Five-run magic saves the day as Mariners defeat Rangers, 8-4

Mariners pitching gets bonked over head by flowerpot, forget how to throw strikes, but offense bails them out late

The Mariners clawed out a victory against the Rangers tonight that was by no means easy, thanks to some uncharacteristically shaky pitching, but showed that even an occasional blip in their historically good pitching can be ameliorated by the magic of scoring five runs (and, admittedly, not allowing their opponents to reach that five-run number.)

Tonight’s contest was a battle between a pair of replacement starters, with Emerson Hancock making the start for Luis Castillo, still battling a strained hamstring, and Dane Dunning making a last-minute start for the Rangers after Max Scherzer suffered the same fate. The Mariners jumped on Dunning early—like, about as early as possible, as Julio Rodríguez took the first pitch he saw opposite-field for a leadoff home run.

Cal Raleigh followed with a single of his own, but the Mariners made two straight outs right after that (Arozarena grounded into a fielder’s choice and Raley struck out despite a nine-pitch battle). Justin Turner was able to keep things going with a first-pitch single of his own, and then Jorge Polanco came through with an RBI single to make it 2-0. After J.P. Crawford worked a four-pitch walk, Dylan Moore couldn’t come through with another clutch hit, and the Mariners left the bases loaded, which always feels like a disappointing denouement after an exciting start.

Emerson Hancock avoided a leadoff homer of his own, just barely, as he left a fastball up on the plate for Marcus Semien that the park just held. Josh Smith then singled on a changeup that landed in the middle of the plate, but Hancock was able to battle back to get the next two outs, first a weak-contact flyout from Wyatt Langford and then getting Adolis García reaching after a fastball across the plate for an inning-ending lineout.

The Mariners weren’t able to keep the pressure on Dunning in the second, though, adding some to his pitch count thanks to another long eight-pitch battle by Josh Rojas but making two quick outs after. That sent Emerson Hancock right back out there to scrap for his life; he again avoided trouble with a deep flyout from Nathaniel Lowe on another pitch that wound up too much on the plate, but again was able to get his next two outs, including his first strikeout of the day on a nice diving changeup to Leody Taveras, to hang another 0.

With two outs in the third, the Mariners had another chance to deal Dunning some damage, with Justin Turner and Jorge Polanco hitting back-to-back singles. This time it was J.P. Crawford—8-for-25 lifetime against Dunning going into the at-bat—who couldn’t cash the two-out runner in. That would come back to bite the Mariners in the bottom of the inning, when Travis Janikowski got lucky on a one-out double that just stayed fair, turning over the lineup. Hancock got Semien to fly out on a changeup up in the zone that seemed to fool Semien for the second out, but Hancock then fell behind Josh Smith 2-0. He worked his way back with a well-located fastball for a called strike, and then got Smith swinging after another one before running the count full and leaving a fastball right in the lefty Smith’s happy zone for a two-run, game-tying homer. How exasperating.

Dane Dunning struck out the first two batters he saw in the fourth (Rojas and Moore) but gave up a scalded base hit to Julio after that, prompting Bruce Bochy to call for Andrew Chafin. Raleigh worked a walk off the new pitcher, but Arozarena grounded out to end the inning and leave yet another two runners on for Seattle: seven already in four innings.

Hancock opened the fourth by striking out García chasing a slider with some nice gloveside movement, then got Lowe to fly out before falling behind Duran 2-0. Don’t do that, Emerson! Take care of your third batter! Hancock battled back to even the count, but couldn’t put Duran away, as he finally got the bat to a sinker for a base hit. Taveras then jumped on the first pitch he saw for a single, extending Hancock’s inning, drawing Cal Raleigh out for a mound visit where Cal did approximately 98% of the talking. Hancock went first pitch slider to catcher Carson Kelly, who immediately flew out into shallow right-center. Always Listen To Cal.

The Mariners squandered another runner in the fifth, although it wasn’t their fault, completely; Luke Raley hit a one-out single and swiped second, but then it was ruled that actually, we were on a break, according to the home plate umpire, who called interference…on himself? Jorge Polanco then hit-into an inning-ending double play in a game that was quickly ramping up on the frustration meter so fast I wasn’t even mad when my broadcast was interrupted by a weekly test of the emergency alert system that went on so long I fully missed the first two outs of the inning. Apparently Hancock got another strikeout of Semien? Good job, Emerson, who got Smith first-pitch swinging for a quick inning of his own.

The sixth inning opened got off to a frustrating start for the Mariners, with J.P. Crawford opening with a single but then getting thrown out trying to stretch his bloop hit to left into a double. The bases are cursed. It’s especially frustrating because Dylan Moore followed that with a walk, so J.P. would have been into second anyway, followed by a little infield hit from Rojas (that was actually a little misplay by Smith at third) that would have scored a run. Bochy then lifted the lefty Chafin from having to suffer the indignity of facing a red-hot Julio Rodríguez, but Julio got to new pitcher José Leclerc anyway with a tie-breaking line-drive single.

Cal followed that up with an RBI single of his own, squirting a ball just out of the first baseman’s reach, keeping the line moving, and Arozarena picked it up with another RBI base hit, this time to the left side. Raley and Turner both went down after that, busting up the singles party, but not before the Mariners had saddled Leclerc with almost 30 pitches and stretched the lead to 5-2, death by a thousand cuts-style.

But the frustration part of the game wasn’t over. Troy Taylor came in to relieve Emerson Hancock in the sixth and walked the first batter he saw before striking out García and Lowe back-to-back: García on the fastball and Lowe on the nasty slider. Langford then stole second base, setting up a run for the Rangers as Duran singled to make it 5-3. And this is why you don’t walk the leadoff hitter, Troy. Taylor then struggled to put away his final hitter of the inning, Taveras, allowing him to work the count full over eleven pitches (although he probably should have had a called strike three on the sixth pitch of the at-bat) before eventually walking, prompting a mound visit from Pete Woodworth, where Cal this time did a mere 85% of the talking. Perhaps it should have been more, though, as Taylor fell behind nine-hole hitter Carson Kelly 3-0 before walking him on five pitches. That was it for Taylor, who had to be bailed out by Collin Snider. But apparently not-throwing-strikes-itis was contagious, as Snider walked in a run on four straight pitches. Did a flowerpot fall into the bullpen and conk all the relievers on the head simultaneously, making them forget how to throw strikes? Snider still couldn’t find the zone against Semien, falling behind 3-1 before leaving a pitch over the plate for a ball Semien tagged deep into left field, but Randy Arozarena made a great running catch to save a bases-clearing double. And probably the game. And possibly the season, at least according to Dave Sims.

More frustration in the seventh as Bochy sent a beleaguered Leclerc back out there, but the Mariners weren’t able to punish him beyond Polanco reaching by a fielding error to open the inning (wiped out by a Crawford fielder’s choice), with Dylan Moore striking out despite being in a 3-1 count and Rojas flying out in a full count. Back to the equally-beleaguered Snider for the Mariners, then, who got his first hitter to fly out but then allowed back-to-back singles, prompting Dan Wilson to signal for Tayler Saucedo for a left-on-left matchup against Lowe. In a refreshing change of pace, Saucedo came out firing strikes, getting Lowe to line out thanks to a superb stab by Dylan Moore, and then getting Ezequiel Duran to ground out first-pitch swinging, tapping a pitch weakly back to Sauce, who made an excellent leaping grab off the mound, showing off his former shortstop abilities.

Things didn’t go so smoothly for Austin Voth, who had to work around a two-out double by Janikowski (again?!) and an infield base hit for Semien. He rebounded to strike out Josh Smith to end the inning, though, getting him hacking over a curveball. Austin Voth’s swing-and-miss curveball, I have missed you!

Thankfully, the Mariners opened up a little more breathing room in the top of the ninth against Walter Pennington. Jorge Polanco hit a one-out double, subbed for by Victor Robles, who of course did Victor Robles things and immediately stole third and took home on a wild pitch. He even crossed home with a little gee-ain’t-I-a-stinker smirk. Every day my heart finds new chambers in which to store more love for Victor Robles.

J.P. Crawford followed with a triple (he said postgame he was grumpy it didn’t go over the fence and he had to run it out, we stan a tired king), and then Dylan Moore executed a 12-pitch at-bat that ended with him being hit by a pitch. Mitch Haniger came in to replace Rojas against the lefty Pennington and immediately struck out, because of course he did, bringing up Julio. As there was no way Bochy was going to let the lefty face Julio, he opted instead for Gerson Garabito, last seen getting hit around T-Mobile Park, to try to get the final out. Spoiler alert: he did not.

With a four-run lead, the Mariners were able to rest Muñoz for the night, turning to Eduard Bazardo, who allowed a couple of runners to reach but ultimately executed as he needed to, striking out García (a three-K night for him) and coaxing a pair of flyouts from Duran and Taveras. And just like that, the Mariners’ near-impeccable record in five run games is safe for another day.