Mariners vs. Tigers: Seattle’s Offense Roars

The Seattle Mariners offense showed up and showed out, clobbering the Detroit Tigers to get the M’s their ninth series sweep of the year.

The bats put up 21 runs total over the three games which are the third most the Mariners have scored in a three-game series this year, following only the mid-August sweep of the Angels (25 runs) and the first series sweep of the year in April of the Royals (22 runs).

The bats broke out for the Mariners in the sweep over the Tigers in Detroit

A large part of the offensive dominance in this series is due to the return of Ty France. Yes, Ty returned to the lineup on August 5th after dealing with the same wrist injury that caused him to miss a few weeks earlier in the year, however, he didn’t look like himself.

France was batting just above .140 in the month of August before the team’s trip to Motown. His season average had dropped to effectively his worst average of the year, .275, before the teams series finale against the Guardians. But following a two-hit night in a 4-0 win over Cleveland, Ty has been incredible.

In this series, France went six for 12 with five RBIs and two home runs, and three in four games. He looked like himself which bodes well for the Mariners if they want a chance to get that top Wild Card seed that would allow them to get a three-game series at T-Mobile Park to kick off their first playoff campaign in over two decades.

The key to the explosive offense in this series was jumping on the Tigers early. They scored 15 runs combined in the first four innings of each ballgame, with their lowest run total being two runs in the first four of game two, but they were able to add insurance runs to seal a 5-3 victory.

Seattle also was digging the long ball this series. They scored ten of their 21 runs off of seven home runs from six different hitters.

The offense showed their teeth, and the bullpen showed why they are one of baseball’s top relief units. They racked up 11 strikeouts in 10 innings and only gave up three runs, all three of which were given up by Chris Flexen in his third bullpen appearance of the year.

The nine-run lead the Mariners had accumulated through five innings in game one allowed the team to limit George Kirby’s outing to only 79 pitches. The offense allowed the Mariners to get a similar opportunity in the finale with Logan Gilbert who threw six shutout innings on 84 pitches. This is huge as the Mainers go down the stretch because Logan Gilbert and George Kirby both have already pitched the most innings in their college, Minor League, and in Logan’s case, Major League careers.

Scott Servais and Jerry Dipoto are obviously aware of this and now with rosters having expanded in September, the addition of Matthew Boyd to the bullpen as a long-reliever and Flexen’s move to the pen allows the club to keep the future of their pitching staff healthy for a playoff run this year and for years to come.

Up next for Seattle is a short flight to Cleveland for a three-game series against the team that the Mariners nearly swept a week ago, the Guardians.