Mariners begin homestand with 5-3 win over Rockies as Kelenic continues hot hitting
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – To begin a nine-game homestand, the Seattle Mariners opened things up by toppling the Colorado Rockies by a score of five to three. A lineup change in the hours before first pitch saw Tommy Milone get the start for Seattle, and outside of a Kris Bryant solo homer to left field, the veteran was solid. Left fielder Jarred Kelenic slammed his fourth homer in as many games to get the offense going in the second inning, and Seattle’s bats found more life in the fourth to create a lead they’d never surrender. Interestingly enough, on his own bobblehead night celebrating his playoff berth clinching homer, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh had the day off.
Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III threw out today’s ceremonial first pitch to Mariners first baseman Ty France (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
“I said it during spring training, they’re our music out there and when they show up and they’re loud like that, I thought tonight, just as a team, we put together some big innings and you saw the crowd just burst into excitement, and that’s what makes us dig deeper. ”
Mariners left fielder Jarred Kelenic’s game through pictures (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Kelenic continues to crush the baseball
Mariners outfielder Jarred Kelenic is on some tear to begin the 2023 campaign, and it has fans believing that he’s finally broken through to the potential he’d been advertised for when the team acquired him in a trade with the New York Mets. Although only 23-years-old, Kelenic was often doubted and marked as a bust by media and fans alike as he largely struggled through the first few years of his time in the big leagues. With patience, mental work, and other steps taken this past offseason, the Waukesha, Wisconsin native is performing as advertised and may be creating a formidable outfield for this Seattle ballclub.
“I mean, it’s great, especially getting those wins. Those are huge wins in April just as important as wins in September and October, so it’s huge to keep winning. ”
Just a few days off hitting the farthest ball in the statcast era by a Mariner, Kelenic continued the fun in his first plate appearance in the bottom of the second inning when he clobbered a ball to deep center (the furthest part of this ballpark) for a two-run blast. Teoscar Hernandez singled, followed by a lineout by AJ Pollock, to bring up Kelenic. Jarred’s blast hit an exit velocity of 107.4MPH and landed at a distance of 414 feet. It isn’t quite the 482-foot bomb that landed somewhere in Chicago, but Kelenic still obliterated that baseball to get the T-Mobile Park crowd on their feet and roaring.
“Yeah, it was sick. The fans are always great. Obviously, it’s been a lot of ups and downs, but to know that they got my back is super rewarding, and I’ll never be able to tell each and every one of them how much I appreciate it. But that’s the stuff that I will never forget that. ”
“I would say I’m in a great spot, with a lot of help from the guys in that clubhouse. A lot of people on my personal team, whether it’s my family members or other people that I work with, I’m in a great spot, and it’s allowing me to really simplify things, for sure, but it’s also giving me confidence, too.”
Seattle starter Tommy Milone gave the Mariners quality inning in an odd situation (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Milone makes the most of circumstantial start
Seattle starting pitcher Tommy Milone wasn’t even supposed to be at T-Mobile Park today, but when originally scheduled starter Marco Gonzales was placed on the paternity list just hours before the gates opened, someone had to step in. Thus, Milone was brought up from AAA Tacoma (instead of the team having Darren McCaughan, who’s currently on the roster, take the bump) and was instantly slated to take the mound in place of Gonzales. Milone has had plenty of starting experience before, now in the 12th year of his MLB career and amassing 146 starts prior to tonight and was able to deliver in tonight’s outing for Seattle.
“I found out on Tuesday we were heading out to Round Rock. Tacoma is heading to Round Rock and I was supposed to pitch and they told me Marco’s probably going to have a kid pretty soon, so we’re going to kind of put you on his schedule, kind of see the lineup there there and just kind of see what happens. I flew this morning, actually, to here, not really realizing if I was going to pitch or not until I actually got here, and then I got the word that he had his kid this morning... I landed like 08:30. A.m.? It actually helped out, I think, because I could relax for a little bit and kind of reset. ”
In the first inning, Milone got the first out by getting outfielder Jurickson Profar to ground out before giving up a big blast to left field by Kris Bryant. It was Bryant’s first homer of the season, a big free agent addition last season for Colorado who’s largely been disappointing in a Rockies uniform, and for a bit the fans inside T-Mobile Park may have been concerned. Charlie Blackmon drew a walk after the Bryant homer, and things looked like they may get ugly, but Milone went on to close out the inning and only allowed three hits on the night. With Marco down and the Mariners already dealing with pitching injuries, Milone stepped in and did a solid job when Seattle called upon him.
“Yeah, I think that pitch, I mean, second batter of the game, but that pitch specifically was just one of the only pitches that I left over the middle of late. I felt good early on and I think I just had to tell myself, like, don’t let that get in your head. Just kind of attack, continue to attack, throw strikes. Obviously, we want quality strikes, so I try to mentally just forget about it sometimes that’s tough, good hitter like him, but I had to tell myself just to felt good go after these guys and throw my pitches. ”
The Mariners offense’s night through pictures (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Bats click at the right time to get enough run support
The Mariners offense was able to play add-on and get some more runs across home plate after Kelenic’s “monster mash,” as Kelenic himself doubled to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Playing conductor for the Seattle bats, JP Crawford drew a walk, followed up by doubles by both Julio Rodriguez and Ty France to get three more runs on the board. Those extra base hits aren’t what we saw in the first homestand of the season, so to see some of the Mariners bigger stars producing and pulling through to score runs is a good sign considering that many fans looked at the early losses as “doomsday” in an overreaction.
The Mariners celebrate their series and homestand opening victory (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Quick notes
Jarred Kelenic went 2-for-4 with a double, home run and 2 RBI…he extended his home run streak to 4 games with a 2-run home run in the 2nd inning… he is the first Mariners player to homer in 4+ consecutive games since Tom Murphy did it from Aug. 13-20, 2019.
Kelenic is the first Mariners player age 23-or-younger to homer in 4+ consecutive games since Ken Griffey Jr. homered in 8 consecutive at the age of 23 from July 20-28, 1993, tied for an MLB record.
Kelenic’s home run (107.4 mph) and double (107.9) gave him 10 hits this season with an exit velocity of at least 105 mph, one of 4 players in the Majors this season to do that along with Matt Chapman-TOR (13), Vladimir Guerrero Jr.-TOR (10) & Ronald Acuña Jr.-ATL (10).
Ty France went 1-for-3 with a double and 2 RBI, extending his hitting streak to a team-high 11 games.
His double in the 4th inning drove in Julio Rodriguez and J.P. Crawford.
France now holds the 3rd-longest active hitting streak in the Majors.
Teoscar Hernández went 2-for-4 tonight to extend his hitting streak to 5 straight games.
Hernández has hit safely in 8 of his last 9 games.
Tommy Milone made his season-debut tonight… he pitched 4.2 innings with 3 hits, one run, one earned run, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, and one home run.
He threw 82 pitches and 54 strikes.
The Mariners bullpen combined for 4.1 innings and allowed 2 runs (2 ER).
Trevor Gott (0.2 IP), Matt Brash (0.2 IP), Justin Topa (1.0 IP), Gabe Speier (1.0 IP) and Paul Sewald (1.0 IP) all appeared in relief.
Brash got the win, improving to 1-1 on the season.
Sewald recorded his third save of the season.
Tonight is the first night since the Sept. 30, 2022 postseason clincher that the Mariners wore their Northwest green uniforms at home.
What’s next?
The Mariners will play game two of this series against the Rockies tomorrow, April 15th, with a first pitch time of 6:40PM PST. Seattle will be celebrating “Jackie Robinson,” honoring one of the sport's most famous legends and the first player in MLB history to break the color barrier. The first 10,000 fans through the gates of T-Mobile Park will be receiving a “42” hat to commemorate the day, and if history serves right, every player on both teams will wear the number 42 with Los Angeles Dodgers blue to further celebrate the legend. Young Mariners starter George Kirby will take the mound for Seattle, facing off against Colorado’s Ryan Feltner.