M's on the road recap: An even split on the first road trip of the season
By Charles Hamaker
Cleveland, OH and Chicago, IL – The first road trip of the season for your Seattle Mariners came out to an even three-win three-loss split, with a rough three game stretch in the middle. Taking the first two games in Cleveland, the Mariners hit a rough streak of three losses that were all within reach, before salvaging a win at Wrigley to send the team back to Seattle happy. There are positives to look at and negatives that still linger throughout the first four series of the young season for the Mariners, but Seattle is doing all they can with the circumstances at work. Through injuries and some slumps by certain players, the Mariners are wading through the month of April.
Spoiling Cleveland’s return home, with frustrating end
The Mariners got a rematch series against the Guardians, in Cleveland this time, after the team had spoiled their Opening weekend with a few narrow losses and a five-run defeat. Seattle got their chance to spoil a home opener, as they took the first two games of the series in Cleveland. A tight contest in game one that saw Logan Gilbert last only four innings was bailed out by Seattle’s late offense to tie things in the sixth, leading to Julio Rodriguez’s go-ahead two-run blast that made him the fastest in Mariners franchise history to 30 career blasts. Game two came down to the wire as Seattle had to hold on to a lead that had built around starter Marco Gonzales solid outing, and the Mariners bullpen shut it down to secure the series win.
Marco Gonzales had an excellent outing in game two of the Cleveland series on the road (Photo by Bryan Saldana, of Gonzales in the series finale against the Guardians at T-Mobile Park on 4/2/2023)
Seattle nearly completed the sweep of the Guardians, as they carried a three-to-one lead into the bottom of the ninth inning after an insurance run off a Tommy La Stella RBI on a fielders choice, but the Mariners couldn’t slam the door shut. Cleveland’s Will Brennan stuck his foot in the way and sent a two-run double over the head of right fielder Teoscar Hernandez to tie the game at three apiece. It seemed as though the Mariners had pulled away for good in the top of the eleventh with a Jarred Kelenic double and Kolten Wong sac fly to put them up by two runs, but Cleveland tied things up once again. Teoscar tried to give the Mariners the go-ahead run, but the Guardians had worked the Seattle bullpen to the edge and forced JB Bukauskas and then Penn Murfee into a tough situation, walking it off on Murfee and salvaging a game of their home opening series.
Mariners reliever Penn Murfee failed to put out the fire, and the Guardians walked off Seattle to end the series (Photo by Liz Wolter from the series finale against the Angels on 4/5/2023)
Nightmares inside Wrigley to start, but Jarred Kelenic brings us home happy
Following that incredibly frustrating loss in Cleveland to end the series, the Mariners followed it up with two almost as maddening defeats to the Cubs inside the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. It looked like Seattle was putting some late inning magic of their own together in game one of the series when Jarred Kelenic pinch-hit solo shot in the top of the ninth tied things up at two runs. Nico Hoerner walked things off in the bottom of the tenth, again Matt Brash on the wrong end of things, to give the Cubs the series opening win. The next game, and third loss in a row for the Mariners, may have been the whackiest. Seattle had kicked open the door in game two with a seven-run lead through the top of the second, but that exciting start came crumpling down. The Cubs were not going to be outdone at their own ballpark, dropping an eight-run bottom of the third to take the lead and never look back as the Mariners were dealt an embarrassing 9-14 loss.
Seattle left fielder Jarred Kelenic homered in all three games of the Cubs series (Photo by Liz Wolter from the series finale against the Angels on 4/5/2023)
Thankfully, after those three duds in a row, Seattle bounced back in satisfying fashion with a “getaway game” win over the Cubbies to end the road trip. Logan Gilbert bounced back from his last outing that saw him only last those four innings with a gem, giving his team an excellent chance to salvage a piece of this series. The Mariners offense was able to do something they couldn’t in this young season yet, and that’s close out with offense as Ty France, Teoscar Hernandez, and most notably Jarred Kelenic knocked in runs to close out the win. Tesocar blasted a ball into the left field bleachers to push the lead to two runs and was then one-upped by Jarred Kelenic’s obliterated solo shot to center field. Hardly anyone has hit a tank out to center at Wrigley, and Kelenic added his name to that list to emphatically put the Mariners in position to win this one. Paul Sewald, although he did give up a solo homer to Cody Bellinger, closed things out and the flight home got a bit better with this win.
Mariners reliever Paul Sewald closed out the win over the Cubs to salvage a game of the series (Photo by Liv Lyons, taken during the teams Spring Training finale on March 27th, 2023)
They’re getting through it
Seattle getting out of this trip with an even split is okay, but if they had finished out games like fans have grown accustomed to over the past two years, they should’ve swept the six games. Allowing the third Cleveland game to go to extra innings, failing to close out the first Chicago game, and the horrors that came with game two of that Cubs series all mark errors on Seattle’s part. The tough, yet realistic thing is, the way that the Mariners have been able to win those close and specifically one-run games isn’t sustainable and hasn’t been done since around 1900. Seattle must get better with runners in scoring position and the “day off” should help the bullpen get a breather after being put on life support this past road trip.
Seattle left fielder Jarred Kelenic had an outstanding series against the Cubs, and here’s to hoping it continues towards a breakout season (Photo by Bryan Saldana during the series finale against the Guardians on 4/2/2023)
Road trip warrior
Outfielder Jarred Kelenic takes the cake for his performance over the course of the Cubs series alone, let alone the entire road trip. Appearing in every game of the Cleveland and Chicago series’, Jarred racked up ten hits, five runs, three homers, six extra-base hits, three walks, and one stolen base to add up to a batting average of .445 and on base plus slugging of 1.520 on the road trip. The 23-year-old out of Waukesha, Wisconsin has hit the ball well to begin the season and has been incredibly patient at the plate. The latter is a huge aspect towards his continued success, because as we’ve discussed, the mental aspect of Kelenic’s game is the key to unlocking his true capabilities. With continued patience and an eye towards remaining on top of the mental game, Kelenic should have a breakout year.
Where they sit in the standings
Record: 5-8
Standings
4th in AL West
12th in American League
25th in MLB
On to the next
The Mariners will return home to begin a nine-game homestand at T-Mobile Park, playing three different inter-league opponents. Following the even split on that six-game road trip, Seattle will have a day “off” to hopefully get their taxed bullpen some rest before beginning that homestand with a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies. The Mariners will play Colorado, the Milwaukee Brewers, and St. Louis Cardinals in their second homestand of the season. That Friday, April 14th game against Colorado that begins the homestand is also the Cal Raleigh “Clinch” bobblehead night, in a collectible form that displays Cal’s swing that sent the Mariners to the playoffs for the first time in 21-years. Other promotions throughout the homestand include Jackie Robinson day, two Little League Days, All-Star Hat Night, and Salute to Armed forces night.
What is “M's on the road recap”
We wanted to create a way to get the general idea of what had taken place in the past homestand or road trip 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.