Homestand highs and lows: Texas two-step to an even homestand
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Returning home for the shortest homestand of the season to this point, the Seattle Mariners came away from the six-game set with an even 3-3 record. The Mariners hosted the two Texas teams, and Seattle came away with a series win and loss against an Astros team that they hoped to challenge this offseason and a Rangers team that has finally seemed to find a way to click with all their big offseason spending. Seattle continued to see hitting issues, primarily when it came to scoring with runners in scoring position. Taking into account the talent still on Houston’s currently injured roster and the hot start that Texas has had, an even split of the homestand isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Photo gallery from the Seattle Mariners vs Houston Astros game on May 5th, 2023 when the team debuted their City Connect jersey’s (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Heating up against Houston
The Mariners welcomed the Astros to town for the first time since the American League Divisional Series last year to open this homestand, with plenty of fireworks ready to go. To begin the series, Seattle hosted Houston for the on-field debut of their first ever City Connect jerseys on a Friday night. Big game feel under the Friday night lights? Sure, I’d love to take part and that. The Mariners didn’t get the memo out of the gate, and went down early as the Astros got a big blast from Yordan Alvarez off Luis Castillo and tacked on another run in the next inning to build a four-run lead. No matter how cool the City Connect jerseys looked, Seattle wasn’t rising to the occasion of the uniform that they were wearing. Thankfully, things changed in the fifth inning as Kolten Wong cleared the bases with a double into the right-center gap. Seattle had hope again, and a Eugenio Suarez RBI-Single in the eighth got the capacity crowd at T-Mobile Park on their feet. It all came crashing down for the Mariners in the bottom of the ninth, as a Kyle Tucker two-run blast give the Astros a lead they never lost.
Photo gallery from the Seattle Mariners vs Houston Astros game on Saturday, May 6th 2023 (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Despite the loss that could’ve easily taken the wind out of their sails, Seattle was able to remain resilient as they have for the last few years and in a BIG way in game two of the series. Once again Houston had built a steady lead through the middle innings of the game, and Seattle needed to mount a comeback effort in front of a great crowd at T-Mobile Park. The Mariners were able to do that in a major way, all beginning with another bases-loaded clearing double. JP Crawford was able to cash in once again with traffic on the bags, and started the rally with two outs that was able to rack up seven runs in total. Bases hits by Jose Caballero (double) and Julio Rodriguez (single) helped stack the runs up, and even though the Astros got another two-run homer in the ninth, the Mariners bounced back for a huge victory. The next game was an instance of Seattle flipping the script, building a lead before Houston got going and a Bryce Miller masterclass in his T-Mobile Park debut shut the door on the Astros and gave the Mariners a big series win.
Photo gallery from the Seattle Mariners vs Texas Rangers on Monday, May 8th 2023 (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Red-hot Rangers take series in Seattle
For the first time this season, the Mariners welcomed the Texas Rangers to town, and things are much different for the latter team. Even without Corey Seager and Jacob DeGrom, the Rangers have started off the year strong and seem a bit like the real deal. Seattle was able to put somewhat of a lid on the Texas offense in game one of the series, as starting pitcher Logan Gilbert only surrendered two-runs through six and two-thirds innings. The only problem was that the Mariners quiet bats plus Rangers pitcher Jon Gray pitching a gem resulted in another game where Seattle just failed to reward their starting pitching because of low offensive output. Thankfully, the next game was a complete 180 from that, as the Mariners had five runs come across home plate while starter George Kirby delivered a wonderous performance to even the series and send us to a rubber match in the getaway game of the homestand.
Photo gallery from the Seattle Mariners vs Texas Rangers on Tuesday, May 9th 2023 (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
The third and final game of the series was a mix of both of those first two games, as the Rangers got a few more runs across off Mariners ace Luis Castillo who continues to chug a bit along after an incredibly hot start to the season. Seattle slowly chugged along offensively, spreading three total runs across the nine innings while Texas had a three-run burst in the third inning that gave them a nice cushion. With a Jarred Kelenic triple to drive in Jose Caballero, the Mariners were within one run of tying things up with the Rangers in the eighth inning. Seattle went down quietly in the bottom of the ninth as Julio and Teoscar struck out while Pollock ground out to end things, and the Mariners dropped the first series at home to the Rangers since 2019.
Photo gallery from the Seattle Mariners vs Texas Rangers on Wednesday, May 10th 2023 (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Considering who the teams are, not a bad stretch
Looking over these two series, it’s hard to be overly upset at the result of that Rangers series. Texas has been good to begin the year, especially offensively with the team leading MLB in runs scored per game. Pair that with a solid pitching staff that is missing a few starters due to injury (See: Jacob DeGrom), and the Rangers are one of the better rosters to begin the year. Texas has the second-best run differential in all of baseball, and the fourth best winning percentage in the league. These aren’t your same old Rangers that we’re used to seeing plop around, and the Mariners did still give them a good fight through three games. Putting it into perspective, Seattle beat Texas in terms of run differential over the course of the three games. The Mariners tallied an impressive five run shutout victory over the Rangers while coming within a run of them in the two other games of the series.
Homestand Hero: Ty France
Mariners first baseman Ty France had a great homestand over this stretch, and if it’s any indication that he’s turning things around, it’s a great sign for the team going forward. Typically one of the best natural hitters in all of baseball, France (trying to healthily get through this season) has struggled to this point in the season like most of the other batters in the Seattle lineup. The San Diego State alum found a bit of his old self in this homestand against the Texas teams, racking up a stat line of ten hits, three runs, three RBI’s, one walk, two extra base hits, tallying up to 14 total bases. Getting that sort of production from one of your All-Stars will be a big help going forward, if he can sustain it like he has the last few years.
On to the next
Following the six game homestand, the Mariners will head out on a nine-game road trip out East. Seattle makes a stop out in Detroit for their first battle against the Tigers since the final homestand of the 2022 regular season when the Mariners had already broken their playoff drought. Despite struggles in recent years, the Tigers are just a game under the Mariners in terms of overall record. Following that stop, Seattle heads out to battle the Red Sox in Boston who currently sit at fourth in the entire American League. After that tough test, the Mariners will end their road trip with a rare visit to Atlanta and the National League leading Braves. It’s going to be a hard stretch for a Mariners team that is still figuring a lot out about themselves, and many will need to step up for the team, especially at the plate.
What is “Mariners homestand highs and lows”
We wanted to create a way to get the general idea of what had taken place in the past homestand or road trip (those will be titled “Road trip recap”) for our Mariners, considering how many games are in the MLB regular season and how some may not want to read the whole game recap for each contest. There will be additions to it going forward, but the goal is to give a quick recap of what took place over the course of a homestand or road trip for our Mariners so that fans can get the general gist of what just took place while not getting into the deeper storylines.