Exhausted Mariners play extras for third day in a row, win 6-4

I’d expect a lot of reclined seats on the flight home

For most of today’s game, Mr. Napkins refused to settle. My sweet tuxedo cat was doing that annoying thing where he showed no interest in playing with any of his toys and didn’t want to eat, but also wouldn’t just lay down and chill out. He climbed all over me (he’s called Mr. Napkins because a napkin goes in your lap), repeatedly walked over my keyboard, sat right in front of the game on TV, clawed at my couch. If you have a cat, or a toddler for that matter, you surely recognize this behavior. It’s an anxious, over-tired energy. Well-adjusted adults can recognize this feeling and try to self-soothe until your body settles itself down. But it takes effort, especially when you can’t simply lie down and take a nap.

It wasn’t all that different from the situation the Rangers and especially the Mariners found themselves in for today’s tilt. After playing back-to-back extra-inning games, these teams were beat down and the bullpens overtaxed. Making matters worse for the Mariners, this comes at the end of a ten-day road trip where they’ve battled both extreme heat and thundering rain storms. Nor can they look forward to a day off, as they’ll fly home this afternoon to play a game per day for the next week too. With seven extra innings played this weekend, it will be as though the Mariners play 18 games in 17 days. I’m strongly in favor of these longer road trips, as they cut down on the overall miles traveled over the course of the season for the team that’s the farthest from all the others. But there’s certainly a cost.

And the Mariners played with that energy today, looking a little overtaxed, a little tired, a little ready for a break. Luis Castillo labored through six innings, but managed to dance around a decent amount of traffic and hard-hit balls to get through his day having given up just a single run. At 92 pitches through five innings, none of them easy, most modern pitchers would have gotten pulled. But Castillo bears the La Piedra nickname for a reason, and with the team really needing him to cover another inning, he went out and did it, totalling 106 pitches on the day.

In a replay of Friday’s game, the offense made some decent contact, but none of it did much damage. Julio Rodríguez, for instance, hit the ball over 100 mph in each of his first three at-bats, but he hit them on the ground, so he totaled just three bases out of it. The Mariners only managed to score in the sixth when Randy Arozarena snuck a ball through the infield and Mitch Garver drove him home on a line drive to left, which tied the game at 1-1.

Although subtle, the most notable individual play in those first six innings was a nice 5-4-3 started off by Ben Williamson. Despite a rough day at the plate, he gets today’s Sun Hat Award for making that double play look much easier than it was, especially on a day where no one looked quite right. Bouncing off Texas’s turf, the ball took a tricky final hop and caught Williamson at the belt, but he adjusted. This wouldn’t have stood out quite so much except that the same thing happened to both Cole Young and Josh Jung on double play opportunities, and their adjustments were much less fluid, resulting in only getting one out apiece.

With both starters going six innings, the game turned over to the exhausted bullpens. As the only Rangers reliever who hadn’t pitched much in the first two games, Josh Latz was asked to cover three innings, and he retired the first seven batters he faced. But with two up-downs and over 35 pitches, he wore down against Cole Young, who hit a ground rule double, and then fell behind Williamson 2-0. Rangers pitching coach, Mike Maddux, went out for a mound visit, and after talking with Latz for a minute, motioned to the bullpen to bring in Luke Jackson. I’m sure I’ve seen a pitching coach make the change before, but I can’t remember the last time, and I’d be shocked if I ever saw it happen in the middle of an at-bat. But again, that’s the kind of energy the teams had today, jittering around. It turned out to be the right call, as Jackson sent the game to the bottom of the ninth still tied at 1-1.

For the Mariners, Casey Legumina was asked to cover just two innings, which he did by retiring all six batters he faced. Friday night’s hero, Eduard Bazardo, came in for the ninth and wasn’t nearly as sharp as he was Friday, but did get a wicked strikeout of Josh Jung and sent the game to extras for the third day in a row.

Under the circumstances, things were lined up the way you’d want them, with Julio as the Manfred Man on second base and the heart of the lineup due up. The Rangers, as is their want, intentionally walked Cal Raleigh, and Luke Raley moved both runners over on a bunt that he almost beat out. With first base open, Texas then intentionally walked Arozarena to bring up Donovan Solano in a high-leverage test of the Solano-ssaince. A tailor-made double play went right under Corey Seager’s glove (once again making Williamson’s play look good). Julio scored, though Cal was caught at the plate. The Mariners had lost their challenge, but replays showed that Cal was probably safe. Don’t forget that this was the third extra-inning game in a row for the umpires too. Still, the Mariners had scored a run, but one run never feels like enough as the visiting team in extras. But for this first time all series, they were able to add-on, with Garver driving in Arozarena for the second time to get a two-run lead.

With Speier, Brash, and Muñoz all down today, it fell to Carlos Vargas to secure the victory. But he was tired too, and missed his spot against Corey Seager, which you absolutely cannot do, and the game went to the 11th. And then the 12th.

It looked like the 12th would be another scratch-and-claw kind of inning, as Manfred Man Luke Raley moved to third on a single from Arozarena and then scored on a Solano ground ball only because it was so weakly hit. But Mitch Garver came to the plate with Arozarena on base and drove him in for the third time today, this time, finally in emphatic fashion, clubbing a two-run upper decker. Mr. Napkins settled. At last, all was quiet.