Big Bats, Big Dumper, Big Series Win for Mariners against Red Sox
In what was an eventful week, the Mariners find a way to win this 3 game series against the Boston Red Sox. The trade deadline came and went during the series, with the only one notable trade being made. The Mariners sent closer Paul Sewald to the Diamondbacks, and you can read about that here. But today, we are here to talk about the awesome series win against the boys from Bean Town.
Game 1: Mariners 6, Red Sox 2
Game one had it all. Great pitching, timely hitting and Big Dumper continuing his reign of AL East dominance. Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta dominated the Mariners lineup, going 7.1 innings while striking out 10. He did not walk a batter. But Big Dumper got to him twice, hitting 2 home runs off of Pivetta in the 2nd and 7th innings. That would give the Mariners a 2-1 lead in the 7th, and the M's piled on after Pivetta had left the ballgame.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, with the bases loaded, Julio Rodriguez came through in the clutch with a 2-run single to blow the game wide open. Eugenio Suarez and Teoscar Hernandez followed up with RBI's of their own, and the Mariners held on to win 6-2. George Kirby was sharp enough, allowing only 1 run in 5 innings of work. He did walk 2 batters, and one walk did come around to score on what will be in blooper reels for years to come.
Game 2: Red Sox 6, Mariners 4
The Mariners dropped game 2 by just 2 runs, but it sure felt like a lot more than that. Bryce Miller struggled, giving up home runs to Alex Verdugo and Reese McGuire to give up 6 total runs. Miller (7-4, 4.35) walked two batters, while striking out 4. The Mariners bullpen, however, held the Red Sox to just 2 hits in 3.1 innings. New member of the Arm Barn Trent Thornton went 2.1 innings and struck out 3.
Game 3: Mariners 6, Red Sox 3
Game 3 was a wild one. The Red Sox started the scoring with a 2-run home run by Jarren Duran off of M's starter Logan Gilbert. The Sox then added another run on a Masataka Yoshida single to go up 3-0. That's when the Mariners' chaos ball came into play. Big Dumper brought life back into the stadium with a 2-run home run of his own. He battled Sox reliever John Schreiber, and clubbed the home run on pitch number 10 of the at-bat.
The rest of the scoring would come in the bottom of the 7th inning. With the score 3-2 BOS, Pinch hitting rookie Cade Marlowe tied the game with a single, scoring newcomer Dom Canzone to tie the game. Julio gave the Mariners the lead with an RBI single, followed by Eugenio Suarez doing the same. Then the Mariners pulled off something that has not been done by a Mariner since 2019. Julio freaking STOLE HOME. Mallex Smith was the last Mariner to do it.
Eugenio Suarez kept his RBI streak going at 8 games strong. Julio extended his on-base streak to 27 games and kept his hitting streak intact at 11 games. The Mariners were able to pass the Angels and are tied with the Yankees in the wild card race, just 3.5 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays. The M's are still just 6 games back of the division lead.
Seattle heads down to Southern California for a 4 game series against the Halos. with only 1/3 of the season remaining, the Mariners will need to at least split this series. A series win would do wonders, but a split should be attainable. As always, Go Mariners!