I really wanted to write about each piece of the Texas series, especially the two epic wins that brought the Mariners to 20-12 and made us feel invincible, riding a 6-game winning streak, 8-series winning streak, and winning both ways (13-1 and 2-1), demonstrating that this was both your Fun Differential Mariners and Something Like 2001 at the same time, able to win big and small, with lots of longballs and the vaunted and long-lost productive out.
I wanted a little less to write about the two prior losses, a Sunday drubbing that I mercifully mostly missed hanging out with my son at the children’s museum as we furtively checked Gameday at snack breaks, followed by a heartbreaker I was way too invested in Monday night, seeing the wrong side of 1 AM to watch Munoz utterly Houdini out of bases-loaded no-out monster jam to strike out the A’s 1-2-3 hitters in order only for the M’s to not score in the top of the 11th and intentionally walk their way into a terrible matchup that coughed up the winning Manfred Man. What was most notable about these games, especially the first, was how little they hurt. The Mariners’ hot start and AL West lead have inoculated me to the pain that typically accompanies losses, even really bad ones that lead to the Athletics storming the Little League field they now call home. As I posted on Elon Musk’s X by Twitter last night going into the game I’m here to recap, “I’m not going to worry till we lose a series.”
We didn’t last night.
We could have. We honestly really tried. In a night when Dan Wilson needed length and strength from his starter, he got a polished gem from Emerson Hancock, who scattered 2 runs on 4 hits over 6 innings on 71 pitches en route to his third straight quality start.
Wait, hang on. Did I say 71 pitches?!
Given that the last run the A’s had scored was in the 3rd inning, there is no way in thunder it was responsible to not hand the ball to Emerson in the 7th. Langeliers-Bleday-Wilson were due and Hancock had thrown two straight frames of no-scare cruising on single-digit pitches each. Instead, Wilson called on Brash to load the bases with 2 outs and had to pull him for Speier to sneak out of it with a clutch left-on-left strikeout. Speier shouldn’t have crossed innings to see Rooker, but he did because the bullpen was stretched (see how this is chain-reacting?) and so he gave up a quick double and a single and then had to be lifted for Colin Snider who managed to sneak out of the 8th with only 1 run scored. Not bad for runners on the corners and no outs, but very bad for a tied game going into the 9th!
Luckily, even on a rare 2-game losing streak, this is not a team inclined to scuffle or give up or shut down. And it helps that the Mariners made the Sacramento bullpen work so hard the prior night so Miller was unavailable and Ferguson got the call for the 4th straight night, dating back to games played in Miami. JP offered a rare strikeout to keep him from actually reaching .300 for the season on his 14-and-counting game hitting streak, but Polanco walked, Julio singled, Randy immediately got hit by a pitch and lifted for a pinch runner (he looked uncomfortable all night), and then Cal was called on for the most obvious pinch-hit in history with the bases loaded, one out, and the M’s down a run.
He put up a truly masterful at-bat that showed his burgeoning maturity and development even within this career year he’s having:
He stayed within himself and didn’t chase. He put the red light on a 3-0 when the pitcher was super wild and a walk would tie and prolong the game in the 9th. And then he smacked a pitch on the corner, not trying to hit his 13th home run, but just trying to put the ball in play. It found grass, Jorge and Julio scored, and the Mariners had a comeback win brewing.
One swing from Cal took us from a 55% chance of losing to an 89% chance of winning. That’s our MVP.
Dylan Moore (welcome back) added an absolutely crucial sac fly the next AB because the difference between 4-3 and 5-3 for Munoz or whoever it would be was monumental in a series where the A’s have been answering us at every turn. And indeed, Vargas needed the cushion, at least mentally, because after two quick Ks, both Rooker and Soderstrom reached on singles that brought the winning run to the plate. Fortunately, Andujar had long been lifted and so the A’s had to pinch-hit with an ancient seeming Seth Brown, who scorched one into right that got just enough air for Moore to snag it and the brief losing streak ended at 2.
These Mariners, man, they are doing it differently. Or the same as their best versions of themselves. Dan Wilson will get more effective at managing the staff and the bullpen, but the hitters aren’t going to forget how to stay within themselves and deliver what the moment needs. It’s weird to see in blue, silver, and teal, but oh so welcome.
Mariners Stats:
Comeback Wins: 10
Wire-to-Wire Wins: 11
Comeback Losses: 8
Wire-to-Wire Losses: 6
Multi-Homer Games: 10-5
Single-Homer Games: 10-3
No-Homer Games: 1-6
One-Run Games: 7-4
Extra-Innings Games: 2-3
Shutouts: 1-1
Record When Scoring >5 Runs: 10-3
Record When Scoring 2-5 Runs: 11-5
Record When Scoring <2 Runs: 0-6
Personal Stats:
Watched on TV: 4-7
Listened on Radio: 7-1
Mixed TV/Radio: 9-4
Followed on Gameday: 1-2
