Mariners News: Seattle narrowly avoids sweep with a 10-run splash against Pirates

After the first two games against Pittsburgh, it seemed like the team was still trying to shrug off the negativity from the Detroit series. Seattle managed to put the pieces together in a dominant 10-3 outing before heading to Los Angeles for a two-game series against the Dodgers.

Best Hitter: Luke Raley

11 PA, .571/.636/1.000, 4 H, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP

Raley has been having an excellent August, cobbling together a 1.158 OPS over 41 plate appearances so far. He is one of the few Mariners who has been unaffected by this second-half slowdown and may be one of the key pieces of the final stretch of 2024.

His most impressive moment was his home run against Pirates pitching phenomenon Paul Skenes, a 412-foot shot against a 97 mph four-seam fastball left a little too close to the heart of the zone. To his credit, Raley has been great against four-seam fastballs all year, slugging .642 against them.

Honorable Mention: Jorge Polanco

12 PA, .364/.417/.727, 4 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 5 K

Polanco continues his torrid late summer push and has managed to seemingly right the ship. His OPS+ is now 96, a far cry from the 62 OPS+ he had before the All-Star Break. While most of his efforts were buried by being in games that ended up as losses, each stretch of great hitting is another encouraging sign that the front office saw something fans didn't when deciding to retain him as the starting second baseman at the trade deadline.