Elite pitching leads the way during Mariners' hot stretch

Over the last week, the Seattle pitching staff has been lights out. In the last seven days, the Mariners have played in six games. In all six games, the M's starting pitcher has delivered a quality start. Per the Mariners PR X account, the Seattle rotation had combined for a 1.97 ERA, 4 walks, and 31 strikeouts heading into yesterday's game against the Cincinnati Reds.

Logan Gilbert continued the group's sterling run with his second start of the stretch. He pitched 6.2 innings and struck out 6 batters while allowing just one run on three hits and one walk. He continued his fantastic start to the season, as he now has an ERA of just 2.33 through four starts.

In the last six games, the Mariners have not given up more than four runs in a single game and have twice held opposing offense to just one run. The team has gone 4-2 during this timeframe, a stellar winning percentage.

A new team record has helped the staff dominate

A large piece of Seattle's pitching excellence has been their ability to limit free passes. The pitching staff walked four batters on Tuesday but had set a new franchise record by not allowing a single walk in the previous three games. They increased the record to 30.0 innings before Gilbert issued a walk in the fourth inning.

The bullpen has played its part as well. They combined for a 2.20 ERA in the six games, as well as 19 strikeouts compared to six walks in 16.1 innings of work. Every piece of this pitching staff is clicking and firing on all cylinders.

With the bats starting to wake up as well, Seattle is in a fantastic position to take a lead over the rest of the AL West. Even at just 8-10, the Mariners are only one game back of the Texas Rangers, who are just 3-7 over the last ten games. Seattle just clinched their first series win of the season, and have plenty of momentum, as well as an offensive spark being provided from prospect Jonatan Clase.

The Mariners are still just 26th in the MLB in runs scored, making this run from the pitching staff even more valuable. Starters such as George Kirby and Luis Castillo have not had the greatest starts to the season but were dialed in and gave good performances this past week. The rotation that was considered one of the best in the league is finally pitching like it, and with an expected increase in run production coming as players such as Julio Rodriguez heat up, Seattle could be a very dangerous team in the coming weeks.