(Arlington, TX) Heading into their final road trip of the season, the Seattle Mariners took a trip down south to Texas where they will play their final six road games of the 2024 regular season. Before a monumental series in Houston with the Astros, the Mariners began the trip with a three-game series with the Texas Rangers. Suffering from a World Series hangover, Texas came into the series all but eliminated from postseason contention due in large part to a multitude of injuries to their rotation. Still, the Rangers would get the opportunity to play spoiler for their AL West foe.
Mariners 8, Rangers 2 (Game One, September 20th)
Things were pretty quiet for both sides through the first two innings. Jacob deGrom got off to a good start with four strikeouts through two innings while George Kirby had three during that same timespan. In the top of the 3rd, Seattle would get themselves the lead. Leading off the inning, Josh Rojas was thinking fastball and got one at the knees on the inside corner. Rojas dropped the barrel on it and sent his eighth home run of the season out to right center. It was the first run allowed by deGrom in just his second start of the season, but Seattle grabbed a 1-0 lead.
Only one hit was allowed by Kirby as he headed to the 4th with another stellar outing. A single by Josh Smith put a runner on immediately for Texas in the bottom of the 4th but Kirby bounced back by getting Wyatt Langford to fly out to center. In stepped Adolis García and he pulled a grounder down the left field line for extra bases. García reached second with his 26th double of the year to put runners on second and third. Nathaniel Lowe would get jammed but he would have enough strength to muscle the ball into center field for a base hit. Both Smith and García came into score and the short barrage gave Texas a 2-1 lead.
Photo by @Mariners on X
The new deficit for the Mariners was erased before the Rangers could really enjoy it. In the top of the 5th, J.P. Crawford led off the inning with a base hit before Josh Rojas moved him up to second with a groundout. Victor Robles reached on an error by third baseman Jonathan Ornelas to put runners on the corners with one out. That brought Julio Rodríguez to the plate. As the Mariners look to fight their way into the playoffs down the stretch, J-Rod is needed in a big way to lead the Mariners and he started the final stretch looking like the star he is. Julio went down and got a curveball at the very bottom of the zone and golfed it out to left for his 17th home run of the season. The three-run shot gave the M’s and Kirby back the lead at 4-2.
George Kirby pitched around a lead off double for Ezequiel Duran in the bottom of the 5th to keep the score 4-2. He would spin a 1-2-3 6th inning to put an end to his day. It was another quality start for Kirby who looks to have moved past his late season struggles in August and into the beginning of September. Kirby went six innings off two-ball with just five hits allowed and no walks with four strikeouts. Using more of a pitch to contact approach, Kirby started the road trip off giving the offense a great opportunity to earn a win.
Some more breathing room came in the top of the 7th before the Mariner bullpen took over. Facing Jack Leiter, Victor Robles slapped a chopper over the head of Ornelas for an infield single with one out. Coming back to the plate would be Julio Rodríguez and while one was good, two would be so much better. J-Rod went the other way this time and drove a liner out to right field that just had enough to get over the wall for a two-run shot. Julio’s second home run of the game was his 18th of the year and doubled the Mariner lead to four at 6-2.
Despite dealing with an ankle issue, Trent Thornton spun a scoreless bottom of the 7th to preserve the lead. In the 8th, the first three men all reached for the Mariners with Justin Turner drawing a walk, followed by a single for Jorge Polanco and another walk for J.P. Crawford. With the bases loaded and nobody out, the Mariners didn’t try to do too much which was the correct approach in this situation. Josh Rojas and Victor Robles both sent fly balls deep into the outfield for a couple of sacrifice flies. That added two runs and really blew things open with the Mariners leading 8-2.
JT Chargois wasted no time with a 1-2-3 bottom of the 8th which allowed the Mariners to give Andres Muñoz the night off. Eduard Bazardo would look for the final three outs in the opener but allowed a base runner immediately on an Adolis García single. That brought Nathaniel Lowe to the plate and the Mariners defense flashed the leather. A chopper to the right side of the infield would be gloved by J.P. Crawford coming over from short and he would quickly apply the tag to García before throwing out Lowe for a 6-3 double play. That put an end to the thought of a comeback as three batters later Bazardo got Leody Taveras to pop out to Cal Raleigh to put the game away. A great tone setter to the rest of the road trip was complete as the M’s took game one from Texas, 8-2.
Notable Performances
Mariners
Julio Rodríguez- 3-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R
Josh Rojas- 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
George Kirby (W, 13-11)- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO
Rangers
Nathaniel Lowe- 1-4, 2 RBI
Adolis García- 3-4, 2B
Jacob deGrom (ND)- 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO
What’s Next
While the win was great for the Mariners, they didn’t make up too much ground in the playoff race. Houston knocked off the Angels 9-7 to keep the Mariners five games back in the AL West as they continue their series with Los Angeles on Saturday. In the Wild Card race, Minnesota got an extra innings win over Boston while Detroit and Kansas City both lost to Baltimore and San Francisco respectively. In that race, Seattle trails Kansa City for the #2 Wild Card by three games while trailing Minnesota for the final playoff spot by two games. Detroit remains one game ahead of the M’s as well.
In game two on Saturday at 4:10 pm, Emerson Hancock (3-4, 4.83 ERA) will start again for the injured Luis Castillo. Hancock went five innings and allowed three runs against the Rangers last Friday night in Seattle. Future Hall of Famer, Max Scherzer (2-4, 3.95 ERA) will oppose the Mariners in game two. Scherzer has dealt with injuries all year long and last Saturday against the M’s in Seattle he struggled in his first start off the IL, going just four innings and allowing two runs and four hits with only two strikeouts and two walks allowed.
