Teoscar hits towering blast, reaches base four times against Cardinals as Mariners snaps three-game losing streak
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – The Seattle Mariners were in need of a win in general, let alone consistent offense that could be quantified throughout the course of a game, following the three-game sweep that they suffered at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers. A day off before their series against St. Louis, just the fourth time since 2019 that the team has appeared in the Pacific Northwest, proved key for the Mariners as the team got strong performances all around. George Kirby was solid in his start, the Seattle bullpen locked things down, and the Mariners bats (particularly Teoscar Hernandez) found success throughout the game. The most important aspect of all, perhaps, was Seattle’s three-run sixth inning that practically put the game away and gave the Mariners a much-needed victory in game seven of this nine game homestand.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby in his April 15th, 2023 start against the Colorado Rockies (Photo by Mathew Bermudez)
Kirby hangs a few in second inning, rights course rest of the way
Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby is known for his strong command, rarely walking opposing batters and “attacking” the zone, which is a key for any Seattle hurler under award-winning pitching coach Pete Woodworth. Kirby has only had one “bad” outing so far this season, coming in his first start of the year when he allowed nine hits for four earned runs against the Angels. Since that mediocre night, Kirby’s next three starts have all been two or less runs allowed and no more than six hits given up in a game, including tonight where the Cardinals bats were only able to collect three. Being placed in the fifth spot in the Seattle rotation to give him the extra day of rest as he continues to get acclimated to the workload here in the big leagues, Kirby has continuously performed well and impresses just about every time he takes the mound.
“I was trying to be really spot the corners tonight. They got a good lineup, so just trying to stay out of the middle as much as possible. Go in with the two seamer, keep them off balanced a little bit off. We did a great job with the curveball tonight, we had a good game plan. Murph did a good job tonight. ”
Kirby has been stellar in interleague play in his young career (In four interleague starts, Kirby had a 1.54ERA with 19 strikeouts and just one walk) and he continued that solid run of form tonight against the Cardinals, except for the second inning. After retiring the top of the St. Louis lineup in order, Kirby saw some immediate trouble against Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras as the former singled and the latter was hit by a pitch, which is uncharacteristic of Kirby. The Seattle starter was able to get two outs following to respond, but young Cardinals budding star Jordan Walker slammed a hanging slide into right-center field to score both runners. Kirby got caught hanging sliders for the hits by Arenado and Walker, but otherwise was efficient and dangerous as he only allowed one base runner after the second inning.
“I never want to leave a slider up in the zone, so, just kind of working in the middle of the plate down. That’s kind of my idea on the swing and miss slider. That one just got away from me, but we had a good game plan today. That one I just didn’t execute, but other ones felt pretty good, below the zone. ”
Finding a way to steadily add on (Is it too much to ask?)
Seattle’s inconsistent offensive attack at the plate has been one of the most consistent things about this ballclub. The Mariners just haven’t been able to string hits together and get on base enough in innings to add runs on before or after they’ve had an explosion of offense, and that’s a large part of the reason why they’ve not won even MORE games the last few years. Seattle will have one explosive inning, putting up a clump of runs, but they won’t do anything else for the rest of the game and it hurts them. We all know what sorts of things the teams pitching does for them on a nightly basis, and the hitting just hasn’t been able to keep up enough. Looking at our gameday stats that we post the morning of any Mariners game, the teams batting average, OPS (on base plus slugging percentage), and home run total all typically stack at the middle or near the bottom of Major League Baseball.
Tonight, that wasn’t the case as the Mariners were able to push a few runs across as the game went along and THEN found a late explosive inning to put the contest away. The offensive output was highlighted by right fielder Teoscar Hernandez, who’s been on a great stretch since April 4th (Recording an OPS of .879% since that day), as he reached base in all four of his plate appearances on the day. The offense began with his double in the second inning, as Jarred Kelenic singled to score him to cut the Cardinals two-run lead in half. In the fourth inning, Hernandez clobbered a sinker high and inside, sending it to deep center field over the leaping Lars Nootbaar. Those two runs were fine, but not enough at the moment as all that had done was tie the game at two runs. Seattle pulled away, thanks to their big sixth inning.
The bottom of the sixth inning began with Mariners leadoff man Julio Rodriguez, drawing a walk and making his way around the bases thanks to a stolen second base and a wild pitch to advance the 2022 AL Rookie of the year to third base. While Ty France popped out, Eugenio Suarez also drew a walk, and Teoscar Hernandez reached first on a dropped third strike as St. Louis catcher Willson Contreras was too worried about Rodriguez potentially coming home to throw Hernandez out at first. With the bases in a tie game, designated hitter AJ Pollock came through with a double into the right-center field gap to score Julio and Eugenio. Jarred Kelenic slapped a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Hernandez from third, and giving the Mariners three crucial insurance runs.
“Really well pitched game by our guys tonight, starting obviously with George. You know, they got a couple runs early, but he was right on it tonight. He made a really good adjustment after that inning. Just getting his breaking ball down in the zone, but awesome fastball command and really controlled the game. After the second inning. I thought our guys in the bullpen had an outstanding night. I think they only had one base runner there after that second inning. Just felt like we just shut it down and kept executing and executing big pitches against a pretty good lineup. That is a good lineup they have, and they have been hitting, but I said it when I started. Timely hitting. I feel like we’ve played that game tonight at least seven or eight times this year. We just haven’t gotten a big hit tonight. We got the big hit. That’s what it takes. That’s kind of how we’re built. Really good pitching, outstanding defense, timely hitting and the home runs don’t hurt. Teo had a nice night, too. So, good ball game. Nice to get back in the wind column and we send The Rock out there tomorrow and hopefully win the series. But just a clean game. That’s how we’re capable of playing. Really good pitching, good defense. Got a couple of walks offensively and ultimately got the big hit.”
Seattle Mariners right fielder Teoscar Hernandez in the teams April 4th win over the Los Angeles Angels (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Los Bomberos hoses the Cardinals
We’ve looked at it multiple times in this early season, and while there have been struggles at times, the Mariners bullpen continues to be an asset to the Seattle ballclub. Even with Andres Munoz out of action for the time being (he should begin rehab starts when the Mariners begin their next road trip) and a few new faces that are considered nobodies, Seattle continues to make things work and three members of Los Bomberos did just that tonight. The trio of Trevor Gott, Justin Topa, and Paul Sewald only surrendered one base runner in their relief of George Kirby to handle a Cardinals lineup that has hefty bats littered throughout.
A satisfying result as team looks forward
Many were arguing that the Mariners needed a win like this, and likely a sweep of the Cardinals, to get back on track and instill some confidence moving forward. I agree with part of that, the team did need this win, but the fan base complains about every little move that’s made, so I wouldn’t go and say they deserve to be rewarded at every single turn. The Brewers series was rough, but that Milwaukee team is good and deserved to win at least one of those games. Now, had the Mariners been able to capitalize with runners in scoring position and found consistent offense throughout the entirety of their games? Then it’s a whole different story, but that’s the past.
This Cardinals team has some good young talent (we witnessed that with Walker’s double), and some veteran’s that have earned their respect in this league. In some ways, St. Louis is like Seattle in the way that the teams both are better than their records currently show. Although, they are flipped in the aspect that the Mariners pitching is good but hitting is bad while the Cardinals pitching is bad, but their hitting is good. Nonetheless, this is a good ballclub that you’re facing, and they shouldn’t be scoffed at in this series. A sweep could do wonders for Seattle’s confidence and give them a great boost heading into a nine-game road trip, but it isn’t going to be easy. Something that the Mariners must do is jump on the St. Louis pitchers that have struggled, they did that today against Matz and need to do it tomorrow against Mikolas.
“Yeah, big for AJ, getting that knock. Teo swinging it well, it’s nice to get some run sport. So, the guys are swinging it well. We just got to keep putting it together.”
Quick notes
Teoscar Hernández went 2-for-3 tonight with a home run, 3 runs (1 HR), a double, and an RBI.
Over his last 15 games (4/4-c), Hernández is batting .312 (19x61) with 2 doubles, 4 home runs, and 11 RBI… he’s getting on base at a .338 clip and slugging .540 (.878 OPS).
Hernández has recorded one or more hits in 8 of his last 10 games.
Julio Rodríguez went 1-for-3 with a single and walk.
Rodríguez’s 5th stolen base of the season (6th inning) made him the 2nd-fastest player (152 G) in MLB history to reach 30 career home runs & 30 career stolen bases, trailing only Mike Trout (146 G).
He has reached base safely in 7 of his last 8 games.
Rodríguez has an AL-leading 95 plate appearances so far this season.
Jarred Kelenic and AJ Pollock both recorded 2 RBI’s tonight.
The RBIs were Kelenic’s 10th and 11th of the season and Pollock’s 7th and 8th.
Kelenic has drove in 11 runs since April 8th, 11th-most in the AL during that span.
J.P. Crawford has reached base safely in 8 of his last 9 games (4/11-c)…during that span, he is getting on base at a .517 clip.
He has walked 1 or more times in 8 of his last 9 games.
Jose Caballero’s single in the 7th inning gave him back-to-back games with hits.
In his 4th start of the season, George Kirby tossed 6.0 innings with 3 hits, 2 runs (2 earned runs), no home runs, and 5 strikeouts.
Mariners starters have now pitched at least 6.0 innings in 6-consecutive games (4/15-c)…Kirby has turned in quality starts in a career-high 3-consecutive games (4/9-c).
He threw 86 pitches and 58 strikes.
Mariners relievers Trevor Gott, Justin Topa and Paul Sewald combined to throw 3.0 perfect innings in relief with 2 strikeouts.
Sewald recorded his 5th save of the season…his 5 saves are tied for the 3rd-most in the AL this season.
The Cardinals lost 5-2 to move to 4-6 all time in Seattle (2002-c).
AJ Pollock was called for a batter timer violation in the 6th inning.
George Kirby recorded one hit by pitch, against Willson Contreras, in the 2nd inning.
What’s next?
Game two of this three game set against the Cardinals will be played tomorrow, Saturday April 22nd, with a first pitch time of 6:40PM PST. The Mariners will celebrate “Salute to Armed Forces” night at T-Mobile Park, as Luis “La Piedra” Castillo takes the mound for Seattle against St. Louis pitcher Miles Mikolas. The team could be getting back infielder/outfielder Sam Haggerty, who’s cleared concussion protocol, but Seattle has been sticking with Jose Caballero at second so Haggerty may just be a bench option if he is activated off the injured list. It’ll be a busy day in Seattle sports, as the OL Reign play at Lumen Field at 12:30PM PST, this upcoming Mariners game at 6:40PM PST, the Seattle Kraken play game three of their first round Stanley Cup Playoffs matchup, and the Seattle Sounders host Minnesota United at 7:30PM PST at Lumen Field.
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Cover photo by Liv Lyons
