Wild west: Mariners come from behind to beat Athletics, maintaining top spot in AL West
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – It was tight, but the Seattle Mariners defeated the Oakland Athletics by a score of 5-4 to take the series and close out a six-game homestand the right way. With their 21st victory in the month of August, the Mariners secured their winningest month in franchise history, as Seattle maintains their top spot in the American League West division and look ahead to what should be a thrilling month of September. Without their superstar centerfielder Julio Rodriguez for a second straight game due to that left foot injury, the Mariners offense got critical efforts from right fielder Teoscar Hernandez and shortstop JP Crawford to push them over an Athletics team that made things interesting throughout the contest.
Two homers stain otherwise solid outing from Miller
Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller was on the hill for his 20th career start of his rookie year, making the start against the team that he debuted against in Oakland. There were moments in this game that displayed Bryce’s growth since the last time that he battled the Athletics, and moments that showed that there was more growth ready to be made. Miller had one bad inning, the second which has been his issue in recent outings but was otherwise able to lock things down against Oakland. That second inning saw Jordan Diaz single on a pitch on the inner third before Lawrence Butler mashed a fastball in the center of the plate for a two-run blast. After the homer, Esteury Ruiz reached out and slapped a single before stealing second and was then scored by a Ryan Noda double that was a fastball in the middle of the plate. Oakland took advantage of two poorly placed pitches, and it eventually turned into three runs.
Miller is tasked with throwing his fastball a ton (on par for him), slider, sinker, sweeper, and a singular changeup in this outing. He saw velocity increases in his fastball and sinker and decreases in everything else while every pitch he threw except for the sinker saw spin rate decreases, as the sinker actually had a net 0 change. Bryce generated 14 whiffs from the Athletics in his outing, with ten of them coming against his fastball and four on his slider. Of the 19 balls that Oakland put into play against Miller, nine of them were hit hard, which isn’t necessarily ideal.
In his 20th outing of an impressive rookie season, Bryce has played well for a Mariners team that needed him to provide meaningful innings with the season-ending injury to Robbie Ray. While he still has things to work on, as displayed in this outing, Miller has shown some solid growth and will be important down the stretch for Seattle in a pressure situation he hasn’t really faced yet in his professional baseball career to this point. Being in a playoff hunt like this for the rookie is a lot of pressure to put on him in his first season at this level, but considering the sort of calm demeanor that the Texas native always has, Bryce won’t show if the stress of the situation is getting to him.
Teo time, our favorite time
While Julio Rodriguez will surely win AL player of the month and is currently the heartbeat of the Mariners offense, Seattle right fielder Teoscar Hernandez deserves his own credit as well. The months of July and August have been big for the former Blue Jay, and if it weren’t for Julio, Hernandez very well could be in play for player of the month honors. Teoscar has displayed that impressive power and has been much better with his swing decisions, and it’s paying off for him and his team as of late. But before we get to Teo’s tattooed homer, it must be mentioned that Eugenio Suarez’s walk drawn with two outs is the only reason that this three-run swing ever happens. Suarez’s walk, followed by Cal Raleigh’s double into the right field corner, set things up perfectly for Teoscar to tie things up with a “triple,” so to say.
Teo clobbered a changeup at the top of the zone, barreling it up and addressing it to the Athletics bullpen. The three-run homer had an exit velocity of 110 MPH and even made someone in an Oakland uniform get up out of their seat in the bullpen as it landed in a seat. The homer tied things up at three, just an inning after the Athletics had their three-run spurt and ensured that Oakland wasn’t going to pull a big upset early against a Mariners team that was again playing without their superstar. Hernandez continues to swing a hot bat, doing his part in a Seattle offense that keeps the line moving and jumps on pitching mistakes as opposed to being too aggressive beforehand.
Captain Craw in the clutch
Seattle shortstop JP Crawford has arguably been the team's most important player this season, right up there in the mix with 22-year-old Julio. When Crawford went down with a concussion in a win over the Padres earlier in the month, there was worry about how long it would sideline him. Thankfully that didn’t hold JP out for too long, and his impact as the team’s shortstop and captain has been big during the stretch that this has had to secure its winningest month in franchise history. While his first few years of his career at the big-league level have been highlighted by Gold Glove level defensive play at shortstop, Crawford’s approach at the plate has been big, and not just for the power that he’s displayed. JP has shown that he can get the “big hit” the Mariners need in the clutch, and he did just that today.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Seattle had the bases loaded with an out and trailing by a run. Up to the plate came Crawford, looking for his pitch and to not let the Athletics get away with a free pass. The Mariners had the best player to the plate with the bases loaded, as Crawford touts a mighty average in that situation, and Seattle is already one of the best teams in all of baseball when it comes to bases loaded situations, at least the stats say so. JP didn’t take long to make his mark on the ballgame, turning on a sinker inside, sending it dropping into left field to score two runs and give his team the lead to eventually get them the victory. It’s another big moment for Crawford amidst a season that’s been massive for the shortstop, after the offseason where many fans wanted to see the team sign a shortstop and move him over to second base. How foolish, in retrospect.
‘Pen report
In this ballgame, Seattle called upon three relievers after Miller went six innings for the team. After relatively resting them for the past few days, the Mariners called up three of their high leverage relievers in Justin Topa, Gabe Speier, and Andres Munoz. Topa had the only trouble of the trio, surrendering two hits that would eventually result in a run as Nick Allen scored on an Esteury Ruiz double. After giving up back-to-back two-baggers, Topa was able to settle down to get the final outs and hand the ball over to Speier, who issued a walk but recovered to get the next two outs. Munoz didn’t have any trouble, retiring the side in order and closing out the most successful month in Mariners franchise history.
To touch more on Munoz, Andres finished up his month of August in strong form. After there were many comments on him as he takes some of the pockets that fall into “closer” position, and after tons of misguided comments on social media, Andres ended the month in strong fashion with the sorts of numbers to back it up. In the eighth month of the calendar year, Munoz had an ERA of 1.93, a 12.9 SO/9, 20 strikeouts, no homers allowed, and an American League leading nine saves across 14 games. Munoz is still just 24-years-old and in his second full year as a big leaguer so there is room to grow, but he’s already shown elite stuff and gains valuable experience often amongst an elite pitching staff.
A series win, and a hard fought one
Obviously when you look on paper, this team without Julio Rodriguez still should be able to beat the Oakland Athletics, but there’s still a reason that we play these games. Oakland has some talent on their roster, and the Mariners aren’t always going to fire on all cylinders. We’ve seen that with games that Seattle has played against teams like the Royals and the White Sox, the Mariners still need to remain focused and play good baseball. They were able to get through the end of the month stretch having only dropped one loss each to the lowly Kansas City, Chicago, and Oakland teams over the course of their several series, and that’s certainly alright. Now, the really difficult stretch of the season is getting underway.
The whole idea and mindsight of remaining locked in must continue in the first series of three on this upcoming ten-game road trip, as the Mariners kick things off with the struggling New York Mets. The Mets still have talent on their roster, whether it be the slugging Pete Alonso who the team will reportedly look to trade this offseason, or shortstop Francisco Lindor. After that series, Seattle travels to face the young Cincinnati Reds who are one-game out of a Wild Card spot, and then wrapping things out in Tampa Bay against a Rays team that has been one of the best in baseball all year. It won’t be easy whatsoever, but if the Mariners are able to keep getting strong efforts from their pitching staff and their offense can continue to put together strong team performances, with Julio Rodriguez hopefully back much sooner rather than later, they can go up against anybody.
Quick notes
Today’s attendance at T-Mobile Park was 21,247
Seattle won today’s game by a 5-4 score giving them their 21st win of August which sets a new franchise record for wins in a single month.
The Mariners have now won 6 consecutive series and 11 of their last 12.
Teoscar Hernández now has a 9-game hitting streak during which he is batting .395 (15x38) with 6 extra-base hits after hitting a 3-run homerun in the 3rd inning.
He is now batting .365 (38x104) in the month of August with 9 doubles, 7 home runs, 22 RBI and a 1.050 OPS…this is the highest batting average and his 2nd highest OPS for any full calendar month in his career…his highest OPS for a single month is 1.054 in March/April 2018.
Teo assisted in throwing out a runner at home plate in the 7th inning giving him his 12th assist of the season…his 12 assists lead the American League among outfielders.
J.P. Crawford drove in 2 runs in the 7th inning after he hit a bases loaded single to left field…he is now batting .636 (7x11) with the bases loaded this season after his go-ahead single in the 7th inning.
His 2 RBI today gives him 44 on the season which is a new career high…he has also set new career-highs in home runs (12) and walks (78) this season.
Eugenio Suárez reached base safely twice today after hitting a single in the 1st inning and drawing a walk in the 3rd…this was Suárez’s 61st game this season where he has reached base safely at least two times.
Starting pitcher Bryce Miller pitched 6.0 innings and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits (1 HR) with 5 strikeouts on 94 pitches, 63 strikes.
This marks Miller’s 9th quality start of the season.
Miller currently holds a 2.00 ERA (4 ER, 18.0 IP) in 3 starts against the Athletics this season.
Mariners’ relievers Justin Topa, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz combined for 3.0 innings pitched and allowed 1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk with 3 strikeouts.
Topa saw his streak of games without giving up an earned run come to an end today…entering today Topa had not allowed an earned run in his last 17 outings dating back to July 24.
Muñoz recorded his 9th save of the month in today’s game, which leads AL relievers…he has a 1.92 ERA (3 ER, 14.0 IP) with 20 strikeouts in August.
What’s next?
Following today’s win over the Oakland Athletics that sees Seattle take the series and end the homestand with a 5-1 record, the Mariners will have a day off in New York city before they begin a three-game set against the Mets. It’s been well documented how disappointing this season has been for the Mets, who seemingly went all in this offseason for a deep run in the postseason and are now essentially back to square one after shipping off some key names at the deadline. Despite all this, Seattle must remain focused and handle business to begin their ten-game road trip. That series starts on Friday, September 1st with a first pitch time of 4:10PM PST and it will be streamed on Apple TV+.
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Cover photo by Liz Wolter