“Walter” pushes Mariners to first series win of 2024: Logan Gilbert stars for Seattle in 3-1 win over Reds
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – For the first time in the 2024 campaign, the Seattle Mariners have put two wins together in a series to complete a series victory, as they pulled out a grinding win over the Cincinnati Reds tonight following yesterday’s satisfying win that came by six-runs. The Mariners didn’t quite get the sort of offensive explosion early that game one of this series against the Reds saw, but RBI knocks from Jonatan Clase and Mitch Haniger plus a bases loaded walk by Mitch Garver saw Seattle put up a run in each inning from the fourth through sixth to give themselves just enough as Logan Gilbert and the bullpen held Cincinnati to just one run. There were wacky moments in this game, including late in the contest as the Reds appeared to be threatening after a misplayed ball at first base by Ty France led to reliever Ryne Stanek doing a superman-esque dive to try and tag out former Mariner Jake Fraley for the final out, but thankfully Seattle was able to hold on and put the final touches on that critical first series victory of this 2024 season.
Seattle Storm star guard Skylar Diggins-Smith threw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of tonight’s game.
Logan Gilbert works his “Walter” ways to first win of the season
The Mariners rotation made it’s turn to third starter Logan Gilbert, who has been Seattle’s best starting pitcher so far early into this year in terms of both consistency and the depth that he’s been getting in ball games in order to give his team the best chance to win. That sort of success, longevity, and run negation continued tonight against a Cincinnati lineup that’s got all the athleticism and power to be able to create damage at the plate and on the bases. There was almost a sign of just how good Gilbert was going to look tonight, even if his pitches were quite as “crisp” as they could be, when Logan struck out the side to begin the game and all those strikeouts came swinging. As mentioned previously, the Reds are a fast team and have already created trouble on the bases for some other teams, but Seattle was ready for that in some ways as Gilbert only issued one walk over his start and catcher Cal Raleigh was able to throw out former teammate Jake Fraley to help Logan continue a stretch of four innings to begin the game retiring the side in order.
“Logan again continues to throw the ball just outstanding, thought he was really in control of the game tonight. Maybe not the crispest stuff we’ve seen him have as far as fastball velocity and whatnot, but him manipulating through lineups, working all his pitches in, great to see and he gets almost through the seven there.”
Cincinnati did cause some trouble, but Gilbert was able to ensure it stopped at just the one run and he did have some help from his superstar centerfielder in Julio Rodríguez. A single by Spencer Steer, followed up by Jake Fraley reaching on a fielder's choice, then another single by Elly De La Cruz (and a steal of second by Elly) put two runners in scoring position for the Reds, and all it took was a groundout by Seattle native Stuart Fairchild to tie the ballgame at one at that point in time. Gilbert got Santiago Espinal to groundout to end the inning, proceeded to retire the side in order in the sixth, and then got the first two outs of the seventh inning partially thanks to a leaping snag of a hot line-drive to Julio in center before manager Scott Servais called to the bullpen to end his night. Gilbert allowed his one walk of the night with those two outs to end his night, giving his team nearly seven innings of one-run baseball that will certainly play just about every time.
“He lets me have fun out there, so I’m thankful to him for that.”
“Thank God for Julio. I mean, what he does out there is unbelievable. We kind of come to expect that level of play, but I’m still somewhat surprised too because I don’t know if other people make the kind of plays that he’s making.”
Early traction leads to late results
As mentioned, Seattle wasn’t able to get the sort of first inning start that they did last game when Jorge Polanco blasted a three-run homer to take the roof off T-Mobile Park early, but there were positive signs taking place for the Mariners early into the ballgame that eventually helped them going throughout the ballgame and should help them as their offense looks to continue building it’s positive momentum throughout the season. The first three innings were fruitless for Seattle, as there were only walks from Cal Raleigh and Jorge Polanco plus singles by J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez to account for at the time and no runs, but those sorts of plays are what help to drive in runs in a sustainable manner. The Mariners found their offensive rhythm to an extent in the middle of this ball game, as Mitch Garver was hit by a pitch and used his legs a bit to help Seattle get their first run of the ballgame. Young outfielder Jonatan Clase, playing in just his second major league game ever after his debut yesterday, doubled into the right-center gap and Garver huffed his way from first to score and beat a tag at home plate. Cincinnati catcher Luke Maile was able to go through the proper motions in time to have tagged Garver out at the plate, but Maile had never actually properly caught the throw as it had just rolled under him, so Garver was safe at home and Seattle had caught a fortunate break.
In the fifth inning, the Mariners had loaded the bases thanks to single by Julio and Mitch Haniger before Cal Raleigh drew a walk, loading the bases for Mitch Garver before the designated hitter made his impact in this ballgame yet again, drawing a five pitch bases loaded walk to give Seattle their lead back. The final run of this game and the third one of the night for the Mariners came as a product once again of singles and walks, as J.P. Crawford singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and Jorge Polanco walked before Mitch Haniger added to his early season damage by driving a single into centerfield to give Seattle the two-run lead that they’d never look back from. The constant theme of the ballgame throughout was the singles and walks putting the Mariners in a positive position to cash in, and while they didn’t do so as much as they would’ve liked or could’ve done, it’s still a positive development in the bigger picture and something that they really do need to build off.
Not as flashy as last night’s win, but one they’ll take
As mentioned previously, this is the sort of win that the Mariners are going to get throughout the course of a 162-game season, whether you like it or not, at least if we’re basing things off how they’ve gone the past few years and how the organization didn’t cough up the money to acquire a “big name” free agent this past offseason in order to truly push you over the edge with your lineup. That’s not to downplay the sort of offensive potential that this ballclub has when your top performers (J.P. Crawford, Julio Rodríguez, Mitch Garver come to mind) start to actual make some legitimate impact with their bats on a consistent basis, but rather just to account for how difficult baseball is and how good pitching around the league can be. There is hardly ever going to be a time or team that has all nine hitters in their lineup firing at the same time, so getting production from the bottom of your lineup and bench players, working the walks or driving the pitch count up, and creating productive outs is more often than not what winning baseball looks like. Yes, the Dodgers and Braves of the world will hit the homers and put-up video game like numbers at times, but they too get the opposing starting pitcher out of the game early, keep the line moving, and find ways to make the outs that they do create productive.
On the pitching aspect of things, you’re seeing the reality of how good this pitching staff is and should be. There have been understandable concerns about Luis Castillo and George Kirby considering the hiccups that they’ve had in their first handful of starts to begin the 2024 season, but unless something really bad is happening (Yips?) they will be able to find their footing and get back to the ace-level pitching that we’ve become used to from both of them. Take that note down and remember that Logan Gilbert is the rotation’s third starter when he easily could be the top guy for multiple teams around baseball, showing why with a game such as tonight. Even if his stuff wasn’t as “crisp” as it can be, Gilbert was able to command the strike zone and deploy his pitching arsenal (plus that fun new cutter) enough with help from Cal Raleigh behind the plate to earn yet another strong start and do his part to get deep into the ballgame while holding this young, fun Reds lineup to just a singular run on the night. There’s a lot that can be overanalyzed throughout a 162-game slate, but there are positive pieces of progress and growth that can be noted as well. The continued strong pitching of Logan Gilbert and the better plate appearances from the lineup are what I’m taking from this win as the team looks to bring the brooms out tomorrow.
“I feel like we’re headed in the right direction right now, and everybody’s clicking at the same time on days like today, so everybody’s playing their part. ”
Quick Mariners notes
Tonight’s winner of the “Salmon Run” was King the Salmon
2024 leaderboard, so far
King: 5 wins
Sockeye: 4 wins
Silver: 3 wins
Humpy: 0 wins
Tonight’s winner of the “Hydro Challenge” was the Yellow Mariners Team Store boat
2024 leaderboard, so far
Yellow boat: 5 wins
Green boat: 4 wins
Red boat: 3 wins
Attendance for this game between the Reds and Mariners at T-Mobile Park was 17,291
That’s 36% capacity of T-Mobile Park (47,943)
The Mariners won 3-1 against Cincinnati tonight, picking up their first series win of the season…improved to 8-10 on the campaign and 3-2 on the homestand.
Seattle pitching set a franchise record after going 35.0 innings without allowing a walk before a 7th-inning walk snapped the streak…the streak began on 4/12 vs. Chicago-NL…entering tonight the staff was tied with the 2018 Mariners at 29.0 innings (5/12/2018-5/15/2018).
The Mariners forced Reds starter Hunter Greene to average 5.15 pitchers per plate appearance, after last night's starter Frankie Montas averaged 5.08 P/PA...there have been just 7 total instances in the Majors this season where a starting pitcher averaged more than 5.0 P/PA…Seattle is the only team in the Majors with multiple instances of forcing a starter to average 5.0+ P/PA in 2024.
In the current homestand, no opposing starting pitcher has made it through 6.0 innings…Seattle is 4-0 when the opposing starting pitcher fails to throw 5.0 innings this season.
Starting pitcher Logan Gilbert made his 4th outing of the year…he spun 6.2 innings and allowed 1 runs on 3 hits, 1 walk and 6 strikeouts...he earned his 3rd quality start of the season…Gilbert faced the minimum number of hitters through the first 4.0 innings.
Gilbert has thrown 6.0+ innings while allowing 1 run or fewer in consecutive starts for the 5th time in his career (last: Aug. 26-Sept. 1, 2023).
The Mariners tallied 3 runs of run support for Gilbert tonight…the right-hander is now 30-0 when he receives 3 or more runs of run support in his career.
Gilbert’s 0.78 WHIP this season ranks T-3rd in the Majors among pitchers with 20.0+ IP, trailing only Ronel Blanco-HOU (0.71) and Ranger Suárez-PHI (0.77).
Gilbert has recorded 3 starts this season of 6.2+ IP and 1 ER or fewer…his 3 individual performances of 6.2 IP+ and 1 or fewer runs scored trail the combined team totals of only the Kansas City Royals (5) and is tied with the Texas Rangers (3) and Toronto Blue Jays (3).
Mitch Haniger extended his hitting streak to 7 games and is batting .360 (9x25) with 5 runs, 1 double, 2 home runs, 8 RBI and a 1.088 OPS during the streak.
Jonatan Clase opened the scoring with a double in the 4th inning, his first career extra-base hit…he is 1 of 7 Mariners to record an RBI in each of their first 2 career games (last: Kyle Lewis, 9/10-11/19).
J.P. Crawford has reached base in 8-consecutive games since April 8 at Toronto…the streak ties Jorge Polanco (4/1-9) for the longest of the season by a Mariners player…during Crawford’s streak he has an OBP of .333.
Crawford recorded his first multi-hit game of the season in tonight’s game.
In the 7th inning Julio Rodríguez ran down a fly ball hit by Spencer Steer…he ran 93 feet to make the catch and had a 5% catch probability according to Statcast.
Also in the 7th inning, Rodríguez recorded his first outfield assist of the year throwing out Elly De La Cruz at third…the throw was measured at 89.5 MPH.
Jorge Polanco reached base twice tonight, marking the 7th time in his last 8 games he has reached safely 2+ times.
Over his last 10 games since April 6, he has 6 runs, 3 home runs, 11 walks while getting on base at a .419 clip with a .919 OPS.
Cal Raleigh caught Jake Fraley stealing in the 2nd inning for his 7th caught stealing of the season…he currently leads the Majors.
The Seattle bullpen (Andrés Muñoz, Ryne Stanek and Tayler Saucedo) threw 2.1 scoreless innings and allowed 1 hits, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.
Scott Servais challenged a tag play at first base in the ninth inning…the call stood after review.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s Seattle Mariners home win, a victory that gave them their first series win of the 2024 season, they’ll look for the sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in tomorrow’s Wednesday matinee game to close out a six-game homestand. The Reds will have 24-year-old lefty Andrew Abbott on the mound to duel Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller, as Cincinnati will look to avoid three consecutive losses while Seattle aims for a sweep that could help boost them forward in a big way considering how slow they were out of the gates to begin the season. This game at T-Mobile Park has a first pitch time of 1:10PM PDT, being broadcast on Root Sports Northwest within their market (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska) and on the radio at 710 AM. This is the third and final game of three consecutive opportunities for fans to walk away with a Ken Griffey Jr “Home Run Robbery” bobblehead, as the first 10,000 fans into T-Mobile Park tomorrow will take the giveaway home with them.
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Cover photo by Sage Zipeto.
Check out our previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here.