Mariners take two, take first game of series against Rangers 3-2

We all deserve a mulligan once in a while

Tonight the Mariners took the series opener against the division-rival Rangers, extending a franchise record with 11 consecutive home series opener wins (since April 1) with a 3-2 victory. Astute readers will also note that that is yet again a one-run win, making them 17-7 in one-run games, which is both the most one-run wins and the best record in such contests in the Majors. It was also their 14th comeback win of the season, although a first-inning comeback is a little different than a comeback staged over many innings or late in a game. I prefer to think of tonight as a mulligan: the Mariners just needed to restart, like me when I deal myself a hand of Phase 4 cards where I need sets and I deal myself a full run and no Wilds.

Luis Castillo had a laborious first inning, partially due to some bad luck—Marcus Semien led off with an infield hit that Dylan Moore just barely missed getting to in time—but mostly due to some ineffectiveness on his part. With two outs, in a 1-1 count he left 95 in the middle of the plate for Nathanael Lowe, who scalded it for an RBI double. Castillo then seemed to blink away into a different dimension—appropriate for 70s night at the ballpark—falling behind Wyatt Langford 3-0 before giving him the same fastball over the plate for another RBI double, putting the Mariners in a 0-2 hole early. Per Alex Mayer, that was the first time the Mariners gave up a first inning run at home since April 14, which speaks both to the quality of their starters at home and also the potency of this Texas offense—although, an offense which has been scuffling lately.

The Mariners offense has also been scuffling lately all season, so it was surprising (in a good way) to see an immediate answer back from the squad against lefty Andrew Heaney. With two outs after J.P. Crawford stung a ball (100 EV) but right at the left fielder and Mitch Haniger struck out on four pitches, Julio Rodríguez worked a walk walked as Heaney tried to work him inside but missed badly. Mitch Garver then got some revenge on his former team, walloping a ball over the fence that was just out of reach of the leaping Leody Taveras.

“I don’t know, I was pretty surprised that went out,” said Garver postgame. “But the roof is closed. The roof was open last night and I lined out to shallow center field on a ball I thought I hit pretty good, so, I don’t know. Just gotta hit it higher, I guess.” Count another member of J.P.’s Roof-Hatred Squad then.

(Because we are the Stats Site, I feel obligated to point out that Garver’s home run tonight came off the bat at a 34-degree angle, traveling 397 feet at 105.4 mph (.790 xBA). The ball I’m assuming he’s talking about from last night was indeed hit at a slightly lower (or more ideal) launch angle, at 26 degrees, but traveled a mere 381 feet at 102.4 mph (.700 xBA). Also, that flyout came while facing Garret Crochet, on a fastball traveling 98.1 mph; tonight’s homer came off a Heaney slider traveling 82.5 mph and in the fat part of the plate. Roof acquitted on all charges!)

New ballgame then: in the first inning part two, Castillo was dominant against the bottom of the Rangers’ lineup, striking out the side 1-2-3 on just 14 pitches, 10 fewer than he needed the first inning. Pumped up, Castillo hit his Rock pose at the end of the inning and flashed a cheeky little point at the camera as he strode off the field. That energy carried over into the third inning, where he put down the top of the Rangers’ lineup 1-2-3, this time on 13 pitches, with some masterful location: he clustered sliders at the bottom of the zone against Semien, peppered changeups off the plate against Corey Seager, and got Adolis García reaching after a slider away.

Postgame, striding into the interview room with translator Freddy Llanos, both bedecked in the promotional Mariners Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses, Castillo said he did feel like that’s where the game started over again, 0-0, “let’s go win this.” He also said through Llanos that getting those batters specifically was important, knowing these were three World Series champions and if he missed his spot, they all have the capacity to do damage.

From there on, Castillo was on cruise control, working around a walk in the third and a one-out, bad-luck double down the line off the bat of García in the sixth, his final inning of work. Castillo struck out Lowe swinging on a four-seamer for the second out in an at-bat where he had Lowe—as he had many of the Rangers batters tonight—expanding the zone. Adolis gave the Mariners a little help possibly to end the inning, as Dylan Moore bobbled what should have been an easy 5-3 putout off the bat of Langford, but was able to tag out García, inexplicably running towards third.

Meanwhile, the Mariners scratched out another run against Heaney in the third, when J.P. Crawford led off the third with a parachute single, moved to third on a solid base hit from Mitch Haniger, and came home on a Julio fielder’s choice, making the score 3-2, or 1-0 if you choose, like me and Luis, to pretend like the first inning didn’t count.

The Mariners scattered traffic against Heaney all night but were only able to get the one additional run off him. Victor Robles hit a two-out single in the second but was stranded; and in the fourth, Tyler Locklear had a one-out infield base hit, followed by a Robles bunt single that got Rangers manager Bruce Bochy tossed (Bochy did not like how far inside Robles was running and argued it impeded the throwing lane of his catcher). Ryan Bliss struck out for the second out of the inning but then J.P. Crawford walked to load the bases and extend the inning—and the stress on Heaney. Unfortunately Mitch Haniger went after the first pitch of his at-bat for an easy groundout, and the Mariners left them loaded, with Heaney at a mere 64 pitches.

However, the Rangers yoinked Heaney in the fifth inning anyway, putting in long reliever José Ureña to face Dylan Moore for the last out of the fifth, who he promptly got to ground out. Ureña allowed a fair amount of traffic over the back half of the game, but was able to bail himself out every time by getting the Mariners to ground into not one, not two, but three double plays. Yuck, guys.

That left it up to the bullpen to preserve the one-run lead Castillo had left the ballgame with. With Castillo nicely taking care of the middle of the lineup in the sixth, Big Mike Baumann came on for some low-leverage work against the bottom of the Rangers lineup. Baumann started out by striking out Leody Taveras looking on a nasty hammer curve, then got Ezequiel Duran swinging out of his shoes after a top-rail fastball at 97.5 mph for a weak flyout on the first pitch. Andrew Knizner then grounded out easily on two pitches, again chasing after the hammer curve. Baumann is such a wild card due to his command, but when the stuff is on point like tonight he shows that potential to be a real back-end bullpen piece.

The Mariners went to Andrés Muñoz in the eighth to face the top of the Rangers lineup (and also Davis Wendzel). He struck out Wendzel on the slider, bringing up the tougher part of the inning. Semien went down quickly on three straight pitches, taking a called third strike at 98 on the upper rail, but Seager jumped ahead in a 3-1 count before walking, laying off Muñoz’s sliders. That brought up Adolis García as the go-ahead run, with the tying run advancing to second on a balk, making it Scott Servais’s turn to go have an argument with this umpiring crew (although he did not get run; also, credit to J.P. Crawford who quickly got himself between Muñoz and third base umpire Edwin Moscoso). With a strike one erased by the balk, Muñoz had to battle García for an additional pitch, eventually coming out on top.

With Muñoz rereading Jon Bois’s definition of a balk on the training table, Ryne Stanek had the job of trying to close out the potent middle of the Rangers lineup in the top of the ninth. He got Nathanael Lowe to ground out easily, but gave up a hard-hit double to pesky, pesky Wyatt Langford. The Rangers then pinch-hit Josh Smith for Taveras, who fell behind 0-2 before flying out into shallow right field, bringing up Ezequiel Duran. Duran made it easy for the crowd of 41,814 in the building tonight, going after Stanek’s first pitch for an easy groundout and improving the Mariners in their City Connect jerseys to 6-0. Sometimes all you need is a second chance to make a first impression.