Mariners pitch 95% of work on group draft, Mariners beat Astros 1-0

The Mariners had an unlikely series victory today by excluding the Astros in back-to-back games, which is a great recipe for winning when your offense can only muster a single point. To complete this recipe, however, you need to have a truly superior pitcher, and the Mariners got it today from Logan Gilbert, who put in his best pitcher performance since starting at home against the Yankees, and possibly – from the point of view of the arsenal of launching – his best start of his young career.

Gilbert’s first two rounds were mirror images of each other; in the first, he worked around a Michael Brantley single by bringing out Correa and hitting Yordan Álvarez while swinging on the curve, a nice line to type. In the second, it was an Alex Bregman single, but Kyle Tucker flew away and Gilbert escaped the inning by striking out Jake Meyers on catches on a broken ball, this time on the slider.

The third set presented Gilbert a more difficult challenge as the formation turned around with an out and Altuve redirected a cursor into left field for a double. He finished third on Brantley ground, but Correa then ended the set and the scoring threat with excellent play from JP Crawford:

Correa was baffled to say the least.

In the fourth, Gilbert really started to feel with a 1-2-3 innings, including his second strikeout of Álvarez, this time on a beautifully tilted change. Gilbert got all three batters this inning in 0-2 holes, something he did well all day: In his first 15 batters, Gilbert took the lead with two catches out of seven of them. His stuff was really great today; the fastball was well placed, sitting 95-97, hitting 98 early but not falling on the bike during its outing. Gilbert used a heavy fastball approach, but also threw his slider and shift and shuffled the curveball more, using it even more often than the shift. The evening matches have yet to start, but Gilbert currently leads the daily puffs leaderboard with 18.

The Astros did battle Gilbert, however, and in the fifth, with his pitching count soaring, Gilbert lost some efficiency. He did a full count on all three batters and had to be helped by an excellent jump hold from Haniger:

However, a long battle with Martín Maldonado ended in a single before Gilbert managed to defeat Altuve on two throws – chalk another for an out on the curve – pushing Logan’s throw count to 94 in five innings. . This is more a testament to the Astros’ difficulty getting started than Gilbert’s effectiveness, however; he still threw 62 of those shots for strikes and was ahead in the tally at one point against 14 of 19 batters he faced, and four strikeouts against the least hitting team in the league. more like six strikeouts on a curve.

Once again, however, the Mariners bats couldn’t support their starter’s strong effort and offered Gilbert no race support. After losing 1-2-3 in the first, the Mariners paused when Odorizzi hit Ty France (why yyyy) to lead the second and pushed Toro to put in two with no strikeout, but the bottom of the roster. quickly made three strikeouts, including two strikeouts. Ty France scored a single in the fourth to give the Mariners their first hit of the day, but nothing came of it, as Odorizzi netted six strikeouts in just four innings of work. Odorizzi isn’t a batting pitcher — his K / 9 is below 8 this year — unless he’s up against the Mariners. Last time around, his K / 9 was in double digits for the game; today was almost 13. It’s bad! The last chance to reward Gilbert’s strong performance with a win was the fifth inning, but the bottom of the roster once again lost 1-2-3.

This left things in the hands of the reliever box, and in particular Justus Sheffield, now a member of the reliever box. Those hoping to see an increase in Sheffield’s speed out of the paddock will be disappointed, as his sinking fastball remains in the 92-93 MPH area, but the good news is that he has essentially got four strikeouts at the ground (one was a hot shot from Correa’s stick which Seager smothered but was only a second behind with the throw), bringing Álvarez to the ground in a double play to end the inning and eliminate that base runner .

JP Crawford got the Mariners’ second hit of the day in the sixth inning, returning a fastball to the center. Odorizzi then walked Haniger, ending his day. The bullpen has been a soft spot for the Astros all season, and Phil Maton took out Kyle Seager at bat to save the first out of the inning before marching to France to load up the bases. A bag flies from Toro’s bat – no Grand Slam heroism today, sadly – tackled the game’s first round (aided somewhat by the midday sun and a truly abysmal touch from Jake Meyers). It would be the only race of the day.

Casey Sadler worked a 1-2-3 inning for the Mariners in the start of the seventh, and in the bottom of the seventh, Jarred Kelenic registered his first hit of the series, hitting 97 high up the zone of the former closest Marlins Yimi. García in the right field. Kelenic’s ability to catch a fastball at the top of the zone is one of the real positives to keep in a season that has been more difficult than successful for the youngster. He also slipped second against a very tough battery at Maldonado / Altuve, so that’s encouraging, although the Mariners blocked him at third was less encouraging. (In JP Crawford’s defense, Dusty Baker brought in left-hander Blake Taylor just to face him to complete the round, which may be the first time I can remember an opposing manager being afraid of JP Crawford’s fierce bat.)

Drew Steckenrider got eighth overall for the Mariners and gave an infield hit on the first pitch he threw to god BABIP Jake Meyers, who performs an obscene BABIP of .420. Dusty Baker then shot wide receiver Maldonado to hit Aledmys Díaz, who rewarded his manager by relying quickly on a double play. Job well done, JP and Toro.

However, Steckenrider then ran Altuve on four throws and allowed Michael Brantley a single on the first pitch, putting the runners in the first and second row, so Servais pushed the Emergency! Paul Sewald! button. Sewald was forced to remove Correa, oddly not with the cursor, which gave Correa fits, but healing him psychologically with the cursor’s memory, then throwing a bunch of fastballs in the middle, Correa was just mouthed. gaping. It was truly a masterful performance. However, after the Mariners failed to score Ryne Stanek in the bottom of the eighth, it meant that once again Paul Sewald was sent in to the ninth to protect Fabergé’s fragile lead against one of the better offensives. Match.

Sewald started off with a three-throw strikeout from Álvarez, apparently throwing the ball to the center again for Yordan to admire.

He then scored Gurriel in a two-stroke count, which was then complete before Gurriel returned a small base hit on a fastball perfectly located in right field, bringing in the always dangerous Alex Bregman, who pushed a ball. ahead of a JP Crawford dive. That brought in the equally dangerous Kyle Tucker who flew off gently for the second out. So the game relied on Jake Meyers and his – did I mention this – .420 BABIP. Meyers fell behind 1-2 and sort of laid off an absolutely perfect Sewald pitch that was ruled one ball and then another, pushing the count full.

But you can’t get a dumb shot with the help of BABIP on a strikeout, can you?

Real LOL to Meyers throwing his bat aside like he’s walking around on it, by the way. You just got walled up, son. You might have been lucky on this slider, but you’re out of luck twice when Sewald has the kind of control he had today. The Astros might have wanted the bright, shiny Graveman with his overpowered fastball, but Sewald, working with seemingly more pedestrian stuff, was almost twice as valuable by fWAR. His K% is second among all relievers, just behind Josh Hader. It’s hard to overstate his importance to this team and his role in these victories. The Emergency! Paul Sewald! button trained this year and, with few exceptions, Sewald answered the call brilliantly.

If I didn’t hate the Astros as an organization so much, I might pity them. The Mariners didn’t really dominate Houston in that series victory; They’ve worked their way to a pair of unlikely back-to-back wins, including this game, where they registered their smallest number of hits (3, in case you lose count) in a win this season. It’s hard to argue that outside of the scoreboard Seattle was the better team. But, as Astros fans are so eager to point out: dashboard. That is what matters in the end, and it was, once again, Mariners ‘day, a much-needed balm after a disappointing streak against the Royals, made all the sweeter by the fact that it s’ runs into the loathsome Astros, who have so often crushed poor sailors over the years. It’s hard to make much sense out of a pair of truly chaotic wins, but if this is the start of the change in fortunes for each of these two franchises, it’s an even bigger win than the one on the pitch today. hui, and a particularly good victory on a day the Mariners extended two of the decision makers who have led and shaped this team over the past half-decade.

(If you read to the end of this disproportionately long recap, congratulations. Please enjoy this photo of Yusei Kikuchi and his son Leo on the pitch after the game as a reward.)

Photo by Steph Chambers / Getty Images