It all started on a Monday evening where Felix was celebrating his birthday by puking his guts out. He muddled through 1 inning, but obviously wasn’t sharp. The Mariners were down 4-2 by the time I packed it in for the night. I woke up the next morning to an improbable 13-5 victory. 2 more Encarnacion homers, as well as blasts from Bruce, Vogelbach, and Dylan Moore of all people.
Then Tuesday rolled around. It was two-all when I went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and lo and behold, 6-3 Mariners. Marco Gonzales improved to 4-0 on the year with 6 solid innings, and the bullpen was perfect. The only homer belonged to Bruce, but that didn’t stop the rest of the hitters, who all combined for 15 hits, including 2 doubles by Vogey.
On Wednesday, there was a bit of a rocky start from Yusei Kikuchi; when I went to bed it was three-all. I woke up to a delightful little 6-5 victory. Kikuchi ended up settling down to go a full six innings, and while the bullpen failed to hold it down, Mitch Haniger was on the case with a ninth inning homer to break the tie. Our homer streak was nearly snapped in this one until that shot, and boy was it a big one!
Finally, yesterday was getaway day, so I was awake for the whole shebang, but had to miss a good chunk in the middle for lunch. Mike Leake had a pretty poor outing, but limited the damage to 4 runs over 5 innings. Luckily, the offensive freight train couldn’t be stopped. Vogey and Dee Gordon had homers in this one – to extend the streak to 15 games in a row to start the season, an American League record – with Vogey’s being the game winner in the tenth. It was a 7-6 victory, meaning the Mariners have scored 6 or more runs in 13 of 15 games, which is clinically insane.
I’m as flummoxed as you are. I’ll say this, though: with the Astros and Indians coming to town, followed by a 4-game trip to Anaheim and a 2-gamer in San Diego, the schedule gets much more difficult than it has been. Talk to me in a couple weeks to see how excited I am about this season’s potential.