After a blowout win at home on July 4, the Mariners followed up with a less blowout win, but a win nonetheless, beating the Blue Jays and their legions of fans packed into T-Mobile Park 2-1. The Mariners didn’t score outside the line in a single inning, but they never let Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman get comfortable, creating constant traffic on the bases and ensuring that the thousands of Blue Jays fans in attendance couldn’t take control of the momentum in the stadium, which was backed up on the other end by Mariners starter Luis Castillo, who was excellent tonight.
“I like it,” said Luke Raley, the nicest kid ever. “It’s fun to have fans from both teams here and be able to cheer each other on. It’s fun to play in that atmosphere.”
Castillo did his part to get the Mariners off to a strong start, dominating with 13 pitches to strike out all three batters, including a strikeout by Vlad Guerrero Jr. — who had his 10-game on-base streak snapped tonight — that left his bat levitating into the crowd (and finding a Blue Jays fan wearing a Guerrero jersey, which is about the happiest ending to this story you could possibly imagine).
Meanwhile, the Mariners put pressure on Gausman early: In the first inning, with one out, Mitch Garver played a bit of croquet with Ernie Clement on third base. Cal Raleigh followed with a hit, but Julio was thrown out on a splitter, bringing in Luke Raley with two outs. Raley nearly gave the Mariners the lead in the top of the inning, but Daulton Varsho, who is a center fielder playing left field, followed the ball to the warning track. The crowd, leaning toward the Blue Jays, absolutely loved it, as did the cruelest of BABIP gods: 105 mph off the bat, . 860 xBA, a 7/30 home run from the parks, but no joy for Raley and the Mariners fans. Well, here it is, just because by definition, it’s not every day that you see a catch with a 5% catch probability, and Luke Raley probably should have had four RBI tonight and the Mariners a much more comfortable win:
“I was confused,” Raley said, hearing the crowd roar after Varsho’s catch. “I kept running between second and third until the ref made the call.”
The Mariners kept the pressure on in the second and third, albeit with two outs. In the second, DMo singled on a splitter in a classic “not trying too hard” and stole second base to put another runner in scoring position, but Josh Rojas struck out three times to end the threat. In the third, Cal Raleigh drew a two-out walk, and Julio managed to beat out an infield hit despite a great play by Clement at third base, atoning for his earlier mistake (and hats off to Andy Bissell, the Mariners’ recovery coordinator, for seeing that little bit of light between Spencer Horwitz’s foot and the bag). That brought up poor Luke Raley — and this time, Raley was not denied.
If I were Kevin Gausman, I wouldn’t have chosen to serve another fastball to Luke Raley at home plate after he dropped the last ball I served, but I’m not mad about it. And let’s give Andy Bissell another round of applause in the replay room, who found the only angle that showed the first baseman’s foot coming off the bag, setting up Raley’s big moment that would turn out to be the game’s turning point.
After Castillo worked another scoreless inning in the fourth with two more strikeouts, skirting a four-pitch walk in the leadoff, the Mariners worked their two-out magic again, with Josh Rojas doubling on a splitter, working a seven-pitch at-bat, followed by JP Crawford working a seven-pitch walk. Mitch Garver couldn’t deliver the knockout, striking out 97 in his hands, but the Mariners pushed Gausman’s pitch count above 80 with some high-stress pitches.
Unfortunately, the Mariners couldn’t take advantage of Gausman’s fatigue in the fifth, getting down on just 11 pitches, even after Castillo had a quick and tidy start to the fifth (thanks here to Cal Raleigh, who hit a hard, home run-range ball but hooked it just before being struck out). That brought Castillo back to the mound, and after getting Clement out on a nice play by Rojas, he lost the shutout and his no-hitter on a pitch, letting a fastball escape into the heart of the plate for Kevin Kiermaier to fire over the right-field fence. A BABIP-fueled grounder by Spencer Horwitz in an 0-2 count threatened to tip the score in the Blue Jays’ favor, with a crowd of 34,493 that was likely 70 percent run-hungry Blue Jays fans, but Castillo extricated himself from the situation by getting Bichette on an inning-ending double play.
Ty France immediately went after Gausman in the next inning, leading off with a single, but the Mariners again got two quick outs, forcing Rojas to need a game-tying hit again. Instead, he grounded out, allowing Gausman to finish the sixth inning and sparing at least an inning of work for the Blue Jays’ horrendous bullpen.
Castillo got his first two outs in the seventh before walking Dalton Varsho. Servais called on Austin Voth to face Davis Schneider, who was flagged as an automatic and still struck out, flailing desperately after a curveball. Castillo was apparently trying to plead with Servais to stay on the field, but as Servais said after the game, sometimes you have to be the adult in the room, as Castillo’s pitch count had climbed to a season-high 104 before he issued the walk. Castillo finished his day with just one run and two walks against eight strikeouts.
One thing that helped Castillo tonight: a new grip on his slider. Castillo’s slider was down three ticks tonight, to a 79.9-84.1 range, and he was able to throw it for called strikes (7 of 23 he threw), not to mention a few check swings where the batter was ruled not to have swung. He also got a big strikeout in the bottom of the inning on Danny Jansen’s pitch in the fourth. More importantly, the velocity difference created by the new grip created more separation between Castillo’s three main pitches: the new, slower slider, the harder changeup and the even harder fastball/sinker. The veteran made the switch at the suggestion of pitching coach Pete Woodward, who Castillo said he has a lot of confidence in.
The Mariners tried to find some breathing room in the bottom of the seventh against Nate Pearson, one of the Blue Jays’ best relievers: JP led off with a solid hit and Cal singled with one out, but Julio was grounded out by a fly ball, going just under a sinker. The Blue Jays called up lefty Genesis Cabrera to face Luke Raley, who had done all the damage in today’s game, and Servais responded by replacing Mitch Haniger, who we love but who… has been in a tough spot this season. He grounded out, for the Mariners’ twelfth strikeout of the night (they would finish with thirteen on the night. I hate having to Google AP style for 12th vs. 12th when talking about strikeouts).
With a razor-thin lead in the eighth, a phrase I’ve used way too many times this season, Ryne Stanek struck out his three assigned batters, including George Springer, who replaced Kiermaier as a pinch hitter, because it’s all about striking out everyone who scored runs in today’s game, apparently.
The Mariners had another chance to make magic happen with two outs in the eighth inning, when Dylan Moore, Josh Rojas and JP Crawford drew three straight walks off Zach Pop. That brought in Mitch Garver, who hit the first pitch he saw, a 98-mph sinker across the plate, but just a little too high, as it found its way into Daulton Varsho’s glove. With no two outs, that could have been a much-needed insurance run. Stop dithering, Mariners!
So the Mariners had to turn once again to Andrés Muñoz to save the game, a phrase that rings truer than its superficial meaning. Facing the top of the order, Muñoz retired Horwitz, Bichette and Guerrero Jr. on three straight outs, albeit with help from Josh Rojas, who looks more and more like a Gold Glove candidate at third base by the day:
After the game, Servais said they adjusted Rojas’ positioning, placing him lower, because of the tendency of hitters to hit balls weakly toward third base. Thanks to Rojas’ magic and Muñoz’s skill, it made for a stress-free end to a game that had kept both fan bases on edge all night.
I’d like to adopt Raley’s mindset of “I just hope everyone has fun,” but it sure would be nice if tomorrow there could be a little more space for Mariners fans in a packed stadium.