4/13/25

(Seattle, WA) Coming off of a very eventful series win over the Houston Astros, the Seattle Mariners ended their one-week homestand with a series against the other team from the Lone Star State as the AL West leading Texas Rangers came to town.

After dominating the season series last season, the Mariners looked to continue their success against the Rangers but it would not be the same as last season. Texas entered the series with a ton of momentum, looking like the clear best team in the AL West. They would look to also get past their troubles playing in Seattle as the Rangers entered the series 8-32 at T-Mobile Park since the 2020 season. However, Seattle looked to use the series win over Houston to jumpstart their season and a series win over Texas would show that they may have turned the corner.

Mariners 5, Rangers 3 (Game 1, April 11th)

In the opening game of the three-game set, Texas native Bryce Miller took the ball against a team that had given him serious problems so far in his young career. For the Rangers, it would be Jacob deGrom who has remained healthy so far this season as he continues to build himself back to being the best pitcher in baseball.

Bryce Miller had a very busy first inning, needing 30 pitches to get out of a little bit of trouble, stranding the bases loaded after a couple of walks. deGrom took the mound and needed fewer pitches, but had more damage done to him. With one out, Jorge Polanco came to the plate and deGrom left a fastball up on the inner half of the plate. Polanco pulled the heater down the right field line and out of the park for a solo home run. Polanco’s third home run of the season gave the M’s a 1-0 lead just five pitches into deGrom’s game.

Miller was much more efficient in the top of the 2nd, needing just 14 pitches with a couple of strikeouts, including one on a pitch clock violation to end the inning. In the bottom half of the 2nd, deGrom retired Luke Raley before getting ahead of Rowdy Tellez 0-2. A 96-mph fastball at the very top of the zone was barreled up by Tellez as he hit a screamer out to right field for his first home run as a Mariner. A couple of early solo shots off of Jacob deGrom had the Mariners up 2-0 early.

Texas continued to search for some offense and they finally found it in the 4th. Adolis García worked a walk before stealing second with one out. While the Rangers offense has been a bit streaky early on in the season, one of their hottest hitters early came to the plate in Josh Jung. Miller would get in on the hands of Jung who dunked one into right field for a jam shot base hit. García came home to score on the blooper and Texas was on the board, trailing 2-1.

It didn’t take too long for the M’s to get that run back. Leo Rivas drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the 4th to put some speed on for Seattle. He used that speed to steal second to get a man in scoring position with J.P. Crawford at the plate. Crawford has slowly begun to work his way out of a funk to start the season and he got a good luck base hit here. Just like Jung, Crawford was jammed and slapped one the other way that just barely got over the glove of Jung at third. Rivas was able to score easily from second, giving Crawford his first RBI of the season and getting the M’s back up by a couple at 3-1.

Miller gutted his way through five tough innings but only allowed the one run and two hits. Trent Thornton came in for Miller in the 6th and ran into some quick trouble. A leadoff double by Josh Smith was followed by Thornton hitting Adolis García to put a couple of men on with nobody out. He would get Joc Pederson to hit a grounder to Leo Rivas at second for an easy 4-6-3 double play to put a runner on third but with two outs. Once again, Josh Jung came to the plate and this time it wasn’t a little blooper that did the damage. Jung drove a first pitch fastball to deep right field that just got out for his first home run of the season. The two-run shot hit the reset button on the game as we were all tied up at 3-3.

It turned into a battle of the bullpens as Jacob deGrom left after just four innings. Gabe Speier stranded a one-out double by Marcus Semien in the 7th while Carlos Vargas pitched around a leadoff double by Adolis García in the 8th. With the game still tied, Texas kept Chris Martin out to pitch the bottom of the 8th. Jorge Polanco smacked the first pitch into center field to put the go-ahead run on. Dylan Moore pinch ran for Polanco but he didn’t have to use his speed to score. That was because of Cal Raleigh and his new torpedo bat. Raleigh decided to give the bat a shot in the game and it worked out with his historic two-run blast. The two-run shot was Cal’s third of the season and 96th of his career, passing Mike Zunino as the all-time home run leader by a Mariner catcher and also gave Seattle a 5-3 lead.

Enter Andrés Muñoz who looked to lock down yet another early season save. Texas put some pressure on Muñoz as Jonah Heim singled to begin the 9th. Dustin Harris entered the game to pinch hit for Kevin Pillar, but Muñoz struck him out with a 3-2 slider in the dirt for the first out. That brought Marcus Semien to the plate and Muñoz did a great job at avoiding Corey Seager. Semien hit a grounder to Rivas who touched second before relaying the throw over to first for a game-ending double play. Raleigh’s clutch home run was enough as the Mariners fought back to take the series opener, 5-3.

Notable Performances

Rangers

Mariners

• Jorge Polanco- 3-4, HR, RBI, R
• Cal Raleigh- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Bryce Miller (ND)- 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO

Mariners 9, Rangers 2 (Game 2, April 12th)

Bryan Woo took the ball in game two for the Mariners as they looked to try to wrap up a series win a little bit early against the Texas Rangers. Getting the start for Texas would be Kumar Rocker, who returned to Seattle for the first time since he made his MLB debut at T-Mobile Park last September when he struck out seven Mariners in just four innings.

Woo struggled out of the gate and didn’t get any help from his defense either. A leadoff walk to Marcus Semien was followed by back-to-back singles for Corey Seager and Josh Smith to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Adolis García skied a fly ball into right center field to Luke Raley. However, Raley saw Julio Rodríguez out of the corner of his eye and stopped. The ball landed right between them to load the bases on the miscommunication. Woo settled in after that, getting Joc Pederson to fly out to shallow right before striking out Josh Jung and Jake Burger to get out of the jam. Only one run came in but Texas still had the 1-0 lead.

Both teams turned double plays to help keep it 1-0 going to the bottom of the 3rd. A one-out single by J.P. Crawford brought J-Rod to the plate. Julio yanked one to the gap in left center that got all the way to the wall. Crawford scored from first as Julio dove into third with his second triple of the season, tying the game at 1-1. Jorge Polanco skied the first pitch to deep center for a sacrifice fly to give Seattle a 2-1 lead. Seattle kept the pressure on with a Cal Raleigh double followed by a Randy Arozarena walk. Kumar Rocker then threw a wild pitch that hit the “K” in T-Mobile Park and kicked up towards the Mariner dugout. Raleigh scored all the way from second on the wild pitch and Luke Raley then drove in Arozarena with his first double of the year as the M’s took a 4-1 lead.

From there on, Woo was in cruise control while the M’s continued to pull away. In the bottom of the 5th, Cal Raleigh came to the plate once again with his torpedo bat in hand and did some damage. Raleigh got an 0-2 sinker right down the heart of the plate and drove it 420-feet out to center field. The solo blast was Raleigh’s fourth of the season and extended the Seattle lead to 5-1.

Bryan Woo gutted through what was not an easy outing. After really having to battle through the 1st inning, Woo settled in and rolled through the rest of the game. Woo ended up getting through seven innings and allowed just one run on six hits while walking just one batter and striking out seven. After having to utilized a chunk of their bullpen the night before, Seattle was able to get a nice and long start from Bryan Woo.

Seattle broke things open in the 7th and ran away with it. Seattle loaded the bases thanks to a J.P. Crawford walk, a J-Rod single, and a Cal Raleigh walk with one out. Luke Raley came to the plate with two down and sent a hard grounder to second that went off the glove of Marcus Semien at second. Crawford and Rodriguez both scored to make it 7-1 with a couple of runners still on. Rowdy Tellez followed with a double to center field to drive in Raleigh and Raley. Tellez tried to hustle out a triple but was thrown out at third to end the inning but Seattle still pulled away with a 9-1 lead.

Gregory Santos came in for the 9th but gave up a run after a Josh Jung double and Jake Burger single to make it 9-2. With just one out, Santos got Jonah Heim to hit a grounder to J.P. Crawford at short. Crawford tagged second and made a jump throw to first to end the game with a double play. Back-to-back series wins were in the books as the Mariners won their third consecutive game with a 9-2 win over the Rangers.

Notable Performances

Rangers

Mariners

• Bryan Woo (W, 2-0)- 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO
• Luke Raley- 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI, R, BB
• Cal Raleigh- 2-3, 2B, HR, RBI, 3 R, BB

Mariners 3, Rangers 1 (Game 3, April 13th)

Sunday’s finale was an opportunity for the Seattle Mariners to completely erase their rough start to the season as the M’s could climb back to .500 with a sweep of the Texas Rangers. It was a highly anticipated pitcher’s duel as both teams sent their aces to the mound as Logan Gilbert did battle with Nathan Eovaldi.

For the third consecutive game, the Mariners starter had to work out of trouble in the 1st as Logan Gilbert stranded runners on the corners. In the home half of the 1st, Jorge Polanco recorded the first Mariner hit with a base hit to center. In stepped Cal Raleigh and he stayed red hot. Despite being a little bit fooled on a splitter at the bottom of the zone, Raleigh was able to muscle a fly ball out to deep right. Cal got just enough of it to homer for his third straight game and his fifth of the season. The two-run blast got the M’s the early advantage up 2-0.

In the top of the 2nd, Texas got on the board as well. Leading off the inning, Dustin Harris battled for seven pitches and the seventh pitch he crushed. A splitter in the middle of the plate was sent out to center field for his first home run of the season. The solo blast cut the Mariner lead down to just 2-1 still very early in the game.

Only one Ranger reached base after that against Logan Gilbert. It was a leadoff double in the 5th by Jake Burger to put the tying run in scoring position. Gilbert retired Kyle Higashioka and Leody Taveras while keeping Burger at second. A wild pitch moved Burger to third, but Gilbert would get Joc Pederson to fly out to right to end the inning. It would be Gilbert’s last inning due to a high pitch count, but he still allowed just the single run on three hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. All three of Seattle’s pitchers battled through a tough lineup to give the offense a chance to win each game in the series.

Nathan Eovaldi’s outing did not end as well as Logan Gilbert’s. A single put Julio Rodríguez on before Jorge Polanco reached on a great spin move to avoid Jake Burger’s tag at first base. Eovaldi then hit Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena to force in a run, making it 3-1 with the bases loaded and nobody out. Hoby Milner entered for Eovaldi and the Rangers cut down a run at the plate on a Luke Raley groundout. Milner then struck out Donovan Solano and Miles Mastrobuoni to minimize the damage and keep the score 3-1.

Gabe Speier, Carlos Vargas, and Trent Thornton retired all nine Rangers they faced to send the game to the 9th still 3-1. Andrés Muñoz came in to pitch the 9th and retired Corey Seager on a ground out to begin the inning. Josh Smith reached on a single to left to bring the tying run to the plate in Adolis García. Muñoz got him to chase a 3-2 slider for a strike out and the second out. Josh Jung was the last chance for Texas and all he could do was watch a 100-mph sinker hit the bottom of the zone for a called third strike. It was a beautiful way to end a strong week for the Mariners as they swept the Texas Rangers with a 3-1 win to move to 35-8 against the Rangers at T-Mobile Park since 2020.

Notable Performances

Rangers

Mariners

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

Roster Moves

• RHP Troy Taylor activated from 15-day IL. RHP Casey Lawrence designated for assignment.
• Select contract of 3B Ben Williamson from Triple A Tacoma. Option OF Dominic Canzone to Triple A Tacoma.

What’s Next

Seattle’s 5-1 week moved the Mariners to 8-8 on the season and into third place in the AL West and just 1 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Angels in the division. After only playing three road games out of their first 16 games of the season, the Mariners will now head out for a nine-game road trip against three playoff caliber teams.

First up for the Mariners is a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds. Both teams will enter the opening game of the series on Tuesday with an 8-8 record and both coming off of sweeps over the weekend as Cincinnati took care of business against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cincinnati has had issues with consistent offense but they will send two of their best starting pitchers to the mound against Seattle. The Mariners also reshuffled their rotation to avoid the fifth slot that is currently vacated after Luis F. Castillo was sent down to Triple A.

Cincinnati should be close to full health as Matt McLain, Austin Hays, and Alexis Díaz are all expected to be activated from the IL on Tuesday. However, all eyes will be on the star Elly De La Cruz. The five-tool player has bounced back from a really tough 2024 season but still has had a bit of a strikeout problem to start the season as well as leading the league in errors. However, with each mistake he makes De La Cruz matches with incredible defense mixed with absurd power and blazing speed. Elly’s three home runs and 17 runs batted in lead the team. Seattle’s pitching staff can capitalize on his chase rate but must be very careful of mistakes against the star shortstop.

• Game 1, Tuesday 3:40pm- Luis Castillo (1-1, 2.12 ERA) vs. Nick Lodolo (2-1, 0.96 ERA)
• Game 2, Wednesday 3:40pm- Bryce Miller (0-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. Nick Martinez (0-2, 6.06 ERA)
• Game 3, Thursday 9:40am- Bryan Woo (2-0, 2.84 ERA) vs. Brady Singer (3-0, 3.18 ERA)

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