In the Famous Last Words department, I wrote this on Saturday morning:
And with Chase De Jong starting tonight, followed by TBD From Tacoma starting tomorrow, this weekend should prove to be as demoralizing as advertised.
You’ll forgive me if I was a little down in the dumps after James Paxton became the third Mariners starter to hit the DL at the same time, and the thought of two guys who should be nowhere near a Major League roster were set to make starts this weekend was just too much for me to bear. On top of all that, the Mariners squandered the best start of the season out of Yovani Gallardo on Friday in extra innings, necessitating daily roster moves to replenish the bullpen with ready arms.
De Jong did his part on Saturday, and the Mariners’ offense did the rest as the series was evened at one win apiece. The rubber match was yesterday afternoon, with Dillon Overton set to get the start, and Christian Bergman getting the call-up (Rob Whalen was sent back down, as his insurance arm wasn’t needed the night before) to be Overton’s bookend, as I don’t believe he was quite stretched out enough to go a full start’s worth of innings.
That was compounded by the fact that Overton needed over 50 pitches to get through the first two innings yesterday, giving up 2 runs (1 earned) in that span. Things looked justifiably shaky at that point, and you’ll be forgiven if you had your doubts about the Mariners winning (I know I did). He powered through, though, getting one out into the fourth inning before being pulled for the right-handed Bergman.
Bergman came to play, getting the Mariners through the seventh inning and giving up only 1 more run in his 3.2 innings of relief. As a whole, I wouldn’t say either guy really dominated, but they both threw strikes, limited walks, and were able to get out of jams. If you told me before the game started that the combination of the two pitchers would go 7 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, while striking out 4, I would’ve taken that all day and a bag of chips.
Still, at that point, it was 3-0 Rangers, with their starter sufficiently keeping us off balance through 6 shutout innings. He came in to start the seventh, walked a guy, and was taken out. From there, the Mariners’ bats decided to join the party.
Motter followed the Seager walk, but was taken out on a fielder’s choice. Mike Freeman hit for Chooch and struck out, but Jarrod Dyson walked to load the bases and turn over the lineup. Jean Segura did what he’s done all year (when healthy): get on base. This time, he walked in a run to put the Mariners on the board. At that point, the Rangers brought in a side-arm lefty, which resulted in the Mariners smartly pinch hitting for Ben Gamel. I know it sounds super obvious to do so, but the Mariners have a limited bench, and Danny Valencia had already been scratched before the game with a tight hamstring. I know the team very much wanted to give him two days off (with the off-day scheduled for today); plus Gamel has been rock solid since replacing Mitch Haniger in the lineup. Maybe I’m off-base, but I feel like many managers would’ve rolled the dice with Gamel. And, who knows, maybe Gamel would’ve come through! All I know is side-arm pitchers are super tough on same-handed batters, so the odds of Gamel doing anything but striking out were pretty slim.
Valencia, on the other hand, continued his torrid streak, dropping a single into center, bringing in the tying runs. Cano grounded out to end the threat, but God bless the Rangers’ terrible bullpen!
Vincent and Scrabble worked a scoreless eighth inning, which took us to the bottom half, with erstwhile closer Sam Dyson trying to get his life back together. Coming into the game, he’d blown three saves and had an 0-3 record, giving up runs in 6 of his 10 appearances, including the Mariners’ 8-7 come-from-behind victory in the bottom of the ninth on April 16th to sweep the series. Well, you can adjust his numbers to 0-4, with him giving up runs in 7 of his 11 appearances, as Kyle Seager hit a 1-out bomb to right-center field to give the Mariners a 4-3 lead. Edwin Diaz was on his game and got his 6th save of the season to finish things.
Major kudos to the whole pitching staff in this game, as we weathered the first Paxton-less start. If we can somehow get through the next couple weeks without falling totally apart, it’ll be a miracle.
Huge kudos to Jean Segura, rocking the following line: .368/.409/.517. It’s so rare the Mariners bring in a big name and they continue to shine, but we’ve hit on Cano, Cruz, and now Segura over the last few seasons. So necessary.
Can’t forget Danny Valencia, who was a major whipping boy through the first month of the season. He came through with a season-defining game-tying hit to win back A LOT of this fanbase. Here’s to hoping his injury isn’t too serious (who could’ve predicted I’d ever say that, when things were going bad for him?).
And, obviously, let’s not dismiss Kyle Seager’s game. The winning homer brought his day to a 2 for 3, with a walk, 2 runs, and an RBI. He’s slowly but surely working himself into a hot streak, going 12 for 40 (.300) with 1 double, 2 homers, 6 runs scored, and 5 RBI since he came back from that minor injury in late April. It’s not a blinding pace, like we’ve seen from him before, but just you wait. It’s coming.
This was a game where the Mariners easily could’ve rolled over and died. The Texas starter was on top of his game, and the M’s really didn’t have a lot of answers. But, they clawed their way back in it in the seventh, and brought the hammer down before this thing could get away from them in extras (like it did on Friday). That’s a nice 4-2 homestand to bring the Mariners to 10-5 at Safeco Field on the year. Indeed, if you take away the 1-6 road trip to start the season, the Mariners have been 14-11, which coincides with the vast majority of the Mariners’ injury woes. Arbitrary start point all you want, it’s pretty impressive.
It’ll be more impressive, of course, if they manage to keep it up until guys start coming back.