Mariners show off new uniforms, but they don’t help them connect vs. Astros
The last time these two American League West rivals met at T-Mobile Park, they played 17 innings of scoreless baseball with both wearing normal, er, traditional uniforms. It ended in the 18th inning with the Astros ending the Mariners’ magical 2022 season much to the disappointment of a city reinvigorated by meaningful baseball.
On Friday night, 212 days since that playoff marathon, the Mariners donned their new “city connect” ensemble, which probably caught more than a few viewers by surprise despite the saturated marketing campaign, the two teams with expectations of winning the division met again, providing the more in the way of offense and runs being scored.
Like the elimination heartbreaker last October, the final result — another loss to Houston — remained the same as so many games before in their previous meetings.
Kyle Tucker blasted a two-run homer to dead center in the top of the ninth off reliever Matt Brash to break a tie game in what would be a 6-4 Astros victory.
“I thought the city connect unis would spark our comeback,” manager Scott Servais said, trying to force some humor amid his frustration.
Instead, the Mariners are 0-1 while wearing black baseball pants.
That Tucker got the chance to swing at the 3-2 breaking ball was a point of consternation for the Mariners.
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Why?
Brash appeared to have struck out Tucker on the pitch before, putting a backdoor slider right on the outside corner. Instead, home plate umpire Shane Livensparger called it a ball, much to the disbelief of the Mariners dugout and the 32,944 in attendance.
“Matt Brash has done a really good job for us all year,” Servais said. “He really has. I think tonight it was the first home run he’s ever given up as a relief pitcher. It probably should not have happened. I thought he had Tucker struck out. It was a really good pitch from him. Unfortunately, we did not get the call, and they put a big swing on us after that.”
When Servais went to remove Brash from the game later in the inning, he let Livensparger know his displeasure at the missed pitch as he walked back to the dugout. Livensparger took exception to the comment and quickly ejected Servais, who lit into the umpire at home plate.
“These are always competitive games,” Servais said. “We did execute. We didn’t get the call. I hate to say it comes down to one pitch for the outcome of a game, but it really did tonight. He missed it. There’s nothing we could do about it now. But unfortunately, it happens. Some of those will go our way, eventually. We needed to get it tonight. It work out. It’s very frustrating.”
The Mariners had a fleeting hope in the bottom of the ninth against Astros closer Ryan Pressley. Teoscar Hernandez led off with a line drive to left-center.
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A crisp leadoff single was an ideal way to start a comeback.
But Hernandez inexplicably tried to stretch it into a double after he hesitated slightly. He was originally called safe on the field, but replay correctly overruled the call.
“Nobody feels worse about it more than Teo,” Servais said. “There were some positives. He had some good at-bats tonight. We’re seeing him starting to slow down at the plate here the last couple of days which is great sign. Teo is a true professional. This guy prepares as well as anybody we’ve ever had come through here. He’s a very positive guy and he made a mistake. He’s as hard on himself as anybody. He made a mistake in the ninth inning. You’ve got to move on from it, learn from it and go from there.”
The mistake loomed large when J.P. Crawford singled in the next plate appearance. The Mariners could’ve had runners on first and second with no outs and the go-ahead run coming to the plate. Instead, Taylor Trammell hit a hard ground ball to first baseman Jose Abreu, who stepped on the bag for the second out and fired to second. Crawford tried to keep the game alive, getting into a rundown but was eventually tagged out to end the game.
“We’re gonna play these guys tough all year,” Servais said. “It didn’t go our way tonight. But we’ll come back and get them tomorrow.”
The Mariners got a decent start from Luis Castillo. He pitched seven innings, allowing a season-high four runs on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
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Three of those runs came on one vicious swing of the bat from the one hitter who has been unending nightmare for the Mariners and their fans — Yordan Alvarez
With two outs in the third inning, the hulking Alvarez came to the plate with runners on first and third.
Castillo threw him consecutive change-ups to start the at-bat. The first one was perfect, sinking low and away from Alvarez right at the bottom of the zone for a called strike. The next changeup was everything that first one wasn’t. It lacked movement and leaked over the middle of the plate. Alvarez crushed the mistake, sending a towering blast into the seats in deep right-center. The ball had 109-mph exit velocity and traveled 408 feet in the unseasonably chilly evening air for his seventh homer.
“The first changeup, it look like perfect, right where I wanted to put it,” Castillo said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “The second one, I wanted to put it in the same place, but unfortunately I put it where he could hit it and he hit the home run.”
The situation could’ve been avoided had Castillo not walked Alex Bregman, in the plate appearance before, after getting up 1-2 in the count.
“The walk to Bregman ahead of (Alvarez) really set that all up,” Servais said.
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The Astros tacked on another run in the fourth. Tucker scored from third when Jeremy Pena was thrown out at second on stolen base attempt.
Down 4-0, the Mariners seemed without hope. This wasn’t the Oakland A’s they were playing. And to that point in the game, starter Cristian Javier was carving Mariners hitters, holding them hitless through the first four innings with six strikeouts.
Cal Raleigh singled to start the fifth inning for the Mariners’ first hit of the game. More would follow as Hernandez looped another single to right field. With one out, Trammell worked a walk to load the bases.
They got unloaded by No. 9 hitter Kolten Wong, who roped a double into right-center to score all three runs and cut the lead to 4-3.
“It’s just a big situation,” Wong said. “I got down 0-2 quick and we were down 4-0 at the time; it was a big situation. I definitely got a little excited for sure.”
The Mariners tied the game in the eighth inning. With two outs, three consecutive singles from Ty France, Jarred Kelenic and Eugenio Suarez produced the tying run.
“It was nice to see our offense kind of come together,” Servais said. “We did some really good things in the fourth inning. We put some some quality at-bats together, not trying to do too much and understanding certainly respecting the quality of their pitching.”
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Source: The Seattle Times
