Mariners build self-sustaining town, fend off Diamondbacks for 3-1 win

sometimes peaceful, always powerful

Yesterday morning, before the Mariners beat the Diamondbacks 6-1, the highly-anticipated (by me) city-building/strategy game Manor Lords released on early access. The game puts the player in the role of a minor medieval European noble and tasks them with building a self-sustaining town. Players have to grow the town while fending off starvation, rebellion, bandits, and rival nobles. The release has me, perhaps predictably, thinking about medieval towns and how they operated. And believe it or not, dear reader, the Mariners provided a pretty good example tonight.

The first thing to understand about medieval European society is that towns existed in a very rigid class structure with extremely limited social mobility. A farmer had few if any avenues by which they could advance in society. And yet, farmers, at the very bottom of the class system, were vital to the survival of any town.

And so it was tonight with regards to the bottom of the lineup. Often overlooked, the 7-9 hole hitters serve an important role in both keeping the line moving and trying to craft something together. The first four innings of the game are perfect examples of lean years, as the Mariners lineup failed to get anything going against Arizona starter Slade Cecconi. Cecconi is primarily a fastball pitcher and made his living by just chucking it in there and hoping for the best. And it worked out for him for the first 15 batters he faced (a Luke Raley bunt-hit and a Mitch Haniger walk notwithstanding).

Finally, with one out in the bottom of the 5th, the snow thawed and Mitch Garver was able to groove a middle-middle fastball into the opposite field for a double. That skillful sowing was followed up by a helpful dose of reaping, as Luke Raley made sure his second hit of the game wouldn’t be a cheap one. Also note Garver sliding like a medieval peasant who just had baseball explained to him.

Like weavers after the flax harvest, the Mariners were finally stringing something together. And it’s important that this came from the bottom of the lineup. As Scott Servais noted after the game, when a team is on a hot streak like the Mariners are on now, everyone is — and has to be — performing at the highest level.

And as serfs had the responsibility to provide for the whole town, they also had to live with that pressure, as even a simple mistake could have consequences, as Mitch Haniger demonstrated.

But still, with the strong harvest from the bottom of the lineup, the middle was freed up to focus on more specialised pursuits. Like a self-restraining monk, Jorge Polanco continued to show his exemplary discipline and worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 8th. And he was able to walk all the way around the bases when Bryce Jarvis left a 92 mph cutter over the heart of the plate to Ty France. Ty is built like a blacksmith after spending the winter with driveline, and he was able to unload all his strength on this one.

Moving up the medieval classes, we finally come to the lord of the town and the most remarkable performance of the night. George Kirby was outstanding tonight in what was the best start of his career so far. He struck out 12 Arizona hitters in 7 innings — over half of the outs he got — and induced 23 whiffs, both career highs for the Kirbster.

He, and his loyal retainer Cal Raleigh, showed enormous confidence in the first inning. After Kirby threw a slider for his second pitch, he used his trebuchet of an arm to launch 10 straight fastballs to strike out the side. The fastest was a 99.3 mph (!) ball of greek fire that Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was helpless against.

Also like a medieval lord, George never knew when to give up. In the second inning he became embroiled in a battle of attrition against leadoff hitter Christian Walker. After the game George said that even as the at-bat passed its 10th pitch he still wanted to challenge Walker, saying“I’d rather him get a hit than get a free pass.” And that’s exactly what happened when, on the 12th pitch of the at-bat, Walker sent a fastball back up the middle for a groundball single. Yet George continued on his warpath and struck out the next two batters before inducing a weak groundout to end the inning.

During the next fighting season, in the 3rd inning, Lord Kirby had to fend off a spirited attack from the bottom of the Arizona lineup, as a deep fly ball Bryce Alexander just barely didn’t leave the yard, and instead was a 1-out double. That turned into two runners on as Jake McCarthy managed to out-maneuver Kirby and work a rare 4-pitch walk. In the end though, it meant nothing as George was able to fall back on his old-reliable: upper rail heaters.

What makes Kirby’s display of excellence tonight even more impressive is that the Diamondbacks have the second highest runs scored per game and one of the lowest strikeout rates in all of MLB. The fact that Kirby was able to not just shut down this explosive offense, but to have the greatest start of his young career against them is nearly unbelievable. Perhaps he does have a divine right to the mound.

With tonight’s win, the Mariners have claimed their 4th series in row, including besting both halves of last year’s World Series. Were we still in the middle ages (and let’s be thankful we aren’t), this would give the M’s a pretty solid claim to the throne of Champion. As it stands now, we’ll have to wait for October.