The Mariners offense explodes in Game 1 win over the Reds

They did it! The Mariners scored a ton of runs in Monday Night's contest against the Cincinnati Reds. The Mariners' offense was absolutely struggling so far this season, and while one game does not make up for that fact, this is an obvious step in the right direction. The Mariners won the game by a score of 9-3. THEY SCORED 9 RUNS!

It all started in the top of the first inning when they made Reds starting pitcher Frankie Montas labor. Frankie threw 45 pitches in the first inning alone, as he walked 4 batters and gave up a home run to Jorge Polanco. Luke Raley got a bunt single in the inning too. J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodriguez each walked to lead the game off, and Polanco made Montas pay.

The Mariners offense came to play in the series opener

Montas had an easy second inning but was chased in the bottom of the third after Mitch Haniger parked one in the pen, his third home run of the season. The Reds only used three pitchers tonight as they brought in swingman Nick Martinez and he pitched 4 solid innings in relief.

The Mariners then tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the 8th inning, thanks to Mitch Haniger's RBI double and Luke Raley's RBI triple. The Mariners walked 6 times tonight and only struck out 7 times as a team. They had 6 extra-base hits tonight as well, with 3 doubles, a triple, and 2 home runs.

Jonatan Clase made his Major League debut tonight, and he even got his first hit and RBI out of the way. Clase was impressive in all of his at-bats tonight. He had a hit robbed from him in the bottom of the third inning when the Reds shortstop, Elly De La Cruz, sprinted from near second base making a sliding grab in what was sure to be a catch-of-the-year candidate.

While the offense was truly impressive tonight, some serious props need to go out to George Kirby. He needed a game to get right, and that is exactly what he did tonight. Kirby went 6 strong innings, only allowing 2 runs, and striking out 6. This Reds lineup is no joke, and he pitched well enough for the Mariners to win Game 1 of this 3-game series.

Some odd stats from today:

• Coming into tonight, the Mariners had only scored 2 runs in the first inning all season. They scored 3 runs in the first tonight.
• The Mariners set a franchise record tonight, not allowing a single walk in 3 straight games.
• The Mariners set a season high in both runs (9) and Extra-Base Hits (6)

As always, Go Mariners!