Mariners hold on late, avoiding collapse, in 7-6 series opening win over Twins
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – To open their four-game series against the Minnesota Twins and continue their ten game homestand here in the middle of July, the Seattle Mariners used a patient approach at the plate halfway through the game to guide them to victory. Despite Seattle pushing their lead to four runs with a Eugenio Suarez two-run no-doubter in the seventh, things got tense in the bottom of the ninth when the Twins came within a run thanks to a Max Kepler three-run blast off Ty Adcock. Paul Sewald’s 19th save of the season ensured there would be no collapse, and the Mariners take game one of their series against the top team in the American League central.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert threw five innings of two run ball (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Gilbert returns to Earth in first start of second half
Considering some of the factors that took place in this game, Logan Gilbert’s first outing of the second half could’ve gone much worse than it actually did. Coming off an American League player of the week nod for the stretch that led into the All-Star break, it was going to be interesting to see if Gilbert could continue his hot stretch. Things were fine through two innings outside of allowing a base runner in each of those first two frames, before things got a bit complicated. Logan’s pitch count was run up a bit three straight hits to lead off the top of the third and a sacrifice fly, scoring two runs for Minnesota and putting in doubt that Gilbert could go very far into the ballgame. Again, with base runners in each of the next two frames, Seattle seemed to be in some danger, but Gilbert was able to minimize the damage to those two runs.
Loga relied heavily on his fastball and slider, similar to Bryce Miller’s outing yesterday, but with a knuckle curve and his splitter getting equal mixture into the arsenal. The knuckle curve was fun to watch at times a big bowing rainbow that the Twins couldn’t figure out early on. Gilbert’s control on his pitches wasn’t necessarily bad, and his spin rate was up on all his pitches except for his fastball. It’s a sort of mixed feeling after this start, perhaps aided by the fact that expectations could’ve been raised after the player of the week nod and the trade talks surrounding his name. Given that he only allowed the two runs and navigated other danger, this wasn’t a bad outing by Gilbert.
The Seattle Mariners offense was able to string together seven runs across innings five through seven, which turned out to be just enough (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Patient plate approach
After the Tigers series, it looked like the Mariners offense was back to its generally poor self that strikes out a lot and can’t string base runners together to generate offense and really let their power bats shine. Seattle’s hitters love to play this sort of game of Jekyll and Hyde where their wild inconsistencies on offense have you wondering which side you’ll see next. Tonight, to begin this series against a Twins team that’s eerily similar to the Mariners in the fact that they have great pitching and an inconsistent offense, Seattle saw the good side of their hitters, but it wouldn’t really come out until the fifth inning. It was going to be easy from the jump anyway, considering that they were facing off against one of the better pitchers in all of baseball in Sonny Gray, who surprisingly hasn’t recorded a win since April 30th.
Things looked good in the bottom of the second when Eugenio Suarez and Cal Raleigh both singled to begin the inning, and there was even still some hope that Seattle could get a run across after Teoscar Hernandez grounded into a double play, because Suarez had been pushed to third base. That hope died quicky as a slumping Ty France struck out swinging, stranding Suarez at third and wasting a scoring opportunity. The next two frames were relatively bland as the Mariners went down in order, getting weak contact off Gray who had seemed to lock into to begin the ballgame. The strong game that he was weaving together started to unravel in the fifth inning, as the Mariners got into the sort of offense that makes them look like one of the more exciting teams in the American League. It all started with a double by Teoscar Hernandez.
After the Teo double, Ty France was able to draw a walk, followed up by Mike Ford being hit by a pitch that got reviewed because it wasn’t initially called a hit by pitch, just a wild pitch. The Mariners were able to capitalize with the bases loaded, something they’ve been better at this year despite what some may say on social media, as Jose Caballero singled to score Hernandez and keep the line moving. With the bases loaded still, and after JP Crawford popped up to put two runs on the board, Julio Rodriguez showed great restraint as he took a walk and visibly held off a few pitches. After Julio’s walk with the bases scored the second run of the night for the Mariners, left fielder Jarred Kelenic drove in two more runs with a single into left field. Seattle’s single run in the sixth inning came as Cal Raleigh scored on a wild pitch by Gray before the seventh where a single by Jarred Kelenic was scored after his single by Eugenio Suarez’s no doubt, two-run blast to left. Seven runs over the course of three innings, as Seattle played the sort of small ball offense that’s critical to their success.
Seattle Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suarez hits a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
‘Pen report
The Mariners deployed five relievers in their series opener against the Twins, which isn’t necessarily ideal. After Gilbert struggled to an extent and wasn’t able to go particularly deep into the ballgame, Seattle turned to the bullpen and their three relievers used into the ninth inning seemed to do the job. Gabe Speier was the first arm out of the bullpen that the Mariners went to, and outside of a solo shot by Minnesota outfielder Joey Gallo to dead center, he was fine as he got the first two outs of the sixth inning. Scott Servais and Seattle opted to call the pen once again after the solo shot by Gallo, bringing in Matt Brash to strikeout Michael A. Taylor and end the inning. Following Speier, Brash and Andres Munoz pitched well, with Munoz having to work out of a jam he created but doing so successfully. That brought us to the top of the ninth inning where Ty Adcock came in with a seemingly safe four-run lead.
Although Adcock allowed a single by Twins second baseman Edouard Julien to leadoff, he was able to get the next two outs which got the 25,770 fans (and some dogs too, since it was a bark at the park night) on their feet at T-Mobile Park as they looked for that 27th out. Minnesota’s Donovan Solano kept the game going with a single, before Max Kepler took an Adcock slider deep for a three-run shot that brought the game within one. Servais went again to the bullpen, calling in Paul Sewald to get that crucial final out. Jump around played, Sewald struck out Ryan Jeffers on a fastball that clipped the outside of the zone, and thus ended the game. It’s a tough outing for Adcock considering that he did get those two outs, but the Twins were able to hammer his fastball on those two singles before Kepler took advantage of the slider. Sewald, having now pitched back-to-back nights, mixed in his fastball and sweeper well enough to tally his 19th save of the season. With one more save this season, Sewald would tie his career high in a season for saves.
Seattle Mariners relievers Matt Brash, Andres Munoz, and Paul Sewald all saw action during this game (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Quick notes
In the opening game of the series, the Mariners beat the Twins 7-6…Seattle is now 17-14 in series openers and moves over .500 to 47-46 on the season.
The Mariners scored 6 of their 7 runs tonight with 2-outs.
Jarred Kelenic extended his hitting streak to 5-consecutive games (7/9-c) with a 2-RBI single in the 5th inning…he went 2-for-4 on the night with 1 double, 2 RBI and 1 stolen base and picked up his 16th multi-hit game of the year.
During his current hitting streak, Kelenic is batting .375 (6x16) with 3 doubles, 6 RBI and 1 walk…Kelenic’s season-high hitting streak is 10-games (4/5-4/16).
Kelenic’s 2-RBI single marked his 14th go-ahead RBI this season, which leads the team and ranks above Eugenio Suárez and Teoscar Hernandez, who each have 10 on the year.
With tonight’s win, Kelenic recorded his 11th game-winning RBI, which leads all Mariners hitters this season.
Paul Sewald earned his 50th career save in a Mariners uniform.
He holds a 2.92 ERA (54 ER, 166.1 IP) with 53 walks and 231 strikeouts during his Mariners career.
Logan Gilbert is 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA (3 ER, 21.0 IP) with 1 walk and 18 strikeouts over his last 3 starts.
His win tonight marks the 2nd time a Mariners starter has recorded 3-consecutive wins this year (last: George Kirby, 5/4-5/15).
Following tonight’s outing, Gilbert now has 12 starts with 5.0+ innings pitched and 2-or-fewer earned runs allowed this season, leading all Mariners starters and ranking ahead of Kirby and Luis Castillo who each have 11 such occurrences on the year.
Gilbert has also allowed 1-or-fewer walks in 12 starts with at-least 5.0 innings pitched, trailing only Kirby’s 14 for the most on the team.
Eugenio Suárez went 2-for-4 with 1 run, 1 home run and 2 RBI on the night and recorded the Mariners first hit on a single to lead off the 2nd inning…tonight was his 17th multi-hit game of the year.
Suárez hit his 12th home run of the season in the 7th inning to extend the Mariners lead to 7-3.
7 of his 12 home runs this season have come with runners on base.
Julio Rodríguez drew 1 walk and recorded 1 RBI this evening…his RBI in the 5th marked his 50th of the season, which ties for the 2nd-most on the team (also: Teoscar Hernández) and trails only Suárez’ 52 RBI for the most by a Seattle hitter.
Julio is the 5th player in Mariners history with 50+ RBI in each of his first 2 MLB seasons, joining Alvin Davis (1984-85), Ken Griffey Jr. (1989-90), Ichiro Suzuki (2001-02) & Kenji Johjima (2006-07).
Cal Raleigh has reached base safely in each of his last 7 starts (7/5-c), batting .286 (6x21) with 3 runs, 2 doubles, 1 home run, 3 RBI and 6 walks during that span.
The Seattle Mariners celebrate their win over the Minnesota Twins with their circle dance (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
What’s next?
Following tonight’s game one victory against the Twins, the Mariners aim to take another step towards winning this series when they host game two of this series and game five of the homestand overall tomorrow, Tuesday, July 18th with a first pitch time of 6:40PM PST. Seattle will have young Bryan Woo on the mound to duel against Minnesota’s Bailey Ober as the Mariners will need to maintain that previously mentioned patient plate approach if they’re going to build on this victory. This game will also celebrate Ty France’s bobblehead night, featuring the Seattle first baseman holding a baguette and a section in the ballpark themed “South of France.”
