That was one of the wilder games you’ll see. When in Texas, I suppose.
Erasmo Ramirez got his first start in about a month and a half, and his first start in a Mariners uniform since August 27, 2014, at home against the Rangers. In that game, he gave up 10 runs in 3 innings and spent the rest of his season in the bullpen. The Mariners would go on to trade him in the offseason to the Rays for Mike Montgomery, who the Mariners would eventually trade for Dan Vogelbach, so not too sure about that one. Anyway, last night, Erasmo fared somewhat better, but was on a pitch count, and started to falter one out into the fourth inning. He ended up giving up 3 runs (2 earned) and was pulled after 58 pitches. He was sort of cruising along up to that inning, though, striking out 5 and walking 0, but I’m not ready to anoint him the savior just yet.
Casey Lawrence came on in long relief, and he too had a couple of strong innings before faltering; he would give up a 3-run bomb in the sixth and ultimately couldn’t get out of the inning. That’s a little earlier than I like to start Hang On Time, but you takes what you can gets.
It just so happened to be Hang On Time because the Mariners brought their big boy pants, and scored 8 runs in the first six innings of the game. They also scored 8 runs in the first nine innings of the game, but that’s neither here nor there. Cruz had a homer. Cano had 2 doubles and 3 RBI. Zunino and Seager each had doubles. Leonys Martin had 2 different RBI singles for crying out loud! Valencia and Dyson each had RBIs to round out the bunch. After a pretty miserable offensive month of July, it was a VERY welcome coming out party for the offense on this first day of August.
Tony Zych got into some trouble in the seventh – a balk would later lead to an RBI single and a mere 1-run lead – but Nick Vincent was able to get out of the jam and bridge the game to the bottom of the ninth. From there, Edwin Diaz threw more gasoline on the fire with 2 strikeouts in the perfect final frame.
The play of the game, though, belongs to Jarrod Dyson, back in center and hitting second in the order (as Jean Segura got the day off). In the bottom of the eighth, Vincent on the mound, runner on first, Nomar Mazara hit a sinking line drive single into center. The runner on first was motoring his way into third base as Dyson caught the ball on one hop and threw an absolute seed to Seager right at the bag. The ball landed in Seager’s glove just as the runner was diving into it, and somehow Seager managed to palm the ball and hang onto it for the final out of the inning. Just an absolute remarkable throw and just-as-remarkable a catch and hold; outstanding all around!
This is what the Mariners have to do, though. That’s 4 wins in a row for the M’s, 12 wins in 18 games since the All Star Break. The Mariners are now tied for their season high at 2 games above .500, just 1.5 games back of the second Wild Card. Keep it going, keep it going, keep it going!
One more in Texas tonight before four HUGE games in Kansas City to close out the week.