By Jayd Serdy, edited by Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA - The Seattle Mariners have had an impressive run in recent weeks following a bumpy early start to the season, winning eight series in their last mime attempts, and five consecutive series wins at home for the first time since 2017. The most recent of those series victories came against a Kansas City Royals team that has given the Mariners some unique contests in recent years, although Seattle has been able to come out on top often and that remained the same despite the Royals seeing some success to begin the 2024 campaign. As the Mariners prepare for a tough ten game road trip here in the middle to end of May, getting another series win to keep the positive momentum is a good sign and can help them continue to build some confidence moving forward.

Starting pitcher George Kirby during the Seattle Mariners series opening win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday, May 13th, 2024 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Blake Dahlin)

Starting pitcher Logan Gilbert during the Seattle Mariners loss to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, May 14th, 2024 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Liz Wolter)

Starting pitcher Bryan Woo during the Seattle Mariners win over the Kansas City Royals to give them the series win on Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Kevin Ng)

Starting pitching matchups

This series’ starting pitching matchups were Brady Singer for the Royals and George Kirby for the Mariners on the 13th in the series opener, followed by Michael Wacha for Kansas City and Logan Gilbert for Seattle on the 14th, and ended with Alec Marsh pitching for the Royals and Bryan Woo pitching for the Mariners on the 15th. Part of the resurgence this season for Kansas City has been how good some of their pitching has been to compliment the talent that they have in their lineup, and that includes names like Singer, Wacha, and Marsh on the mound, all guys from the Royals that Seattle had to face in this series. Outside of generally being unable to solve Wacha on the 14th, the Mariners were able to dig their heels in and do enough to support their cast of starters during this series to get wins in two out of the three games.

Series opener: Nuke Raley starts things off, George Kirby continues to roll

Monday’s series opening game started off with outfielder Luke Raley took a sinker in the middle of the plate to straightaway center field, scoring Cal Raleigh to make it a two-run homer. Later on, Raleigh hit a single on a sharp fly ball to center fielder Dairon Blanco allowing Julio Rodríguez to score and sending Jorge Polanco to second in the bottom of the 3rd, ending the inning with the Mariners up 3-0.

During the 8th the Royals got themselves on the board when star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr grounded into a force out, sending him to first. Kansas City first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino singled on a ground ball, sending Witt Jr. to second, and Michael Massey doubled on a line drive to Julío Rodriguez which allowed Witt and Pasquantino to score. That string of events late cut the Mariners lead in half, as Seattle’s lead went to 4-2 at that point. With the Mariners up to bat next, Ty France gave his team some insurance runs on a two-run homer, scoring Luke Raley, as he hammered a slider at the bottom of the plate to deep left field. The Mariners won that game by a score of 6-2, taking the series opener as Andrés Muñoz shut things down for his 6th save of the season.

Photos from the Seattle Mariners series opening win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday, May 13th, 2024 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Blake Dahlin)

Game two: Offense fails to give Gilbert any backup

Tuesdays game started out with a fan getting to do the first pitch after catching two back-to-back foul balls during Monday’s game, as Josh Rojas hit both foul balls to the left field corner where the fan, also named Josh, was sitting. According to the MLB there is a .00001 chance of that happening making it a one in 10 million possibility.

Luke Raley, yet again, started off the scoring after hitting a homer on a line drive to right field in the bottom of the 4th, taking a curveball high and inside and depositing it into the pull side of the field for him. During the top of the 7th, Royals designated hitter Nelson Velázquez homered on a line drive to left center field, driving in Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez to score, putting Kansas City in the lead at 3-1. Velázquez hammered a slider low and inside from Gilbert, making the Mariners starter pay as he had walked Witt Jr. as the first batter of the inning and intentionally walked Perez. Things had rolled along well for Logan in the game ahead of this 7th inning, but Kansas City made him pay nonetheless and even if the slider that Velázquez hit wasn’t a particularly bad pitch.

In top of the 8th inning, the Royals added to their lead as third baseman Maikel Garcia hit a single on a line drive to left fielder Sam Haggerty, driving in Hunter Renfroe (who had walked) to make the score 4-1. The Mariners rounded out the 9th with a solo homer from Mitch Haniger, but Seattle couldn’t do enough after that to make this a comeback effort, ending the game with a final score of 4-2 and sending this series to a Wednesday rubber match to close out the homestand.

Photos from the Seattle Mariners game two loss against the Kansas City Royals in their three game series at T-Mobile Park on May 14th, 2024. (Photos by Liz Wolter)

Series finale: Closing things out with a win

The rubber match on Wednesday started out slow in the 1st with Julio Rodríguez singling on a line drive to left fielder MJ Melendez, followed by the Royals challenging a stolen base call that was overturned to get Julio out and end the inning. In the bottom of the 2nd, Cal Raleigh singled on a fly ball to center fielder Kyle Isbel. Luke Raley continued his hot series after homering in the first two games, as he followed suit sending Raleigh to 3rd with a single. Returning outfielder Dominic Canzone, playing in his first game since being activated off the injured list, struck out but Raley stole 2nd to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. A Dylan Moore walk loaded the bases, and third baseman Luis Urías hit a difficult ball at former Mariner Adam Frazier at third. Frazier had trouble corralling the ball on a hop, allowing Raleigh to score from third and Raley’s effort to reach third ensured there was no force out to end the inning. The Mariners ended the 2nd with a small lead over Kansas City to get the scoring, just as they had gotten the first run on the board in the previous two games.

First baseman Ty France hit his second homer of the series on a flyball to left center field, tagging a sinker low and inside the strike zone in the bottom of the 4th to double the Mariners lead at 2-0. The bottom of the 5th was delayed after Homeplate umpire Jim Wolf took a foul ball off his mask and had to leave the game after a brief discussion with the other members of the umpire crew and trainers. Wolf was replaced by Ryan Blakney at home plate, and the rest of the game was officiated by a three-man crew.

The Royals got on the board in the top of the 6th with Bobby Witt Jr out on a sacrifice fly to center left fielder Rodríguez and Freddy Fermin scoring, after he had singled to leadoff the inning, to cut the Seattle lead in half and apply pressure to the Mariners offense. Seattle was able to respond in the bottom of the 7th, after Dominic Canzone hit a ground-rule double to the left-field line and Josh Rojas singled to left fielder Melendez, giving Seattle their two-run lead back as the score went to 3-1.

Kansas City quickly scored again with Fermin reaching first on a bunt to Luis Urías at third, and Frazier doubling on a line drive to Raley in right field, sending Fermin to 3rd. Bobby Witt Jr. ground out to second baseman Josh Rojas, allowing Fermin to score and once again bring them within a run of Seattle at a score of 3-2. Mariners designated hitter Mitch Haniger singled on a line drive to center fielder Kyle Isbel before being replaced by Leo Rivas as a pinch runner on second, giving the Mariners a weapon on the bases with his speed in a scoring position. Raleigh ground out, sending Rivas to 2nd, and then Luke Raley singled on a line drive to right field to score Rivas and give the Mariners that narrow two-run lead once again. The top of the 9th ended with Fermin striking out, ending the game with a final score of 4-2 Mariners to give them the series win as Andrés Muñoz came in to slam the door shut yet again.

The Mariners ended this series on a high note with that series win, and will hopefully take that energy with them on their 10-game road trip in Baltimore, New York, and Washington D.C. before bringing things back home to play the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels in their next homestand.

Photos from the Seattle Mariners win over the Kansas City Royals to secure the series win on Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Kevin Ng)

Quick Mariners notes from this series against the Royals

• The Mariners have won 8 of their last 9 series and 5 straight series at home…the last time Seattle won 5 consecutive home series was 2017 (4/14-16 vs. TEX, 4/17-19 vs. MIA, 5/2-4 vs. LAA, 5/5-7 vs. TEX and 5/15-17 vs. OAK).

• The Mariners have now won 7 consecutive home series openers (4/1 vs. CLE, 4/12 vs. CHC, 4/15 vs. CIN, 4/26 vs. ARI, 4/29 vs. ATL, 5/10 vs. OAK and 5/13 vs. KC).

• George Kirby has 20 quality starts with 0 walks in his career, most in MLB since he made his debut and 7 more than next-closest Zach Eflin-TB (13), Zac Gallen-ARI (13) & Logan Webb-SF (13) in that span.

• Ty France in 6 games on the homestand (5/10-c) batted .261 (6x23) with 1 double, 2 home runs, 5 RBI, 4 runs and a .826 OPS.

• Julio Rodríguez has now reached base in 11 of 14 games in May…he has also reached base multiple times in 7 of 14…during the month he has an on-base percentage of .355.

• Dominic Canzone now has 4 extra-base hits in the last 6 games he has a plate appearance in (2 doubles, 2 home runs)…in those games he has an OPS of 1.349.

• Cal Raleigh is first Mariner with multiple 9+ pitch plate appearances in the same game since José Caballero on 5/17/23 at Boston…Caballero walked in both PA (9 pitches, 10 pitches).

• Bryan Woo is the 8th player in Mariners history with 100+ strikeouts through his first 20 career starts, joining joining Félix Hernández (124 SO), Michael Pineda (123), George Kirby (109), Logan Gilbert (106), Mark Langston (105), Roenis Elías (104) and Bryce Miller (100).

• Logan Gilbert has 7 quality starts in 9 efforts so far in 2024.

• Andrés Muñoz extended his scoreless streak to 9 games, recording 5 games with 1 walk and 13 strikeouts in that time. Muñoz is the only MLB pitcher with at least four 4+ out saves this season.

• Mitch Haniger's 55 home runs at T-Mobile Park surpasses Edgar Martinez (54 HR) & Ichiro Suzuki (54) for 7th-most in ballpark history.

What’s next?

Following this series win over the Kansas City Royals, winning both series of a six-game homestand as they hosted those Royals and previously the Oakland Athletics, the Seattle Mariners will now head out on one of the toughest stretches of their season and certainly one of the most challenging of their 2024 campaign to this point. The Mariners will begin a three-game series against a Baltimore Orioles team that is shifting from THE young and exciting team in baseball to dropping the young part as some of their talented prospects that have been with the organization continue to acclimate to the MLB level, before a four game set against the New York Yankees during the week, ending the road trip with a three-game set against the Washington Nationals on the weekend. Seattle has to find a way to handle the two best teams in a very competitive AL East division, including four games against the Bronx Bombers, and then three games down the East coast against a Nationals team that’s sitting in the middle of the NL East. It is going to be a challenging and difficult stretch to get through for the Mariners, and yet it could very well be one that helps them continue to grow into the sort of team that they can be during this 2024 campaign. Pressure makes diamonds, after all.

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Cover photo by Circling Seattle Sports photographer Kevin Ng.

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