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

After a dismal start to the series, the Mariners finally found their offensive footing in the third game of the series against the PIrates

By Jason Wang |
Seattle Mariners v Pittsburgh Pirates
Seattle Mariners v Pittsburgh Pirates / Justin Berl/GettyImages
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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.

Best Pitcher: George Kirby

97 pitches, 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

After a crushing start against the Tigers that saw him give up three home runs and 11 runs total, Kirby was back in business, putting up a quality start and earning the only win for the Mariners. He had ten whiffs, six of which game against his four-seam fastball, and 15 called strikes, five of which came against his sinker.

Kirby has been a workhorse all year and it's a bright spot that he was able to recover from such a defeat in Detroit. His season ERA and WHIP still stand at 3.40 and 1.08 respectively.

Honorable Mention: Logan Gilbert

6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

While it wasn't as spotless as he might have hoped, Gilbert still had a quality start while reaching a career milestone, topping 100 mph on a pitch for the first time in his career.

With his newfound velocity, he had 14 whiffs, four more than Paul Skenes. Eight of his whiffs came against his slider and eight of his 18 total called strikes came against his four-seam fastball.

Best Moment: Seattle snaps five-game skid

In the span of these five losses, the Mariners played two teams that have a combined probability to make the postseason of 1.7%. Across those five games, the Mariners were outscored by 32-9. In the meantime, the Astros jumped out to a four-game lead in the AL West with a 83.5% chance to win the division. It was a dark time for Seattle fans but a strong performance in the third game could reignite the momentum needed to finish the road trip strong before a homestand against the Giants and Rays.

The strength of the remaining schedule is a little daunting with series against the Padres, Yankees, and Astros yet to come but this team isn't out of the running just yet. Because of how relatively lackluster the division has been thus far, they're more likely to crack the postseason through clinching the division than they are seizing a Wild Card spot but on the bright side, that means that if the Mariners are in, the Astros are probably out.

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