A Mariners team that has spent much of the season walking a tightrope with a major league-best 12 one-run wins rediscovered what it’s like to enjoy a night of pure celebration with a 9-0 victory. over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday.
“Fun game,” manager Scott Servais said of a victory that improved the Mariners to 33-27, six games over .500, a season-high, and kept them four games in front of the West Division. the American League. “There’s a lot of really good stuff out there.”
So many that it was almost difficult to count them all.
First up were the nine runs, tied for the third-most Seattle has scored all season and the most since scoring 10 on May 7 against Minnesota. That offense combined with Bryce Miller and three relievers pitching a shutout to give the Mariners their largest margin of victory all season.
The offensive outburst came a day after the team announced the firing of bench coach and offensive coordinator Brant Brown.
It was a difficult move for Servais, who considers Brown, a former teammate of his with the Cubs, a good friend.
But the results of the last two days indicated that something has changed: 14 runs in consecutive victories over the Angels, while recording seven walks along with nine hits against just six strikeouts on Saturday.
“I think we’re just freeing things up,” Servais said. “I know that’s been a point of emphasis here over the last few days: let’s release these players. Let’s talk and really focus on what they do well and play to their strengths. And some guys need to be more aggressive. Some guys need to be less aggressive. But whatever you do, and it will allow you to get to the big leagues and be successful at this level, let’s get back to doing that and worry less about what they’re shooting at us or how they’re throwing at us and things like that. ”
Everyone certainly felt much more relaxed when shortstop JP Crawford opened the game with a grand slam in the fourth inning to make the score 5-0.
Crawford entered the play with two outs after walks to Luke Raley and rookie Ryan Bliss filled the walks.
Crawford fell behind 1-2, then fouled off an 84.9 mph slider to stay alive, and then took a slider for a ball.
Angels starting pitcher Reid Detmers, who was ejected after the game, then tried to sneak in a pitch as slow as he has in his arsenal: a curveball clocked at 76.3 miles per hour.
Crawford had seen a 76.4 mile per hour curveball pass for a strike in the third inning in an at-bat that ended in a fly ball.
Crawford didn’t miss the opportunity this time, knocking it over the wall just minutes after the roof, which had begun to close at the top of the entrance, had finally crossed completely.
“I was just trying to be quick with the ball and not do too much,” Crawford said. “He threw me one (a curveball) in the previous at-bat and then I felt it. But he just reacted. Fortunately everything happened. Fortunately the roof was closed.”
The home run continued an incredible streak for Crawford since 2023 with the bases loaded. Since the start of the 2023 season, Crawford is 13-for-20 with full bags, with three doubles, a triple and three home runs, good for 34 RBIs and a staggering 1.941 OPS.
“He’s a great guy to have him up there (with the bases loaded),” Servais said. “He finds a way. He usually swings at the right pitches. He doesn’t come out and that’s a big part of the problem. He keeps fighting some things and all of a sudden the guy leaves a breaking ball up the middle and takes a big swing on it.”
Miller, who had allowed three hits and a walk in the first three innings, then set about retiring the next 10 in a row. Miller, now 5-5, said he didn’t feel like he had a good handle on his fastball in a second inning when he allowed a single and a walk and decided to throw mostly breaking balls in the third, which he said , led to him finally locating his fastball.
“I guess it fell out of my pocket and I lost it,” he said. “But I found it between innings.”
Seattle then added four more in the sixth, including a solo home run by Luke Raley, a two-run double by Cal Raleigh and a run-scoring single by Julio Rodriguez, to make it a full-scale rout.
Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and is now 13-for-32 in the last eight games with 10 RBIs.
All of that led to a day of celebration like the Mariners have had all season at T-Mobile with 39,932 people on Pride Day.
But the one who had the most fun may have been rookie Ryan Bliss, a 24-year-old player who played in only his fourth major league game.
The speedy 5-foot-6 second baseman walked in each of his first two plate appearances. In the third, he then stole second and third for the first two stolen bases of his career before scoring on Rodriguez’s single to make it 1-0.
Stealing second, Detmers threw to first and it appeared that Bliss was momentarily intercepted before Bliss beat the throw to second.
Bliss said she never worried. “I felt like I could get there with my speed,” she said with a smile.
In the fourth, he walked again and reached base to come home on Crawford’s slam.
He then helped score the four-run sixth with his first major league hit, a single to center that followed Raley’s home run that made the score 6-0. He then scored and reached second when Crawford followed with a fly ball.
He slid headlong into second and was momentarily shaken when he collided with Angels second baseman Luis Rengifo.
But after being treated, he stayed in the game.
“Nothing that bad,” he said of the injury. “A little sting.”
He’ll also always have a souvenir (the ball from his first major league hit) from a fun Saturday at the park.
“For now I’m going to keep it until the end of the season,” he said. “Then I’ll probably put it somewhere nice in front of everything I have in the house during the offseason.”
Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com; Bob Condotta covers the Seahawks for the Seattle Times. Provides daily equipment coverage throughout the year.
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