ATLANTA – When the Braves curiously announced that right-hander Spencer Strider had been scratched from Sunday’s start, roughly three hours before the scheduled noon first pitch at Truist Park, the initial response from Mariners fans wasn’t relief.
Nope, it was a fatalistic reaction, because the Braves opted to go with left-hander Joey Wentz instead.
Mariners’ social media, which isn’t a place for the pragmatic, was apoplectic at the possibility of facing a middling left-handed pitcher instead of a former All-Star, who was working his way back from injury.
Why?
Left-handed starting pitchers, regardless of their past or present success, have made plenty of success against the Mariners this season. They were 3-8 in their last 11 games against left-handed starters, including a pair of games on the road trip.
With a full complement of players available on the roster and manager Dan Wilson able to send out a lineup with only two left-handed hitters, the Mariners showed they can produce against left-handed starters.
In the early afternoon sun and Georgia heat, the Mariners turned the game into a rout early, scoring eight runs in the third inning off Wentz, with the game devolving into an easy 18-2 drubbing of the Braves.
After a 1-6 start to the road trip and looking like a team that would slog its way out of a wild card spot, the Mariners closed it out with back-to-back wins over the Braves.
So what changed?
“It’s just about keeping your head down,” catcher Cal Raleigh said. “But at some point, you just say, ‘screw it,’ and go out and play like we have been all year. It’s the mentality you’ve got take, where you say, ‘No one cares. Game is over. Move on.’ You need to just keep playing loose, keep playing free, keep stealing bags, keep diving for balls, keep swing hard and it’s gonna turn eventually.”
It was the Mariners’ first series win on the road since sweeping the Tigers before the All-Star break.
“A huge series win for us,” Wilson said. “We talked about it before the game about being able to take the momentum from last night and bring it into the day, which we were able to do, and continue to bring the offense.”
Indeed, less than 24 hours after scoring 10 runs on 11 hits, including five homers on Saturday night, the Mariners racked up 18 runs on 20 hits with five more homers.
It wasn’t just that the Mariners got a pair of wins, which they desperately needed, but how they did it – getting hits with runners in scoring position, mashing homers, racking up runs and producing at a level commensurate with their lineup talent. It looked dangerous.
“That’s the lineup that you want to see,” said Eugenio Suarez. “We all know that we have a really good lineups and the last two games it showed up. We did our best. And that’s the team that we all know that we have.”
The Mariners’ run-scoring party started innocently and in an unexpected way.
With two outs in the second inning, Josh Naylor singled to left field off Wentz for the Mariners’ first base runner of the game. Mitch Garver followed with a deep fly ball to center. It was hit well enough that Michael Harris II retreated immediately, knowing it had a chance to go out. Harris neared the wall and jumped to catch it. But the ball just got over his glove and hit off the wall. Naylor scored easily and Garver, who runs, well, like a 34-year-old catcher, kept on chugging around the bases, eventually sliding into third.
Garver’s seventh triple of his career and his first since May 11, 2019 gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
But the Mariners were just getting started.
Here’s how the eight-run third inning unfurled:
- Victor Robles: Singles on an 0-2 curveball to right field
- Randy Arozarena: Six-pitch walk
- Cal Raleigh: Screaming line drive – 105 mph off the bat – to left field to load the bases
- Julio Rodriguez: Bouncing ball to third that takes a bad hop to get through the legs of Nacho Alvarez. All three runners were able to score on what was ruled a double. Mariners lead 4-0
- Eugenio Suarez: Strikeout
- Jorge Polanco: Pulls a low changeup just over the wall in left field on an awkward swing with almost no follow through for his 24th homer of the season. Mariners lead 6-0.
- Josh Naylor: Ambushes a first-pitch fastball, sending a towering fly ball into the Chop House seats in right field for his 18th homer. Mariners lead 7-0.
- Mitch Garver: Single to center, ending Wentz’ outing.
- J.P. Crawford: Single to center off new pitcher lefty Dylan Dodd.
- Robles: Fly out to deep right field
- Arozarena: Single through the left side of the infield to score Garver and Crawford. Mariners lead 9-0
- Raleigh: Strikeout looking
In all, 12 batters came to the plate with eight of them getting hits to score eight runs. Braves pitchers threw 50 pitches in the inning. The last time the Mariners had an inning scoring eight or more runs with eight or more hits was on June 2, 2016 against the Padres at Petco Park. In that memorable game, the Mariners rallied from a 10-run deficit.
There was no rallying from the big deficit for the Braves. Mariners starter Luis Castillo didn’t let the lengthy top of the third – almost 30 minutes bother him.
“I tried to stay loose and warm on the stairs and in the dugout,” Castillo said through interpreter Kate Leahy. “But I was glad the team put up those numbers.”
The veteran right-hander delivered a quality start, pitching six innings and allowing one run four hits with no walks and six strikeouts to improve to 9-8 on the season.
The Mariners received a bit of a scare after the big inning when Matt Olson hit a line-drive comebacker at 100 mph off Castillo’s forearm in the fourth inning. After being checked out by head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson, Castillo remained in the game.
“It hurt, but I feel fine now,” Castillo said. “The trainer looked at my hand and said that everything looked fine, and I had strength and feeling. I threw two pitches and felt fine. So I just continued on.”
The Mariners’ offense continued on against a beleaguered Braves bullpen. Rodriguez led off with a double to start the fifth and scored on Polanco’s sac fly to center. Suarez hit a solo homer off Dodd in the seventh that made it 11-1.
In the ninth inning, Cal Raleigh crushed his 53rd homer of the season – a three-run blast to center off rookie Roldy Munoz – to move within one homer of tying Mickey Mantle for most homers in a season by a switch hitter.
Suarez, who hit four homers in a game against the Braves while with the Diamondbacks earlier this season, launched his second homer of the game, sending a blast to left off position player Vidal Brujan. He’s hit seven homers against Atlanta this season.