Mariners burn Jack Leiter, Rangers, win 8-2

Julio jomers twice in dominant win

One thing about this Mariners squad: Scott Servais might not be the skipper anymore, but the team has retained (ironically) his lessons about having the memory of a goldfish, shaking off a disappointing series loss this weekend with a dominant win to open their final series against the Rangers.

The Mariners struggled, as one does, against Jacob deGrom, although they squandered what looked like a good scoring opportunity in the first, when Julio Rodríguez hit a one-out single followed by a Cal Raleigh walk. Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley couldn’t come through with a clutch hit, though, and the Mariners were consigned to scuffling against deGrom until the third, when Josh Rojas (!) took deGrom deep, as we all expected. This is a very good pitch from deGrom, but an even better swing by Rojas:

“Not a pitch I should have been swinging at,” admitted Rojas postgame, but said he’d seen how deGrom had pitched Raley and Raleigh and decided to take a shot. “When I was running the bases, my first thought was, ‘I got so lucky’.”

The Mariners could have added on there, as well, as Victor Robles followed Rojas by executing a two-strike bunt base hit, because Victor Robles Is Awesome, and then stole second and took third on an overthrow from Jonah Heim, who I am pleased to report had a miserable day all-around. But the Mariners couldn’t bring Robles around, keeping that lead at a whisper-thin one run even as Kirby matched deGrom blow for blow.

The Rangers took the lead momentarily in the fourth when Josh Smith led off with a single on a slider that didn’t slide enough; two batters later, Adolis García, who saw Kirby well all day, doubled him over to third. Kirby then left a sinker on the plate to Nathaniel Lowe, who rapped the pitch up the middle for a two-run single. Kirby was able to cap the damage there, getting known Karen Jonah Heim to ground into an inning-ending double play.

The Mariners’ early traffic did pay off in one way, as deGrom deParted after three innings and about sixty pitches, because Chris Young, like the great Jack Donaghy, went to Princeton and with his big Ivy League brain knows that there’s nothing to be gained from pushing your man with a golden arm in a losing season. Jack Leiter, the former Vanderbilt phenom who has been scuffling to find his way in professional ball, took over for deGrom and worked a clean fourth before getting beaten up by a) his defense (Jonathan Ornelas, taking over for the again-injured Josh Jung, had a roughhhh night at third; here, he allowed Victor Robles to reach on a bad throw on a bunt, putting two on for Julio); and b) Julio Rodríguez, who is chasing that 20/20 season hard. Julio is on fire, and Leiter got burned:

Armed with a 4-2 lead, George Kirby buckled down and completed his regularly-scheduled domination of the Rangers, working around a leadoff double in the fifth but not allowing the Rangers to score any more than the two they got off him early. He completed his six innings scattering five hits but just the two runs, striking out four and walking none.

Trent Thornton took over in the seventh and got two quick outs before allowing a base hit to Ezequiel Duran and walking Leody Taveras after seemingly rolling his ankle on the mound. Thornton rebounded to get Jonathan Ornelas to ground out, thanks to a strong play by Jorge Polanco, closing up the Rangers’ best threat since the fourth.

Leiter wore this one for the Rangers, and the Mariners gleefully ran up the score, extending their lead in the seventh with Robles and Julio teaming up yet again: Robles hit an infield single, and then Julio demolished his second homer of the night, taking a fastball up in the zone but well on the plate for a 355-foot ride to the opposite field:

That put the Mariners up comfortably, but they went ahead and added on to ensure Collin Snider, Troy Taylor, and Andrés Muñoz would be able to kick their feet up comfortably tonight. Still facing Leiter, the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs with a pair of walks (Turner and Crawford) and a single (Polanco) before punching in a pair of sac flies from Rojas and Robles, clearly in pain but still getting the job done nonetheless, and earning today’s Sun Hat award, as well as the coveted Mayer Game Winning Stat:

Certainly there are scoreboards to be watched and celebrations and teeth-gnashings to be done around that, but I am simply going to enjoy tonight’s win, taking it for what it is along with a nice glass of red wine and a sausage-and-spinach stuffed spaghetti squash for dinner, because hashtag-fall. Wishing you also an enjoyment of the season, whatever it may bring.