Big Dumper digs the Mariners out of a hole, Mariners bury themselves back in it, lose 12-6

A truly frustrating game knocks the Mariners out of first place in the AL West

Baseball, and the Seattle Mariners specifically, will always find new ways to break your heart, and tonight’s game was no different, as the Mariners continued their losing skid despite a promising beginning, losing both the game and possession of first place in the AL West.

The Mariners got on the board in this one quickly, using the old bloop-bloop-blast: J.P. Crawford put a nice inside-out swing on a cutter, punching it through the six-hole, and then Jorge Polanco lollipopped a slider into right field, which is certainly good to see after the stretch of tough road he’s been on. That brought up Cal Raleigh, who needed just one more home run to become the first catcher in MLB history with 20 homers before June. Cal wasted no time in achieving his latest accolade:

However much you are appreciating Cal Raleigh, it’s not enough.

Randy Arozarena decided to get in on the fun, as well, knocking a solo shot of his own, and it looked like Twins starter Zebby Matthews might be in for a rough night:

Unfortunately, after that early party of runs, the Mariners allowed Matthews to settle in. With the exception of a pair of singles from J.P. and Julio (and a four-pitch walk to J.P.), Matthews cruised for the next six innings, collecting seven strikeouts as the Mariners hitters chased after his slider, popped up his fastball, and chopped over his cutter.

Meanwhile, the Twins climbed back into it against Bryan Woo, who was solid if not spectacular. Woo cruised the first time through the lineup, working ahead of hitters and getting lots of weak-contact outs. In the fourth, the Twins got on the board thanks to a solo home run from big lefty Trevor Larnach, pride of Oregon State [Adley will get his due when he comes to town next week], turning and burning on a four-seamer that was on the inner part of the plate but belt-high.

The Twins were able to add another run, again on a solid pitch from Woo, as the righty did the mirror image turn-and-burn on a sinker well in for a double. The Twins were able to small-ball another run out of it on a flyout and groundout to cut the Mariners’ lead in half.

Woo got through the fifth despite needing to get a blister glued up prior to the inning; the blister, which is on the tip of Woo’s right index finger, has been bothering Woo all season, but he says it’s not a cause for concern, he just needed to get it glued up. Nevertheless, the Twins were able to get one more run on yet another solo homer, this time from Willy Castro, who yanked a fastball at the bottom of the zone over the right-center wall for a home run that would have only been out at 12/30 parks. Every run in this game is significant, but that one the most so. A couple more inches down and things feel different tonight.

With two outs, it looked like Andrés Munoz would have to protect a one-run lead. Cal Raleigh, always caring about his catchers, said don’t worry about this, Andrés, I will give you a three-run lead:

Cal scored Julio Rodríguez on that play, who despite having the lowest WPA for any Mariner hitter tonight, had two singles and scored twice. Sometimes I do not understand you, WPA.

But those two runs turned out to be really important, because in the bottom of the ninth, Andrés Muñoz gave up his first earned runs of the season—and yes, runs, as Willi Castro popped his second home run of the game, scoring Ty France, who had singled to start off the inning. I now wish I had not thought “good for Ty” to myself. Muñoz then gave up a bad-luck ground ball single to Royce Lewis, who stole second, and then a base hit from Trevor Larnach tied the game. Muñoz’s confidence seemed shaken after that; he opened the next at-bat with a wild pitch, moving Larnach to second. Finally some BABIP luck went Muñoz’s way, as Jeffers popped out to Rowdy Tellez at first, who made a nice snare, but the damage was done.

The Twins brought out their terrifying closer Jhoan Duran to obliterate the bottom of the Mariners’ lineup, which he did handily. With the Mariners having used their two highest-leverage arms already, Casey Legumina was tasked to take on the extra-innings and the Manfred Man, and he immediately gave up a two-run bomb to Carlos Correa, no small ball needed. Legumina would fight through traffic for the rest of his outing, loading the bases on a single and two walks to turn the lineup over, at which point things got well out of hand, as they did last night. By the time the dust settled, the Twins had doubled the lead to 12-6, enough that the Twins could pack up Duran in bubble wrap for another night and save him for another game this series.

It’s an absolutely crushing way to lose on a night when Cal Raleigh made history and attempted to single-handedly lift this team out of their losing spiral. If there’s anything positive to take from tonight, it sounds like there will be a raft of moves tomorrow—Daniel Kramer reports that sources say the Mariners are finally pushing the Cole Young button, which will hopefully provide a lift to a lineup that’s looked sluggish at best. So even if it’s equally bad, at least it will be bad in a new and different way.