SEATTLE – Their run of unexpected hitting heroes and their win streak continued again Friday night.
Two nights ago, it was Leo Rivas with the unlikely walkoff homer to beat the Cardinals in the bottom of the 13th inning. Less than 24 hours earlier, rookie Harry Ford hit a walkoff sac fly in his fourth MLB plate appearance to beat the Angels in 12 innings.
So who was it this time?
It was back-up catcher Mitch Garver, in the seventh inning, with a home run.
The veteran catcher, who’s had his struggles since signing with Seattle last season, smashed a solo homer off right-handed reliever Jonathan Brogdon to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead that they would turn into a 2-1 victory.
It was Seattle’s seventh straight win. The Mariners improved to 80-68 and remained tied with the Astros atop the AL West.
Facing an old friend in lefty Yusei Kikuchi, the Mariners grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. With one out, Cal Raleigh hit the first of his two doubles in the game. He would later score on Jorge Polanco’s two-out double into the left field corner.
It was the fifth straight game where Polanco has hit a double. He has an extra basehit in seven straight games.
Luis Castillo gave the Mariners six scoreless innings, allowing a hit with two walks and five strikeouts. He looked more like the pitcher that, along with Bryan Woo, helped carry the rotation in the first half of the season.
With the bullpen taxed from two straight days of 13-inning games, the Mariners tried to stretch Castillo for a few more outs. At 93 pitches, they brought him out to start the seventh inning, hoping he could get through it without incident.
But when Luis Rengifo led off with a single to left field, manager Dan Wilson decided to go to his bullpen. Right-hander Carlos Vargas entered the game but couldn’t prevent the inherited runner from scoring. A wild pitch advanced Rengifo to second. Logan Davidson hit a hard groundball down the first base line that tipped off first baseman Luke Raley’s glove on his diving attempt. It went for a run-scoring double, tying the game at 1-1.
Raleigh’s patience tested
The most surprising aspect of the Mariners’ winning streak?
They’ve done it without getting a whole lot this week from Cal Raleigh.
The main reason for that: Pitchers are barely giving him a chance to swing.
Coming into Friday, Raleigh had walked eight times in the previous four games, the most walks in a four-game stretch in his five-year MLB career.
Raleigh, in the midst of one of the greatest seasons by a catcher in MLB history, leads the majors with 53 home runs. He homered in back-to-back games in Atlanta last weekend to help start the Mariners’ winning streak.
He needs one more homer to tie Mickey Mantle (1961) for the most home runs by a switch-hitter in a season and three more to tie Ken Griffey Jr. for the Mariners’ franchise record.
Since the start of the homestand, though, Raleigh has only one hit in the first four games this week, in part because he just hasn’t been getting as many strikes to swing at.
In the season’s first half, almost half of the pitches Raleigh saw (48.9%) were in the strike zone. That figure has dipped to 44.4% since Aug. 1, per FanGraphs’ metrics.
In extra-inning games Wednesday and Thursday, Raleigh walked three times in each game, just the sixth player in franchise history to walk that many times in back-to-back games, and the first since Jesse Winker in 2022.
Three of Raleigh’s walks this week were intentional, and he’s third among all MLB hitters with 16 intentional walks this season, tied with Shohei Ohtani. Aaron Judge ranks first with 30.
Raleigh’s 14.1% walk rate is a career high and ranks ninth this season in MLB.
He said Friday the added walks of late haven’t changed his approach at the plate.
“It happens. You can’t control it,” Raleigh said. “Just take your walks when you get ’em and be ready for the mistake.”
What’s next for Harry Ford?
In Raleigh and Garver, the Mariners might have the best catching tandem in MLB.
In Harry Ford, they have one of the most highly regarded young catchers, too.
In a storybook moment, Ford was the hero of Thursday’s 12-inning walkoff of the Angels, sending a high fly ball to right field to score Jorge Polanco, Ford’s first RBI as a major-leaguer.
Ford was the last position player on the bench and he was called with the bases loaded and no outs for just the fourth plate appearance of his MLB career. And he delivered.
“So thrilled for him,” manager Dan Wilson said. “… For Harry to be prepared for a moment like that speaks volumes about all the people that have poured into him in the minor-league level and get him to the plate there in that situation.”
Playing time has been scant for Ford since being promoted Sept. 1, and some fans have wondered why a prospect with his pedigree hasn’t been given more opportunities.
The answer is pretty straight forward: At this time of year, in the middle of a pennant race, it’d be almost unheard of to break in a new catcher to a competitive team, much less a catcher with no major-league experience.
It would be a big adjustment for a pitching staff, to say the least.
There haven’t been at-bats available for Ford at DH either, given how well Polanco is swinging it, and the occasional DH day for Raleigh.
For now, Ford said he’s soaking up his first big-league experience in whatever role is asked of him.
“It’s been really, really cool,” Ford said. “I’m learning every day watching and being around them. It’s been really valuable watching Cal catch every day and learning from him.”