SEATTLE – The game was not completely meaningless, but it wasn’t an anxiety-ridden nail-biter with immediate postseason implications.
The lineups and the pitching use – particularly from the Dodgers – felt more like spring training than last week of September. But a sellout crowd of 45,458 – with a healthy amount of Dodgers fans – brought a level of excitement to T-Mobile Park on Friday night.
And if you put the uniform on, you might as well try to win.
Down a run in the bottom of the ninth, the Mariners loaded the bases with two outs against lefty Tanner Scott. Cal Raleigh doubled into the left-field corner, Julio Rodriguez was intentionally walked and Mitch Garver was hit by a pitch.
But Scott came back to strike out Eugenio Suarez to close out the Dodgers’ 3-2 win over the Mariners.
The loss snapped Seattle’s seven-game winning streak. It was the Mariners first loss at home since Aug. 26.
With the Dodgers clinching the National League West title on Thursday afternoon in Arizona and celebrating afterward and on the eventual flight to Seattle, they rolled out a “hangover” lineup that was without regulars Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy while opting to go with a bullpen start.
Unlike past years where they had one of the top two records in the National League and five days to set up their pitching rotation and get guys healthy, the Dodgers will be playing in the wild-card round, starting on Tuesday. So this weekend will be used to get their postseason roster in order, hence Friday’s bullpen game where seven relievers took the mound.
Meanwhile, the Mariners, who clinched their division a few days ago, are in the process of limiting their starting pitchers, resting dinged up players while still getting reps over the final weekend of games in the regular season.
Expect to see plenty of shortened starts and player substitutions over the next two games, perhaps even young prospect catcher Harry Ford making his first start behind the plate.
In his final start of the regular season and his last tuneup before starting in American League Division Series, George Kirby made one costly mistake in an otherwise dominant performance.
Working with a limited pitch count, Kirby pitched five innings, allowing two runs on three hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts. He struck out the first four batters of the game, using a sinking fastball that reached 98-mph consistently.
Kirby’s lone mistake came in the second inning after Dalton Rushing was able to hustle out a slow rolling ground ball to third base for an infield single. Facing veteran utility player Enrique Hernandez, Kirby fired a 3-1 sinker that was supposed to start off the outside corner and run back on for a strike. Instead, the pitch started on the outside half of the plate and ran back into Hernandez’s bat path. It was turned into a two-run homer.
Rotation for the weekend
The Mariners will go with two of their regular starters on their normal turns in the rotation to close out the regular season
Logan Gilbert will make his final start of the season Saturday, while Bryce Miller will get the start in the finale Sunday. Gilbert’s start will be his 25th of the season, his fewest since his rookie season of 2021 when he made 24 starts. He’ll also finish with his fewest innings pitched since that rookie season, a year after Gilbert led all of baseball with 2082/3 innings pitched.
Gilbert allowed one earned run over six innings in his start Sunday in Houston.
Miller missed time with elbow troubles and has a 5.53 ERA for the season in his 17 starts. But Miller has allowed three earned runs or less in four of his last five starts going into the finale. Miller seems likely to be an option to pitch out of the bullpen at least for the opening round of the postseason.