucedo and bring in Trent Thornton. A stolen base and single for J.T. Realmuto capped off the inning as the score ballooned out to 6-0. That would be the final as the M’s fell short of the sweep, dropping the finale 6-0.

Notable Performances

Phillies

• Zack Wheeler (W, 11-5)- 8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO
• Bryce Harper- 3-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Kyle Schwarber- 3-5, 2B, HR, RBI, R

Mariners

• Logan Gilbert (L, 6-8)- 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO
• Victor Robles- 1-3, 2 Highlight Catches

What’s Next

With Seattle seemingly rejuvenated after taking two of three from the Phillies, Houston did the exact opposite to finish up their homestand. The Astros lost two out of three to Tampa Bay while Texas dropped two of three against Boston. With those results, Seattle (59-54) takes back over first place in the AL West, one game ahead of Houston and 5 1/2 games ahead of Texas. In better news for the Mariners, the Silver Boot Series will take place this week as the Astros and Rangers will meet for three games in Arlington as Texas tries to hang on to their division title hopes in the ALCS rematch.

For the Mariners, they will have a rare day off at home on Monday before continuing their nine-game homestand with a three-game set against the Detroit Tigers. While still going through their rebuild, Detroit (53-60) has continued to improve despite being out of the playoff race in a better than expected AL Central. One of the feistier teams in all of baseball, Detroit sold at the deadline sending starting pitcher Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers and outfielder Mark Canha to San Francisco in their two biggest moves. Canha’s absence makes the lineup lack a lot but they can still give any team in baseball fits, evidenced by their series win over the Dodgers. As of late, Detroit comes to Seattle losers of six of their last seven games.

Obviously the biggest bright spot for the Tigers in 2024 is Tarik Skubal. The current front runner to win the AL Cy Young award, Skubal was the most coveted trade target in the game but Detroit opted to keep the lefty with team control which was likely the right move for a team that looks to contend for a Wild Card spot next season. After six consecutive quality starts, Skubal struggled his last time out against Kansas City, giving up five runs in 6 1/3 innings. That outing was a rarity as Skubal’s worst month was June where his ERA was still just 3.00 in 30 innings. The lefty is currently tied for the best ERA in baseball with a 2.57 and is second in strikeouts with 162. With a season high of two walks, Skubal won’t give up free passes but the Mariners right-handed heavy lineup matched with George Kirby going up against Skubal give the Mariners at least a shot in what could be a pivotal game two of the series.

• Game 1, Tuesday 6:40pm- Keider Montero (1-5, 6.18 ERA) vs. Luis Castillo (9-10, 3.43 ERA)
• Game 2, Wednesday 6:40pm- Tarik Skubal (12-4, 2.57 ERA) vs. George Kirby (8-7, 3.04 ERA)
• Game 3, Thursday 6:40pm- TBD vs. Bryan Woo (5-1, 2.08 ERA)

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