Mariners play last night’s game again with better outcome, win 5-2

This time, traffic on the bases results in runs

Since taking over as manager, Dan Wilson has been steadfast in defending his team’s approach at the plate, win or lose; he said the thing that surprised him the most in taking over the team was how much fight there was left in the clubhouse, despite the team’s recent fortunes. In yesterday’s recap, I noted how the Mariners couldn’t quite get to five runs—the magic number where they have a 48-4 record—despite collecting ten hits, while keeping their strikeouts in the single digits (a low bar, but nonetheless a worthy goal for the team that once was on a historic strikeout pace). Tonight, the Mariners only mustered five hits, but managed to make those hits add up to the magic number “5” in the runs column, while also further trimming their strikeouts down against another tough pitcher in Michael King, and what do you know: that added up to a win. Make it 49-4 in the 5-run games then.

The benchmark of five runs might seem arbitrary, but it makes perfect sense for a team constructed like this: they struggle to put together offense, but the pitching, more than any other staff in baseball, gives them an opportunity to win more often than not. The Mariners came into this game leading the majors in quality starts by a bucketload (85, well outpacing the Phillies at 73, who were running neck and neck with the Mariners for a while but now have fallen back). Each starter takes his responsibility to the team seriously: six innings is considered the minimum. That’s something that bothered Bryan Woo earlier in the season, that he couldn’t contribute as many innings as others and was taking more than his “fair share” of bullpen innings and spot starters. However, down the stretch, while other starters across the league are flagging, Woo has roared back: he had worked into the seventh inning in every start he made in August before a five-inning outing against the A’s, and tonight carried a perfect game into the seventh game against a powerful Padres team.

Woo was crisp as freshly laundered and ironed bedsheets the first time through the order, collecting two strikeouts from a strikeout-allergic crew, getting ROY dark horse Jackson Merrill swinging after a changeup and dominating Kyle Higashioka on three straight pitches. Postgame, Wilson said he could sense Woo had something special early on; Woo said he was surprised, noting that he hadn’t felt “great” in his bullpen or warmups, but felt something “click into place” when he toed the mound.

Meanwhile, the Mariners offense put worries of their own no-hitter to bed early thanks to a Randy Arozarena leadoff double in the second, but despite Arozarena advancing to third on a Luke Raley groundout, neither Justin Turner nor Jorge Polanco could use their combined veteran savvy to get him home, both striking out.

In the third, the Mariners created some traffic without getting a hit: Josh Rojas took a one-out walk, flipping over the lineup, and then Victor Robles got hit by a pitch because he is the new Ty France, apparently. The Mariners then caught a break as Julio Rodríguez grounded into what would be an inning-ending double play, but Jake Cronenworth fumbled Bogaerts’s relay at second, so the bases were loaded with just one out instead, giving Cal Raleigh an opportunity to improve on his first at-bat against King where he struck out on four pitches.

This time, Cal came through, reaching across the plate to bop a little changeup into right field and scoring Rojas from third. Cal’s Team Best Friend, Luke Raley, wants to do everything Cal does, so two batters later he battled himself into a full count, saw the exact same pitch Cal did, and did the exact same thing with it, although this time two runners scored to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead. The power of friendship!

Staked to a 3-0 lead, Woo came out even sharper against the top of the lineup the next inning, getting Arraez to fly out and then striking out Tatís and Profar on a combined seven pitches. Unfortunately, King was equally quick dealing with the bottom of the Mariners’ lineup, sending Woo right back out there to face the middle of the Padres lineup. He avoided a scare to open the fifth, thanks to some sparkly outfield defense by Randy Arozarena:

Buoyed by his defense, Woo took care of the rest of the middle of the lineup there and then posted another 1-2-3 inning against the bottom of the lineup in the sixth, which he completed at a mere 64 pitches for the game, ticking all the boxes for “something special is happening here.” While only collecting five strikeouts, Woo kept his pitch count in check, using the Padres’ aggressiveness in the zone against them to get quick outs on weak contact flyouts and popups thanks to his stellar ability to locate.

On the other side, the Mariners batters didn’t score much off King, but they did drive up his pitch count with some pesky at-bats, forcing him out of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Adrian Morejon took over, and really struggled to command to zone, issuing back-to-back walks to Raley and Turner and wild-pitching them into scoring position during a battle with Jorge Polanco: a good thing for the Mariners, since Polanco popped out harmlessly. That brought up J.P. Crawford in yet another Just Do Your Dang Job Please situation, and J.P. came up big, working a full count before doubling into the right field corner, pushing the Mariners to their magical five-run mark. Those runs would loom large given what would happen next.

Woo carried his perfect game into the seventh, and the crowd at T-Mobile Park cheered loudly when he retired the always-dangerous Arraez for the third time that night with an easy popout. Unfortunately, Fernando Tatís had other ideas for the evening, jumping on a fastball insideand yanking it with that lightning-quick bat speed of his just fair for a solo home run. After a double to Profar and a walk to Cronenworth, who put up some very tough at-bats against Woo tonight, manager Dan Wilson opted to lift Woo, who walked off the field to a standing ovation of Mariners fans.

Troy Taylor came on for Woo and gave up a base hit to Xander Bogaerts, scoring the Padres’ second run of the night, setting up a rookie-on-rookie matchup with Jackson Merrill. Merrill, who is a really pesky out in addition to being a very good all-around hitter, battled to a full count and saw eight pitches, but Taylor won the battle by breaking off a perfectly-located 97.6 mph fastball, getting Merrill swinging after it to end the inning.

The Mariners had a chance to get one of those runs back in the bottom of the seventh, but Fernando Tatís Jr., a one-man wrecking crew tonight, robbed Randy Arozarena of a homer with a leaping catch at the wall. (Don’t worry, they’re still friends and all had a good laugh about it at the inning break.) Collin Snider then had just the three run cushion to work with in the eighth. He opened by striking out Solano, but then had to face pinch-hitter David Peralta, who thankfully flew out. That turned things over for Arraez, who of course wasn’t going to be held hitless all night, singling on the first pitch he saw and bringing up...Tatís. Thankfully, Snider got Tatís to roll over on a sweeper to end the inning without damage. All hail the Snide Piece.

After the Mariners couldn’t add on against the Padres bullpen, that left Andrés Muñoz in a save situation against the teeth of the Padres line...lol just kidding, it’s all teeth. Anyway, he had Profar, Machado, and Cronenworth. Muñoz opened by nailing Profar looking on a perfectly-placed sweeper, then struck out Machado, who tipped a slider into Raleigh’s glove, bring up Pesky Pesky Jake Cronenworth, who grounded out to secure the win for Woo, as well as Muñoz’s 20th save.

Obvious sentence is obvious alert, but in baseball, it’s crucial to take advantage of other teams’ mistakes while making as few as possible yourself. The Mariners played a better game in the field than the Padres, and they made Cronenworth’s error cost the Padres; they pitched well, and didn’t give out free passes, while making Morejon’s walks hurt him. But they also improved on their last outing against King, cutting down their strikeouts (six instead of nine, and just seven for the game) and working pesky at-bats that shaved an inning off his outing. It’s likely too late in the year for this improvement to really matter—despite the Astros losing tonight, thank you to our Brethren Athletics—but it doesn’t mean that’s not nice to see. And it’s especially nice to see the consistency in approach from night to night, with the Mariners getting the good-process win tonight that they didn’t get last night. It makes Wilson’s words about fighting and scratching and clawing feel genuine and believed-in, even if fans can be excused for not believing them themselves. It’s been a long, grueling, struggle of a season, after all. But it’s nice when things work out, and it’s nice to have a specific thing to pin them to, and even nicer to see someone get something well-deserved. Last night’s recap got three comments, and this was one of them, from longtime reader Rocky K:

We’re glad you got a win, Rocky.