Mariners sprint through the DMV just before it closes, slam down 4-3 victory on desk of forgiving clerk
Double time.
Now there’s a comeback.
On the heels of an absolute drubbing by the Baltimore Orioles, the Seattle Mariners were drearily on pace for a series loss once again this evening after a three-hour delay incurred by the possibility of rain, if not its actuality. Facing O’s young fireballer Grayson Rodriguez, the same Mariners offense that has egregiously struggled to punish mistakes all season was silenced for six frames. Fastballs, sliders, and changeups from the young righty were overpowering for M’s hitters, as even some good approaches were washed away with 13 whiffs and zero runs on 82 pitches, with Gray-Rod carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Luis Castillo having parried the relentless young O’s offense into a stalemate, Seattle was fortunate to be trailing just 2-0 when Julio Rodríguez fisted a squib grounder to the right side and blazed into first with a single ahead of a valiant sliding effort from Jorge Mateo.
Still, no runs came across. Rodríguez, like Josh Rojas, and Cal Raleigh, and Mitch Garver, and, and, and... they spent the majority of Sunday spoiling misses, then waving at strike three or knocking frailer contact into the stalwart O’s defense, or in the case of Raleigh’s first two balls in play, on the button but at someone.
Unlike so many times trailing this season, however, the M’s were able to make something of their chance to crack at a new pitcher with the starter finally flushed, aided by it being Gray-Rod’s first outing back from the IL. Luke Raley was afforded the leash to swing on Danny Coulombe, a solid southpaw who he managed to align a grounder off of, narrowly past the speedy middle infield of Gunnar Henderson and Mateo. Dylan Moore then bent the physics of the field, unearthing a non-Euclidean third base bag to crack a double over and keep somehow fair, placing the M’s in business. No outs and two on, Seattle managed to capitalize with contact in a way they’d hardly managed to so many times before, with an RBI groundout from Mitch Haniger and a marathon battle by Ty France that ended at last in a quintessential Ty double, lashed to the opposite field gap to knot the game.
Seattle’s bullpen held steady, with reinforcements holding the line long enough for Julio to reach again in the 8th on another infield single forced by his speed. This time it was Cal’s turn to make good on his contact, to turn the opposite field gap into a playground for Julio to score from first base, and for D-Mo to show that history can repeat as well as rhyme with another double. For most of the game, the Mariners did not look like the more threatening team. They won anyway, against one of the best teams in the sport, with good approaches that kept pressuring until the dam broke. 4-3, a victory, with Andrés Muñoz shutting the door despite a two-out solo shot from Henderson. Good teams win games they’re not supposed to win sometimes, and the nasty flavor of Friday night’s drubbing is suddenly a more distant recollection. Tomorrow, two aces take the hill, and anything can happen.