Mariners offense leaves a Blank Space on the scoreboard in ninth inning, run out of heroics as Blue Jays take series finale
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Canada’s suffering has come to an end, as the Toronto Blue Jays stole the series finale against the Seattle Mariners in a tight battle. This contest was much more like the first game of the series which saw the Mariners and Blue Jays battle till the ninth inning, differentiating from yesterday’s slug fest. Seattle’s Bryan Woo was solid in his outing outside of the two homers he allowed while Toronto’s Alek Manoah seems to be returning to his 2022 form as he held the Mariners to a Mike Ford two-run homer on the scoreboard. A series win against this talented Blue Jays team is good, but considering the current Wild Card race Seattle is trying to remain in, it might not be enough.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo had a solid 6 inning outing, which may be overshadowed by the two homers he allowed. (Photos by Sage Zipeto)
Woo works respectable outing
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo was making his second start of the second half, looking to bounce back after struggling against the Minnesota Twins in his last game when he allowed seven runs, six of them earned. Woo was slightly better in this game, only allowing four runs on four hits, but where he got in trouble was the long ball, which was less so the issue in that Twins outing. Woo was rock solid, as he retired his first nine batters including five strikeouts, before the fourth inning hit. Speaking of hit, Woo hit the leadoff batter George Springer with a pitch before he was driven home by Vladimir Guerrero Jr with a line drive into right field. A Brandon Belt solo shot in the sixth and an RBI single by Santiago Espinal in the seventh rounded out the four earned runs on Woo.
Woo saw his pitch velocity up on all four pitch types that he threw in this ball game, largely deploying his fastball while mixing in his sinker and a small bit of slider and cutter. His fastball and slider saw increases in spin rate, while his sinker and cutter saw decreases in spin rate. Woo was able to get the Blue Jays to swing and miss 17 times in this outing, with a big note being that Toronto was only able to hit two of his pitches as “hard hit” balls. That’s a huge note on the factor of how good or bad his outing was, considering that pitchers are always looking to minimize that hard contract. It’s a tough outing to criticize for Woo, who continues to adjust to the Major League level after being called up from AA, but there’s definite good to take from today’s outing.
Woo was able to get out of a bases loaded huge jam in that fifth, as Toronto the bags filled as Whit Merrifield had singled, Danny Jansen was hit by a pitch (a contusion his left forearm) and Kevin Kiermaier singled. In the critical moment, Woo got George Springer to ground out for the massive double play which at the time kept the game tied. The sort of start that Woo had was highly encouraging, considering that there was worry for today’s game with how the bullpen was drained last night, but the two homers were trouble. It needs to be remembered that he is still a young pitcher, having been forced into MLB action, after working through AA, due to the injury to Marco Gonzales. Guerrero Jr’s homer was a sinker in the bottom middle of the plate while the Belt blast was a fastball on the inside of the zone that he turned on. Like most outings, there are pros and cons to look at, but considering that Woo was going against one of the better lineups in baseball, it’s not doomsday.
Seattle Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suarez chats with Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman (Photo by Sage Zipeto)
Ford fires a baseball at Hit it Here Café, nutritional value of baseball unknown
Designated hitter Mike Ford has been a powerhouse since being called up from the AAA Tacoma Rainiers, essentially doing exactly what the Mariners could have hoped for with bringing up the power that we saw from him down at Cheney stadium. While not necessarily racking up base hits like some of the other designated hitters around the league, Ford has been able to send the baseball out of the ballpark, which is a solid alternative in any case. He did that in today’s ballgame, hitting a window of the former Hit It Here Café for the second time this week with a big blast that scored two runs.
Outside of the Ford homer that was flung into right field, the Mariners had another sort of frustrating day at the plate that looked more like the sort of thing we’ve seen them do all season long. Seattle racked up only five hits today, which is half/one less than half in regards to the past two games, and left nine runners on base. Their third run of the day came as Cal Raliegh walked, was pushed over by a Ty France single, and then scored on a pinch-hit single by Dylan Moore. That sixth inning was a good showing of the small ball approach that Seattle should be taking more often, but it’s all they’d get the rest of the way. Before that, the Mariners hadn’t done much at all to capitalize on the traffic that they did create on the base paths, as they went 1-8 with runners in scoring position.
Another frustrating aspect of the Mariners offense in today’s ballgame was the fact that Seattle had shortstop JP Crawford bunt in the bottom of the ninth with no outs and two runners as Dylan Moore was hit by a pitch to leadoff and Kolten Wong walked after him. Crawford has a slash line of .318/.405/.476 in “high leverage” situations. You’d like to see JP be able to swing the bat in that situation, given how he’s arguably been the best hitter all year for the Mariners, and leads the team in wRC+ and WAR. It’s a puzzling decision, and we won’t get to know how different this result could’ve been had he picked up the bat. What’s extra frustrating, to pile on, is that Julio Rodriguez continues to struggle in high leverage situations. While he is just in his second season, Julio has .153 batting average and 36.3% K-Rate in the ninth inning this season. He added to those numbers today, when he struck out to represent the second out of the inning.
‘Pen report
In today’s series and homestand finale, the Mariners were able to deploy only three relievers, sending out Tayler Saucedo, Paul Sewald, and Isaiah Campbell from the bullpen after Woo’s outing was done. Considering that Seattle used five relievers in yesterday’s ballgame, it was going to be interesting to see how the Mariners used their bullpen, in addition to looking at how long Woo was able to go in the ballgame. Getting six innings out of the starter was great, and the bullpen was strong tonight as well, with none of the three allowing a run and only two hits to be split amongst the three relievers. There’s been a ton of movement this homestand with Seattle trying to ensure that they have fresh arms out of the bullpen, and it’ll be increasingly interesting to see how they do on the upcoming road trip.
Saucedo came in after Woo walked the first batter of the seventh inning and got the first out before walking pinch hitter Alejandro Kirk and giving up the lone walk of his shift, a single by pinch hitter Santiago Espinal to score Merrifield who had walked. Typical closer Paul Sewald threw a clean eighth inning, striking out Bo Bichette (who failed to get a hit during this series) while getting Brandon Belt Vladdy Guerrero Jr to fly out. Young Isaiah Campbell, who pitched in four of the last five games, had a little adventure in his outing as he gave up a leadoff double to Whit Merrifield and overthrew Ty France on an easy comeback grounder to put two runners on before getting Alejandro Kirk to ground into a double play. All in all, it should be said that the players that the Mariners have had to call up to “freshen up” the bullpen have performed well given the circumstances. That includes Campbell, Prelander Berroa, and Devin Sweet.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith threw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of the game (Photos by Sage Zipeto)
Quick notes
After securing a series win over the Blue Jays yesterday, the Mariners lost 4-3 in the final game of the series…they are still 10-3 over their last 13 games against the Blue Jays at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle is now 12-18 in 1-run games.
Seattle drew 349,039 fans during this 10-game homestand following the All-Star festivities in Seattle, including 129,717 in this three-game series vs. the Jays.
The last homestand with a larger total attendance was July 20-30, 2017 when the Mariners hosted 351,272 in a 10-game ‘stand.
From July 7 (HBCU Classic) thru July 11 (the All-Star Game) T-Mobile Park welcomed 145,512 fans to four events, meaning T-Mobile Park hosted nearly half-a-million fans at games in two-weeks (494,551).
Mike Ford went 1-for-1 with 1 run, 1 home run, 2 RBI and 1 walk in today’s game…he drove in the Mariners first runs of the game on a 2-run home run in the 2nd inning.
Ford’s home run was his hardest hit homer at T-Mobile Park this season and his 2nd hardest overall this year (highest: 109.0 MPH on 6/24 @ BAL).
Cal Raleigh recorded the Mariners first hit of the day on a single to leadoff the 2nd inning…he went 1-for-3 with 2 runs and 1 walk in today’s game and has now reached base safely in 6 of his last 7 games (7/15-c).
In 13 career games (including postseason) against the Blue Jays, Raleigh is batting .326 (15x46) with 13 runs, 1 double, 8 home runs, 16 RBI and 3 walks.
Dylan Moore picked up 1 single, 1 RBI, 1 HBP and his 2nd stolen base of the season in tonight’s game…his hit in the 6th inning was his first single of the season and came on a pinch hit at-bat for Trammell...he remained in the game at left field.
It marked the first game-tying RBI by a pinch hitter for the Mariners this season, and the first since Luis Torrens did it on 9/29/22 vs. TEX.
Eugenio Suárez reached base twice tonight on a walk and a HBP…he was the Mariners first baserunner of the game.
Suárez picked up his 43rd game of the season with 2+ times on base today…he ranks 3rd among all Mariners hitters and trail’s J.P Crawford’s 49 such games for the most on the team.
Suárez has reached base safely in 13 of his last 14 games (7/6-c), recording 3 HBP and 9 walks during that span.
Julio Rodríguez recorded his 16th infield hit of the season and picked up his team-leading 23rd stolen base of the season in the 7th inning today.
Rodríguez’ 16 infield hits are tied for 2nd-most in the Major Leagues this season (per Fangraphs).
Ty France appeared in the 500th game of his career today…he recorded 1 single in the 6th inning.
In his 1st career start against the Blue Jays, Bryan Woo threw 6.0 innings and allowed 4 hits, 4 runs (4 ER), 1 walk, 1 home run and struck out 7…it tied his career high in innings pitched (3x, also: 7/3 @ SFG and 7/8 @ HOU).
Woo retired the first 9 batters he faced in order.
The Mariners bullpen (Tayler Saucedo, Paul Sewald and Isaiah Campbell) combined for 3.0 innings pitched today and allowed 2 hits, 1 walk and struck out 1.
Toronto challenged a tag play at second base in the 7th inning…the call stood and Julio Rodríguez recorded a stolen base.
Blue Jay’s catcher Danny Jansen left the game with a left forearm contusion…he underwent x-rays which came back negative for a fracture.
Seattle challenged a play at first base in the 9th inning…the call on the field was overturned and Whit Merrifield was out at first base on a fielder’s choice.
What’s next?
Following this long and winding ten-game homestand that saw the Mariners record a 5-5 record, Seattle has a crucial six-game in seven-day road trip that sees them take on the Minnesota Twins and Arizona Diamondbacks. Taking into consideration the American League Wild Card race and the trade deadline fast approaching, the Mariners may need to rattle off a record of 5-1 or 4-2, and even at that point 4-2 may not be enough to keep yourself in the race. This road trip will end right before the last day of the month, so the trade deadline will take place prior to the Tuesday, August 1st game against the Boston Red Sox.