Mariners notes: Gilbert sparkles in Houston, Raleigh launches series-winning home run
The constant Mariners carousel of shutdown starting pitching feels like a broken record, manager Scott Servais admits. This extended stretch of dominance from baseball’s best rotation began impressive, grew to noteworthy, and blossomed to historic.
It was unsustainable, by nature. But the Mariners defied the odds. From April 10 on, after each and every sparkling start, Servais sat at the podium to recall history.
Logan Gilbert’s eight-inning shutout of the rival Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on Saturday night marked the Mariners’ 21st consecutive start allowing two or fewer earned runs, tying the 1917 Chicago White Sox for the second-most in MLB history, per Mariners PR. In those 21 starts, Seattle starters allowed 20 total earned runs.
A collapse from Seattle’s bullpen let Friday night’s series opener with the Astros slip away one night before, but Gilbert, along with a “pissed off” lineup, returned for what Servais considered the team’s most complete game of the season in Saturday’s 5-0 win in the middle game. The Mariners piled 10 hits, routinely pressuring Astros All-Star Framber Valdez with traffic.
But this stretch of elite Seattle pitching? “It’s pretty special,” Logan Gilbert said Saturday night. “It’s exciting when it’s your turn, because you want to just keep it going.
“Everyone else has built the momentum, then I get to go today and try to keep it going based on what George (Kirby did Friday). A good guy to follow.”
It isn’t hyperbolic to consider Gilbert a way-too-early AL Cy Young Award contender. Saturday brought the latest evidence, where the 27-year-old flashed plus command of his slider, curveball, and splitter, perfect complements to a four-seam fastball that touched 98 mph. And his offense provided refreshing run support, aided by late home runs from battery-mate Cal Raleigh and third baseman Luis Urias.
Gilbert’s final line: Eight innings, two hits, no runs, four walks, and six strikeouts. He induced three double plays and the Astros went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position.
“Of course the slider and cutter, (Cal and I are) gonna go to every game, but it’s about when,” Gilbert said Saturday. “And I think Cal has a really good awareness for that.”
Seattle’s streak, unseen in baseball for over a century, ended Sunday, when Bryce Miller surrendered four earned runs in seven innings of work.
But Urias lashed a game-tying, RBI single in the eighth inning and Raleigh demolished a go-ahead solo home run into the left field Crawford Boxes in the ninth, again heroes at Minute Maid Park. High-leverage reliever Andres Munoz notched a four-out save and the Mariners grabbed Sunday’s rubber match in comeback fashion, 5-4.
The rotation’s historic stretch ended at 21 games, but another grew – the Mariners are winners of six consecutive series.
“That’s what we need to do night in and night out,” Servais said of his offense on Saturday, following the first of Raleigh’s two blasts in Houston. “Those homers come when you’re doing the right things.”
RELIEF: GARVER’S WALK-OFF TURNS SHUTOUT INTO THRILLER
As Mitch Garver watched Monday night’s walk-off home run sail 412 feet into the Seattle night, the Mariners designated hitter nonchalantly flipped his bat and lifted both arms to the air, eyes to the heavens – the embodiment of relief, the body language of “about time.”
Garver prepared for a fastball or hoped to fight off a changeup. But Braves reliever A.J. Minter threw a cutter over the middle. The 33-year-old Garver barreled it.
His two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Mariners to a 2-1 victory in Monday night’s series opener at T-Mobile Park over the Atlanta Braves, a very real World Series contender. He pulled Seattle “from the depths,” coined by Mariners broadcaster Dave Sims as Garver rounded second base, to the most inconceivable of victories. And he saved a scuffling offense that, for most of Monday night, appeared destined to land on the wrong side of history, instead thrusting them into the win column.
Manager Scott Servais sat down for his postgame presser with a smile: “Good pitching, timely hitting, W. Simple.”
If only it was so simple.
Seattle’s Bryce Miller vs. Atlanta’s Max Fried became an instant and ultimate pitcher’s duel. Both pitchers twirled no-hit bids through six innings, just the fifth instance in MLB this century. Miller was perfect through five.
“We had plenty of opportunities to score in that game,” Garver told reporters Monday night. “We left some runners out there in the eighth. … Tough pitching all night tonight, on both sides.”
Miller twirled one of the finer starts in his young career, silencing a Braves offense with a reputation as one of the sport’s best. The 25-year-old located a rising four-seamer to perfection and mixed effective off-speed that impressed Servais equally.
Atlanta eventually scratched across a seventh-inning run – Miller battled in the frame to surrender just one – and was suddenly in line for a loss despite a start that flirted with history.
It required a single swing from Garver, his first-ever walk-off homer in professional baseball, to cure Seattle’s hitting woes, if only for a night.
“In a time where things aren’t going my way and I’m not feeling quite like myself, to be able to come through for the team in any way, shape, or form is a huge W,” Garver said.
Seattle grabbed Tuesday’s middle game over the Braves, 3-2, and secured a fifth consecutive series win behind Luis Castillo’s brilliant, seven-inning shutout and Jorge Polanco’s two-run homer.
SHORT HOPS
– Brad Smith and Kathy Surace-Smith purchased shares in the Mariners franchise, just the third new partners since July of 1992, announced Wednesday by chairman and managing partner John Stanton in a team release.
Smith approaches nine years as Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President, part of 30-plus years with the Redmond-based tech company. Surace-Smith is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Legal Affairs at NanoString Technologies, Inc.
“We’re excited to join the Partnership Group and support the Mariners success, both on the field and in service to the community,” the Smiths said in the release.
– 3B Josh Rojas is 27-for-75 (.360) this season and finished a home run shy of the cycle in Sunday’s series finale at Houston.
– RHP Bryan Woo threw another strong rehab start with Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday night, a five-inning shutout (three hits) with six strikeouts and zero walks. His imminent return (elbow inflammation) and season-debut with the major league club adds an additional layer of depth and deception for Seattle’s already stacked rotation.
Woo’s numbers in three Triple-A Tacoma starts since April 21: 11 ⅓ innings pitched, five hits, no runs, no walks, 17 strikeouts.
ON DECK
Seattle’s road trip continues at Target Field in Minneapolis, where the Mariners meet the Minnesota Twins across a four-game set. Seattle’s Luis Castillo takes the mound for Monday’s series opener. First pitch is scheduled for 4:40 p.m. PT.
This story was originally published May 5, 2024 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Mariners notes: Gilbert sparkles in Houston, Raleigh launches series-winning home run."
