Everyone digs an assortment of runs
After an Apple TV affair that saw the Mariners combine for three homers – accounting for all five of their runs – and sail to an easy victory in the opening game of the first series of the vaunted Vedder Cup, the Mariners found themselves facing a familiar, difficult foe tonight: Nick Pivetta. Always one to rack up strikeouts, Pivetta feasted on the swing-happy 2024 Mariners on two separate occasions with the Red Sox, punching out twenty and walking just a single Seattle batter over two starts, reaching double-digit Ks in each. With a dismal 1-5 homestand still visible in the rearview mirror, you wouldn’t be at fault if you strapped yourself in for another similar performance on a surprisingly gray San Diego evening.
To the bats’ credit, they didn’t make it easy for Pivetta to kick off the game. J.P. Crawford and Jorge Polanco combined for a pair of flyouts on eight pitches, and Julio Rodríguez fell behind 0-2 before swinging at a sweeper well off the plate for… hold on, a flare into right for a base hit?
We can have questionable swing decisions work out sometimes, as a treat! Cal Raleigh worked a five-pitch walk to push Julio into scoring position, and Randy Aronzarena battled to a full count. While he couldn’t come up with an early lead, striking out on a low-and-away four-seam on the black, the M’s had pushed Pivetta’s pitch count north of twenty in the first; always an encouraging sign. Emerson Hancock fell into a full count against Fernando Tatís Jr. and a 2-2 count to Luis Arráez, but easily dispatched them and Manny Machado on three tidy ground ball outs. Throw in the sinker sitting at a healthy 95-96, and early signs looked promising.
Alas, they didn’t continue for long. Pivetta easily settled in for the second, breezing through Rowdy Tellez, Dylan Moore, and Miles Mastrobuoni on a pop up and two strikeouts, and Hancock fell victim to some frustrating BABIP luck, with Jackson Merrill sneaking a ground ball through the right side on a perfect outside changeup. Xander Bogaerts hit a bloop to end all bloops to center field to put multiple runners on with nary an out. Gavin Sheets obliged with a groundout to Rowdy, but both Merrill and Bogaerts were able to advance. The spectre of the fifth inning in Hancock’s last outing lingered. Jake Cronenworth and Elías Díaz aren’t exactly Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge, but some combination of strikeouts and weak contact were needed.
Emerson not only provided the whiffs, he provided the gas, blowing away Cronenworth on the fastest four-seam of his career (look, Savant had this at 97.6 MPH, but 98 just sounds so much cooler, you know?).
He would fall behind Díaz 3-1 before a generous strike call (or strong frame by Cal Raleigh? You decide) on an outside slider got him back in the count, and Hancock doubled up on the heat, firing a 96 MPH fastball on the black that all Díaz could do was swing through.
Although Pivetta again sat down the M’s 1-2-3, Hancock continued unabated in the third, touching 97 and working around a harmless two-out single from Arráez for a scoreless frame. That knock, however, may have been a bit more of a thorn in the side had it not been for Julio making a quick readjustment to rob Tatís Jr. of a hit with a sliding grab.
The fourth inning started on a similar good note, with Merrill and Bogaerts facing sudden BABIP regression on two groundouts in a combined four pitches, but here’s where Hancock wavered just enough. Not on a cookie, either – once again on a pretty good changeup down and away from the lefty Gavin Sheets, who was able to muscle the ball out to center field and give the Padres their first lead of the series. Rats, but hey, rather it be a solo shot then the start of a snowball. Emerson battled Cronenworth for eight pitches – his longest faceoff of the night – before getting him on a flyout to Randy, but Pivetta had retired the last ten straight hitters, and an adjustment was needed quick.
The ROOT scorebug barely had time to appear on screen before Rowdy got them right back in it.
That was it for the bats, but after the game got re-energized, Hancock strode back out for the fifth. The third time through the order was looming, but Díaz was retired on a first-pitch flyout. Then, clench. Jason Heyward hit a 2-2 sinker the other way for a base hit, and Tatís Jr. laced a double down the right field line. Mastrobuoni, filling in for a floundering Leody Taveras in right, was able to corral the ball and fire it back into the infield before Heyward got the green light, leaving two runners in scoring position for Luis Arráez. Much to the contact king’s chagrin, Hancock wisely pitched around him, loading the bases for *gulp* Manny Machado.
Turns out Machado was no match for this new gear of Emerson Hancock, as he blew three 97 MPH fastballs by him. A foul for strike two was the only contact Manny could muster, and I have to say, this sequence reminded me of Emerson’s start in Boston when he did nearly the same to Rafael Devers.
In the excitement, you may have forgotten that that was just the second out, and the Padres still had the bases loaded. Dan Wilson brought out the ~early hook, calling on Gabe Speier to snuff out the threat with the lefty Merrill due up. In the sudden downpour that took residence above Petco Park, Gabe’s Babes were once again validated.
In a downright progressive managerial decision, Dan Wilson opted to keep Speier in for the sixth, and he obliged, setting down Bogaerts, Sheets, and Cronenworth in order. The M’s couldn’t get to Nick Pivetta again in the top of the frame, either, but Julio battled valiantly in what proved to be the final out of his start, climbing back to 2-2 from 0-2 before being frozen on a perfect – and I do mean perfect – cutter on the low-inside corner for strike three. But hey, he chewed up seven pitches, which may have been the difference between Pivetta starting the seventh and Mike Shildt opting to bring in the lefty Adrian Morejon. Cal Raleigh climbed in, this time from the right side, and on a single pitch, the Dumper did what the Dumper does.
We’re a little over a quarter of the way into the 2025 Major League Baseball season. Early, sure, but pretty firmly past early. Cal Raleigh is trailing only Shohei Ohtani in home runs. He’s rocking a 176 wRC+ and a walk rate north of 15%. His 2.7 fWAR is a full win over the next-highest qualified primary catcher (Will Smith of Dodger fame) and tied with Ohtani and Bobby Witt Jr. for fourth-highest in the league. Extrapolated out to a full season, he’s in line to turn in just under seven wins. I don’t know about you, but I look at those numbers and see a true, bona fide, genu-wine star. And he’s ours for quite some time!
Randy kept the part going with a base knock the other way, but Morejon dug in, predictably striking out the pinch-hitting Donovan Solano. Jeremiah Estrada, a right-hander, came in to finish the frame, making quick work of DMo and Mastrobuoni, but the Mariners got to counter with Matt Brash. He spun a perfect seventh without breaking a sweat, reminding all of us how great it is that he’s once again lurking in Seattle’s ‘pen.
Jason Adam and his weird, shot-put delivery stymied the Mariners’ offense, and somewhat surprisingly, Casey Legumina came in to start the eighth against San Diego’s fearsome 3-4-5. To his credit, Bean Man was outstanding last night, striking out the side around a lone base hit, and he was able to notch the first two outs without any trouble – though J.P. Crawford had a big hand in the first one. And hey, shoutout to Solano for staying with the throw and making the tag.
Bogaerts continued his pesky ways by flipping a base hit into right, and with the dangerous Sheets climbing in, Dan made the call to go to Andrés Muñoz for the first time in the eighth inning all season. A refreshing decision – and one I grew quite fond of under Scott Servais – paid off, with Sheets harmlessly grounding out. Still, with a one-run lead, I don’t blame anyone for feeling a touch uneasy. Some insurance would be lovely.
Alek Jacob and his funky, 85 MPH fastball from a short-arm sling (seriously if I was a righty hitter I would HATE to be in the box against him) was happy to oblige. While Julio struck out to open the ninth, Cal Raleigh worked his second walk of the night, Randy juuuuuust barely kept a swinging bunt fair to reach, and Donovan Solano redeemed his deflating K by grinding out a nine-pitch walk (yeah, really) to load the bases with just one out. Jacob did his best to paint the inside corner to Moore, but Dylan was able to keep his hands in and send a first-pitch sinker to left, bringing in a pair and some crucial breathing room.
Not that Muñoz needed it of course, as the bottom of the Padres’ order easily went down in order, but a pair of runs coming in with sequenced walks and hits? Love that so much, and I love a series win after one of the more crushing homestands in recent memory even more. Tomorrow promises to once again bring a formidable opponent, this time in Michael King. Being content with a series win is perfectly defensible – after all, you know what they say about birds, hands, and bushes. With Bryan Woo set to toe the slab for the Mariners coming off a spectacular outing against the mighty Yankees, though, the Mariners have as good a chance as anyone to keep the good times rolling – and make a statement in the Vedder Cup.