September struggles continue: Mariners open homestand frustrating to defeat, fall out of playoffs with loss to Angels
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Following the ballclubs loss to the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday as they failed to split the series, Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais remarked that the team was “dragging” a bit and needed the energy of getting back home in front of their fans. They got a great Monday turnout of 37K+, and while the game started off great with a first inning that featured a three-run homer by Cal Raleigh, Seattle failed to score for the next eight innings which eventually led to extra innings. A game-tying two-run homer by Julio Rodriguez, which launched him into the 30-30 club, in the tenth tied things up after the Mariners tired bullpen couldn’t contain the Angels, but it wasn’t enough as Los Angeles drove in three more runs the next inning that Seattle failed to match. This loss currently drops the Mariners out of a playoff spot, and they’ve lost eight of the eleven games they’ve played so far in the month of September.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert threw seven innings for the team in tonight’s outing (Photos by Sage Zipeto)
Gilbert gives Seattle length, sets new personal season strikeout record
Outside of Luis Castillo’s start against the Rays to begin the four-game series on Seattle’s recent road trip, the Mariners starting rotation hasn’t been their usual selves. Third year starting pitcher Logan Gilbert, while not flawless in his outing, was able to give his team length and keep them in the ballgame with a seven-inning night that saw him allow three runs. In his pregame media scrum, manager Scott Servais said that any starting pitcher that gives him six innings and three runs or less is his best friend, so Logan must be in good regard with the skipper after this start. The main issue that Gilbert struggled with was that he surrendered two homers to Los Angeles catcher Logan O’Hoppe, his first career multi-homer game, and that's where all the Angels runs came from during Gibert’s outing. The first homer is tough to judge, given that it was a fastball high and inside, while the second was a splitter that fell in the direct middle of the plate.
Looking at Gilbert’s outing pitch wise, Logan threw four pitch types across his 93 total on the night. The second-year starter is tasked with throwing his fastball, slider, splitter, and curveball against the Angels as he drew 17 whiffs out of them. He got seven whiffs each on the fastball and slider, while two came on the splitter and one on the curveball. The fastball was the only pitch he threw that saw an increase in velocity, while the rest saw decreases including the curve that saw significant drop. When looking at spin rate, Gilbert’s saw bumps in all four pitch types with a significant jump on his slider. Logan stayed heavily in the strike zone, with only 27 of his pitches locating outside of it. Of the 21 balls that Los Angeles put into fair territory, ten of them were hit hard, which is still the minority but is an area to note.
An offensive spurt, and then nothing for eight innings
If we went off how this ballgame started, things were going to be excellent for the Seattle offense. After Logan Gilbert worked a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, the Mariners offense responded with a three-run bottom of the frame as JP Crawford and Julio Rodriguez both singled to kick things off before Cal Raleigh dumped a three-run homer into left field for his 28th blast of the season. That homer broke Raleigh’s single season record from last year and is the most homers by a catcher in a single season in Mariners franchise history. While Seattle couldn’t tack on more production after that, it was an excellent start to the night, at least it felt that way. The Mariners went down in order the next three innings, and left runners on base three times across the fourth, fifth, and eighth innings before a nightmare in the bottom of the ninth.
The bottom of the ninth inning was set up nearly picture perfect for Seattle to walk things off and begin their turnaround with this new homestand. With the game tied at three runs each, the first three batters that the Mariners sent to the plate singled, loading the bases with no outs against Angels reliever Aaron Loup. Things looked truly like they were setting up to be storybook, as a returning Jarred Kelenic was at the plate with those bases loaded and no outs. Things quickly went from storybook to horror story as Kelenic struck out, the Angels mowed down the runner from third on a force out at home, and Dominic Canzone grounded out weakly to first base. The most golden of any opportunity, quickly was crushed into the integrity of an aluminum can.
Seattle Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez hoists the teams home run trident after his 30th homer of the season (Photo by Sage Zipeto)
Julio heroics as Rodriguez joins the 30-30 club
The JROD Show’s second season is looking more and more like a successful sequel to the premier, as Julio Rodriguez continues to make history in the second half of the 2023 season. The Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic native completed his four hit game tonight with a titanic blast out to the JROD Squad in centerfield to tie the game in the bottom of the tenth inning. Rodriguez scored ghost runner Dominic Canzone, homering on a sinker that was nearly in the dirt. The homer was his 30th of the season, and the fact he muscled a ball below the zone out to center field perfectly highlighted his now 30-30 season. Rodriguez is a special talent, will be in a Mariners uniform for a decade, and added another spectacular moment to his growing legacy in Seattle. It’s just a shame that the rest of the offense couldn’t do their part to ensure that the historic achievement came in a win.
Seattle Mariners reliever Andres Munoz worked his way out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the ninth inning (Photo by Sage Zipeto)
‘Pen report
When Logan Gilbert initially left the game after pitching those seven innings, it felt like a minor victory considering that the Mariners bullpen has been so taxed in recent memory and especially on the past road trip which included a bullpen game. As this game went on, any semblance of that being a success was stomped out as Seattle had to send out six of their relievers to try and give themselves a chance to walk things off against the Angels. The Mariners bullpen, sending out Matt Brash, Andres Munoz, Justin Topa, Trent Thornton, Gabe Speier, and Isaiah Campbell, didn’t do themselves any favors per say. More specifically, Topa and Thorton had a total of five runs charged against them, but only one considered earned granted the “ghost runner” that begins each inning in extras on second base plus an error by Seattle third baseman Eugenio Suarez.
While yes, Topa and Thornton struggled as they combined for three hits, two walks, and a homer between them, the Mariners offense simply didn’t do enough as we previously referenced. There are a few factors that are currently in play as to why the Seattle bullpen has had it struggles, and those include the team's starters struggling to find their first form from the seasons start till August as well as the offense not providing enough run support. I implore you to remember these things before you rifle off an ignorant tweet about either a reliever struggling or one coming in that you didn’t think was the right arm for that day. Bullpen availability is often determined before the ballgame even starts, so the arm you thought should have come in during that scenario may not even be available that night.
Cause for concern amidst a rough early September
With today’s loss and just generally how things have gone for the Mariners since the month of September began, there should be some cause for concern amongst Seattle fans. While the month of August was jubilant, a franchise best 21-wins in a calendar month, sitting atop the American League West, the season is catching up to the Mariners. The pitching staff that was one of the very best in all of baseball is now faltering for the most part, struggling to bear the load that a largely ineffective offense has placed upon them. In turn, the Seattle batters that seemed to light the match in the month of August and seemingly turned around their woes at the plate have returned to Earth, outside of a few exceptions (Hello, Julio). In the month of July, manager Scott Servais preached the importance of taking the walks, running opposing starters pitch counts up, and knocking that starter out of the game to wear down a bullpen throughout the course of the series. The Mariners had that, and their pitching staff, running on all cylinders in August. Now, they’re sputtering and are in danger of wiping out.
With that being said, it isn’t like Seattle can’t find themselves back in a better position by seasons end, but it certainly won’t be easy. In terms of the division, the Rangers and Astros will have to meet each other and the Mariners before the regular season wraps up. In terms of the Wild Card, the Blue Jays have a tough road ahead and got thumped tonight by those same Rangers. If patterns mean anything, Seattle’s starting pitching should be able to return to form, and they can help the bullpen do the same if they get length in their respective starts. The offense on the other hand is the tougher side to fix, considering that it seems they’ve reverted to their first half selves where hitters chased heavily and had a poor plate approach. The Mariners have gotten away from the focused approach that saw them play small ball and chase opposing starters out of the game early. It’s possible for them to climb back, especially only being 2.5 games back of Houston for the division lead, but they must have a sense of urgency as the clock runs out.
Quick notes
Tonight’s attendance at T-Mobile Park was 37,807
In tonight’s series opener, the Mariners fell to the Angels 8-5…over their last 19 home games, they are 13-6.
Seattle is now 6-13 in extra innings.
Julio Rodríguez recorded his 30th home run of the year on a 2-run homer in the 10th inning to become the 2nd player in Mariners history with 30 HR and 30 SB season, joining Alex Rodriguez in 1998…it also marked his 2nd career game-tying home run in the 9th inning or later (also: 9/11/22 vs. ATL)
He went 4-for-5 with 2 runs, 1 double, 1 home run and 2 RBI tonight to pick up his team-leading 52nd multi-hit game of the year...Rodríguez’ 52 games with 2+ hits lead all American League hitters and are the 3rd most by any batter in the Majors this season, trailing Ronald Acuña Jr.-ATL 62 games for the MLB lead.
Rodríguez now has 14 games with 3+ hits this season, T-2nd most in the American League (also: Bobby Witt-KC, Corey Seager-TEX, Shohei Ohtani-LAA, Bo Bichette-TOR) and 7 games with 4+ hits, the 2nd most in the Majors to only Luis Arraez-MIA with 7.
He has hit safely in 7 of the last 10 games (9/2-c).
Cal Raleigh recorded a career high in home runs tonight with his 28th of the season, setting a new single-season franchise record for most home runs by a catcher…he breaks his own record of 27 home runs in 2022.
With 50 extra-base hits this year, Raleigh ties the single-season franchise record for most by a Mariners catcher (also: Mike Zunnino, 2017)…he is the first catcher in franchise history to record back-to-back 45+ extra-base hit seasons.
With 2 hits on the night, he picked up his 28th multi-hit game of the season.
His home run in the 1st inning was his 4th home run as a right-handed batter this season.
J.P. Crawford recorded his 26th leadoff hit of the season tonight with a single…Crawford’s 26 leadoff hits rank 9th among all hitters in the Majors this season.
Seattle batters (Crawford, Rodríguez and José Caballero) have combined for 42 leadoff hits this season, tied for the 4th most among all MLB teams (also: Washington Nationals)…Atlanta leads the Majors with 49 leadoff hits in 2023.
Teoscar Hernández drove in the Mariners first run of the night on a sacrifice fly in the 1st inning…he extended his on-base streak to a career-high 26 games (8/15-c) following a walk 10th inning tonight, the longest active on-base streak (via H, BB or HBP) in the Majors.
Jarred Kelenic extended his hitting streak to 8 games (7/9-c) following a single in the 5th inning…during this streak he is batting .310 (9x29) with 3 doubles, 6 RBI and 1 walk.
In his 29th start of the year, Logan Gilbert threw 7.0 innings and allowed 6 hits, 3 runs (3 ER), 1 walk, 2 home runs and struck out 5 over 93 pitches (70 strikes)...it was the 8th time this season he has pitched 7.0+ innings.
Tonight marked Gilbert’s 19th start of the season allowing 1-or-fewer walks over 5.0+ innings pitched…he ties for 2nd most such games among all Major League starters this season (also: George Kirby-SEA, Zach Wheeler-PHI, Zac Gallen-ARI and Zach Eflin-TB), trailing only Logan Webb-SFG (21 games) for the lead.
Seattle starters lead the Majors in 5.0+ inning starts with 1-or-fewer walks with 78 games this season…the next highest team, Minnesota, has 70 such games.
Gilbert picked up his 17th quality start of the year, tying for the most by any Mariners starter (also: Kirby) and tied 6th most (also: Kirby) by an American league starter this season.
The starting pitching staff has recorded 68 quality starts in 2023, the 2nd most by any team in the Majors and only ranking behind Minnesota’s 70 such games.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s series opening loss to the Angels that drops the Mariners out of a playoff spot for the time being, Seattle looks to rebound from the loss when these two meet tomorrow with the same first pitch time. The Tuesday, September 12th matchup will feature Mariners rookie right-hander Bryan Woo, who’s coming off some extra rest as Seattle opted to go with a bullpen day during his last turn in the rotation to minimize any negative effects on the workload that’s new to him. Woo faces off against Los Angeles starter Patrick Sandoval, who isn’t a big strikeout threat, deals with control issues, and has struggled in his past two starts. That doesn’t matter, though, if the Seattle batters don’t make him work for it. The goal should absolutely be to work Sandoval out of the game early to get to an Angels bullpen that’s one of the worst in baseball at giving up hits.
