8/8/24

(Seattle, WA) A brand new Seattle Mariners team looked to build momentum after a strong weekend series against Philadelphia. With that series win coupled with Houston losing a series to Tampa Bay, the Mariners entered their three-game series against the Detroit Tigers with a one game lead in the AL West over the Astros. While they were taking on the Texas Rangers, the Mariners would try to capitalize in a series with the fourth-place team in the AL Central.

While the Detroit Tigers are not viewed as a contender this season, they do possess some young talent that show the team is on the right direction to get back into contention. While their star bat in Riley Greene currently sits on the IL, their remains plenty of bats that can get hot an carry the Motor City Kitties while they await his return. Pitching continues to be an issue for the Tigers who only have two starters on their roster with plenty of long relief guys as well. While the Mariners would face AL Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal, the series definitely favored the Mariners going into game one.

Tigers 4, Mariners 2 (Game 1, August 6th)

In the opener on Tuesday night, Seattle sent their ace to the mound as Luis Castillo looked to follow up a good start in Boston. Opposite Castillo for Detroit would be one of their two starting pitchers in rookie Keider Montero.

Both pitchers got out of the gates fast with each throwing three quick and scoreless innings. In the top of the 4th, Detroit began to make adjustments against Luis Castillo. A leadoff single by Wenceel Pérez seemed harmless enough. However, back-to-back groundouts by Justyn-Henry Malloy and Bligh Madris moved Pérez to third with two outs. An out away from escaping the jam, Castillo went with a 1-1 changeup to Parker Meadows who sent the ball back up the middle and into center field. The two out single scored Pérez and gave Detroit the first run of the game and a 1-0 lead.

With Seattle struggling to get the bats going, Castillo became the victim of death by a thousand cuts as the Tigers continued to not try to do too much at the plate. In the 5th, two consecutive singles by the 8 and 9 hitters put Zach McKinstry and Javy Baez on base to start the inning. After striking out Matt Vierling for the first out, another soft hit grounder found the outfield off of the bat of Colt Keith. McKinstry scored on the knock, making it 2-0 with runners on the corners. Wenceel Pérez then yanked a groundball into right field to drive in Baez. Four hits in the inning all with less than 100-mph exit velocities found the right spots and Detroit’s lead had opened up to 3-0.

With Keider Montero dialed in with his off-speed pitches, the Mariner bats looked like the pre-deadline versions as they struggled to get anything going against the rookie. The one blip on Montero’s outing came in the bottom of the 5th. With nobody on and one out, Luke Raley sat on a first pitch hanging slider and sent it out to The Pen in center. The solo shot was Raley’s 13th home run of the season and got the Mariners on the board, trailing 3-1. However, Montero finished his outing with six strong innings, allowing one run on four hits with only one walk and a career high eight strikeouts.

Parker Meadows fourth home run of the season came in the 8th to extend the Tigers lead back out to 4-1 going into the 9th. Beau Brieske took over looking for his first save of the season. After striking out Randy Arozarena to begin the inning, Brieske walked Cal Raleigh to put some traffic on the base paths. Cade Marlowe hit for Justin Turner after JT left the game due to being hit by a pitch on the hand and the M’s missed his bat as Marlowe hit into a fielder’s choice for the second out but did beat out the double play. Down to their final out, Jorge Polanco hit a routine fly ball into right center that looked like it would be the final out of the game. Seattle caught a break as Meadows and Pérez both stopped and the ball dropped between them. Marlowe was able to score, making it 4-2 and bringing the tying run to the plate. In a stunning move, manager Scott Servais brought Mitch Garver in to hit for Luke Raley against new pitcher Tyler Holton. It was clearly the wrong move as Holton struck out Garver on three pitches to put a stop to the Mariner rally. A bad loss for the Mariners put their backs up against the wall in the series as they dropped the opener to the Tigers, 4-2.

Notable Performances

Tigers

• Parker Meadows- 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Wenceel Pérez – 2-4, RBI, R
• Keider Montero (W, 2-5)- 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO

Mariners

• Luis Castillo (L, 9-11)- 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO
• Luke Raley- 1-3, HR, RBI, R
• Jorge Polanco- 1-4, RBI

Tigers 6, Mariners 2 (Game 2, August 7th)

The crown jewel of the series was the game two pitching matchup between two of the very best young starters in all of baseball. For the Mariners, it would be George Kirby taking the mound, coming off a very strong start in Boston. He would have to be even better this time around as Detroit sent the current favorite to win the AL Cy Young to the hill as Seattle University’s Tarik Skubal made his return to the PNW.

In almost no time at all the Mariners found themselves in the exact spot that they never wanted to be in against a pitcher like Skubal and that is trailing. A long battle between Kirby and Wenceel Pérez went seven pitches but on the seventh and final pitch of the AB, Pérez won emphatically. A solo blast out to right field was his ninth home run of the season and first career leadoff homer. Seattle would have to play from behind as they trailed Detroit early, 1-0.

After pitching out of some trouble in the 2nd, Kirby found himself in some more hot water in the 3rd. A one-out single by Matt Vierling put a man on for the meat of the Tigers order. Bligh Madris ripped a liner that one hopped the wall in right. Mitch Haniger got their quickly but he dropped the ball as he came up ready to throw. That error allowed Vierling to score on the Madris double, making it 2-0 Tigers. Things got even worse in the 4th as Jake Rogers took Kirby deep for his eighth home run of the season and Seattle trailed 3-0 while also not having a baserunner in the first three innings.

Finally, in the bottom of the 4th the Mariners got a runner on. A one out infield single by Randy Arozarena put not only a runners on base, but also some good speed on as well. Cal Raleigh came to the plate and continued to make his case for being the best all-around catcher in the game. A sinker in the middle of the plate was launched by Raleigh 427-feet out to center for a big two-run home run. Almost erasing all the Tigers early damage with one swing, Raleigh circled the bases for the 24th time this season as the deficit shrunk down to just 3-2.

George Kirby was able to gut through five tough innings and handed things over to the bullpen. JT Chargois and Collin Snider pitched very clean innings while Austin Voth escaped some trouble in the 8th by getting Javy Baez to pop out with two runners in scoring position. In the home half of the 8th, Jason Foley took over for Skubal after seven dominant innings of three hit, two run ball with two walks and nine strikeouts. Foley quickly retired Josh Rojas and Victor Robles, but Randy Arozarena continued his nice game with his 23rd double of the season. That once again brought Cal Raleigh to the plate representing the go-ahead run. It looked like for the fourth time in his career and third time this season that Raleigh would homer from both sides of the plate as he sent a deep fly ball out to right center. The 6’5 Parker Meadows out in center had other ideas. Meadows timed his leap at the wall perfectly and brought back Raleigh’s would be go-ahead home run. The air was let out of T-Mobile Park as the Tigers protected their lead going into the 9th.

Scott Servais elected to stay away from his high leverage guys while trailing by a run and brought in Jonathan Hernández to pitch the 9th for a third consecutive game. He was clearly struggling as he walked the first two batters he faced and things snowballed from there. A fly out by Colt Keith moved the runners to second and third and Matt Vierling did the damage with a base hit to left. That scored Jake Rogers to make it 4-2 with runners on the corners. Trent Thornton took over and struck out Bligh Madris for the second out, but couldn’t escape the inning. Gio Urshela cashed in on a stolen base by Vierling and smoked a line drive down the left field line. Pérez and Vierling both scored easily and Detroit had added plenty of insurance in the 9th. Seattle went quickly and quietly in the bottom of the 9th as Brenan Hanifee retired the side in order. Seattle had dropped the middle game and the series to the Tigers, 6-2.

Notable Performances

Tigers

• Tarik Skubal (W, 13-4)- 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO
• Matt Vierling- 3-5, RBI, 2 R, SB
• Wenceel Pérez- 1-4, HR, RBI, 2 R, BB

Mariners

• Cal Raleigh- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Randy Arozarena- 2-3, 2B, R, BB
• George Kirby (L, 8-8)- 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO

Mariners 4, Tigers 3 (Game 3, August 8th)

Looking to avoid a disastrous and embarrassing sweep in the finale, the Mariners would turn to Bryan Woo to get the start and stop the three-game losing streak. Coming off of the best start of his young career, Woo would have the edge facing the Tigers who would have a bullpen day on Thursday.

Some great early defense kept things scoreless into the 4th where the Mariners wasted on opportunity with two runners on after Justin Turner and Jorge Polanco both struck out. In the 5th, Bryan Woo fell apart and Detroit took advantage. Singles by Bligh Madris and Justyn-Henry Malloy started the inning before Parker Meadows drove in the games first run. A grounder just inside the bag at first made its way down the right field line and toward the corner. Mitch Haniger cut it off which forces Malloy to stay at third on Meadows’ third double of the season, but Detroit had taken a 1-0 lead. After a strikeout of Dillon Dingler, Zach McKinstry sent a line drive to the gap in right center. Malloy and Meadows scored as McKinstry recorded his eighth double of the season. One hiccup inning for Bryan Woo quickly bloomed out to a 3-0 lead for Detroit.

In the bottom of the 6th, Seattle would finally get on the board. Moving up to #2 in the order, Luke Raley showed his ability to hit lefties facing bulk pitcher Bryan Sammons. A cutter in the middle of the plate was driven to right center and had just enough to leave the yard. It was Raley’s second home run of the series and 14th of the season and it put the M’s on the board trailing 3-1.

After Yimi García cleaned up Bryan Woo’s mess in the 7th and pitched a clean 1-2-3 8th, he gave way to JT Chargois. The two new faces kept the M’s in it as Chargois pitched a clean 9th but the Mariners were down to their final three outs. A leadoff single by Luke Raley brought former Mariner Will Vest into the game looking for the final three outs. A hard single to right field by Randy Arozarena instead put runners on the corners and brought the potential winning run to the plate. Cal Raleigh couldn’t come up with another walk-off as he struck out for the first out. Justin Turner had the same fate as he went down swinging and the M’s were down to their final out.

Jorge Polanco then put together a nice at-bat. After getting ahead 2-0, Polanco quickly found himself in a 2-2 count before fouling off another pitch. Pitches six and seven of the at-bat both missed and Polanco had drawn a walk to load the bases. Ryan Bliss ran for Polanco, representing the winning run with Mitch Haniger coming to the plate. Haniger ripped through a 1-1 slider in the middle of the plate and was down to his final strike. After fouling off a slider, Haniger got a fastball on the outer half and went with it. A line drive to right field was playable for a diving Ryan Vilade, but he came up empty. The ball got all the way to the warning track, allowing all three runs to score to complete the comeback. Haniger’s 12th double resulted in his franchise leading eighth walk-off as a Mariner as they avoided the sweep with a 4-3 comeback win.

Notable Performances

Tigers

• Zach McKinstry- 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI, BB
• Parker Meadows- 2-4, 2B, RBI, R
• Bryan Sammons (ND)- 4.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO

Mariners

• Mitch Haniger- 1-4, 2B, 3 RBI
• Luke Raley- 2-3, HR, RBI, 2 R, BB
• Bryan Woo (ND)- 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO

What’s Next

Despite the walk-off win in the finale, the Seattle Mariners (60-56) still lost the series to Detroit and lost ground in the race for the AL West. Houston took two out of three from the Texas Rangers in the Silver Boot Series in Arlington. That means that the Mariners and Astros are once again tied for the division lead, while the Rangers sit 5 1/2 back of the M’s and Astros. Seattle also sits four games back of Kansas City for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. Houston has a tricky series this weekend as they visit the Boston Red Sox for three while Texas visits the Bronx for three with the Yankees.

Seattle will play host to the other team from NYC as the Mariners play host to the New York Mets for three games to end their nine-game homestand. While it was a tough start to the season for the Mets (61-54), they have turned their season around, possessing the best record in baseball since June 3rd. Since that date, the Mets are 37-19 and have moved into the third Wild Card spot in the National League. They have also passed the Atlanta Braves in the NL East and sit eight games back of Philadelphia in the division.

Again, we could go the obvious route and breakdown Pete Alonso, but instead will go with the rejuvenated Francisco Lindor. After moving from Cleveland to New York, Lindor got a massive 10 year/$341 million contract and did not start off his tenure on the highest note. However, Lindor turned the ship around and has been one of the very best shortstops in all of baseball. While the average is down from what it was in Cleveland, Lindor’s power has come back with a 31-homer season last year and 22 so far this season. Speed is also something Lindor has plenty of with his 24 swiped bags threatening his career high of 31. Lindor leads the Mets in almost every offensive category besides homers and has elite defense to go along with it. The top half of the lineup is where the Mets do their damage and Francisco Lindor is the table setter but can be the table clearer as well.

• Game 1, Friday 7:10pm- José Quintana (6-7, 3.95 ERA) vs. Bryce Miller (8-7, 3.62 ERA)
• Game 2, Saturday 6:40pm- Sean Manaea (8-4, 3.30 ERA) vs. Logan Gilbert (6-8, 3.05 ERA)
• Game 3, Sunday 4:00pm (ESPN)- Luis Severino (7-5, 4.06 ERA) vs. Luis Castillo (9-11, 3.48 ERA)

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