SEATTLE – All the frustration felt by fans for the first six innings on Opening Night and all the memes, snarky tweets and comments that might have been prematurely sent or were waiting to be shared about the same ol’ Mariners, having the same feckless offensive production as last season while suffering another run-deprived loss, well, they were good to go for Friday night.
With an announced crowd of 25,061 in attendance for the second game of the season, the Mariners offered a reminder of their issues from last season and potential weaknesses this season, losing 7-0.
The Mariners mustered only five hits – all singles – while drawing three walks and striking out 13 times. By contrast, they struck out seven times and drew seven walks in Thursday’s win.
Luis Castillo gave the Mariners a decent outing. Working with a pitch count of around 85, a number the Mariners want to use for all their starters in their first outing, Castillo pitched five innings, allowing two runs on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
The two runs that he allowed came with two outs in his final inning of work. Lawrence Butler lashed a double to center over the head of Julio Rodriguez. With first base open and Brent Rooker at the plate, Castillo left a 1-1 fastball on the inner half of the plate. Rooker, who had struck out four times on opening night and once in his two previous plate appearances, wasn’t missing that mistake. He hit fly ball to deep left-center that hit off the top of the wall and bounced into The ‘Pen for a two-run homer.
Oakland starter Jeffrey Springs isn’t overpowering or dominant. But he possesses something the Mariners just can’t seem to figure out – a quality changeup. And opponents know it. Last season, 12% of the pitches that were thrown to Mariners hitters were changeups, the third highest in MLB. Seattle hit .203 with a .330 slugging percentage against those changeups while swinging and missing at 34% – the fourth-highest percentage in baseball. Lefties with a good changeup, like Springs, were even more effective. Seattle hitters posted a .228 batting average and .346 slugging percentage on changeups from lefties, but whiffed on 37.4% of the 1,126 the lefty changeups they saw last season.
It’s a big reason why Springs was able to work six scoreless innings, giving up only three hits – all singles – with a walk and nine strikeouts. Of his 83 pitches, Springs threw 22 changeups, 21 of them to right-handed hitters. The Mariners swung at 13 of those, whiffing on nine, including six with two strikes for strikeouts.
Seattle didn’t have a hit until over the first four innings with Cal Raleigh’s first-inning walk representing their only base runner.
Down 2-0 going into the fifth, Mitch Garver picked up Seattle’s first hit, leading off with a single on a first-pitch fastball. Jorge Polanco followed with a single on a fastball to put the tying run on first.
Springs came back to strike out Donovan Solano with a changeup that darted out of the zone. Dylan Moore was able to get a hit off the changeup, looping a 1-1 pitch into center. Third-base coach Kristopher Negron made an aggressive decision to send Garver, who runs, well, like a catcher. J.J. Bleday’s throw from center wasn’t strong, but it was accurate enough to get Garver as he slid into home. J.P. Crawford’s line drive to center was run down by Bleday to end the threat.
Down 2-0, the Mariners still had real chances of a rally against Oakland’s largely inexperienced bullpen. But Seattle’s nonleverage relievers turned a competitive game into a mild rout in the later innings.
Eduard Bazardo started the seventh, but couldn’t finish it. He gave up a one-out single to Jacob Wilson and walked Lawrence Butler. Bazardo came back to strikeout Rooker. With Bleday, a lefty coming to the plate, manager Dan Wilson called on Tayler Saucedo to get the third out. It appeared that Saucedo had accomplished when splintered Bleday’s bat, producing a soft liner jut over his head onto the grass of the infield behind the mound. But it was hit so softly, that making a play for an out at first would’ve been difficult. Polanco charged in front of J.P. Crawford to try and make the play, but he didn’t actually field the ball, running past it for the worst possible outcome. With the ball on the grass and nobody near it, Wilson wisely raced home for a 3-0 lead. Shea Langeliers followed with a single to left to score Butler to make it 4-0 and Bleday bounced a double over the wall to drive in another run.
The A’s picked up a run in the eighth when Max Muncy hit his first MLB homer, a deep blast to left off Saucedo.
It only got worse when former Mariner Luis Urias crushed a solo homer off Carlos Vargas in the eighth inning to make it 8-0.
Raleigh delivers heartfelt thank youFew will argue that Cal Raleigh is one of the toughest men to wear a Mariners uniform in the history of the franchise. Most might say he stands alone at the top.
But on Friday afternoon, the Mariners’ backstop for the remainder of this decade, was reduced to a tearful, emotional mess of gratitude and happiness.
With his mom and dad, two sisters and younger brother sitting in the front row of the main interview room at T-Mobile Park, Cal Raleigh answered questions from the local media — and a few fun ones from his teammates — about signing a 6-year, $105 million contract two days earlier.
After roughly 15 minutes, it looked as though there would be no more questions, and the media session was finished.
Like his walk-off homer to put the Mariners into the playoffs in 2022, Raleigh made it memorable.
“I got one more thing,” he said.
It was more than one thing. It was many things. And it encapsulated all the reasons why the Mariners made the “no-brainer” decision as general manager Justin Hollander called it, to sign Raleigh to an extension.
Raleigh looked out at the faces in the room, locking in on manager Dan Wilson and bullpen coach Tony Arnerich and pitching coach Pete Woodworth, along with the entire starting pitching staff sitting in full city connect uniforms.
“I just want to say thank you to all my coaches, everybody in the organization, you guys have treated me very well over the past nine seasons,” he said. “This is the only place I’ve ever known, and I’m hoping this will be the only place that I ever have to know. So to all the people that have helped me get here, obviously my teammates, thank you very much. It really means a lot.”
Raleigh paused for a moment to take a breath. And then looking right at his father, Todd, his mother, Stephanie, his sisters, Carley and Emma, and younger brother, Todd Jr., the encompassing intensity that takes over his personality the moment he puts on a baseball uniform softened. His voice cracked, words felt difficult to say and wetness filled his eyes.
“And to my family,” he said. “Thank you, guys. My mom and dad, thank you, guys for giving all opportunities in the world. To my brother and sisters, for always being there for me. I know it’s hard being all the way out in Seattle, but I do love it here. Thank you, guys, for everything.”
Stephanie and the daughters didn’t try to hide their tears, while Todd, the man from whom Cal inherited his stoic toughness, tried to not let the moment overtake him.
Raleigh then spoke to the Mariners brass seated on the dais – chairman John Stanton, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and Hollander.
“And thank you guys, as well, for giving me this opportunity, to believe in me and lead this team,” he said with a lump in his throat. “I’m gonna do everything I can to help you guys, and us, win a World Series.”