By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – On September 29th, 2022, the Seattle Mariners made yet another step towards ending their miserable playoff drought. Despite a rough fourth inning that saw starter Marco Gonzales give up three home runs, Seattle responded with some firepower of their own. After nine homers in the first nine innings, responsible for all of the scoring, Seattle and Texas used small ball to battle it out in the tenth and eleventh innings. Seattle inches closer to the playoffs, and now are one-win away from clinching a postseason berth.
Dylan Moore crosses home on JP Crawford's walk off base hit (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Mitch and Jarred: Bash brothers
It was Mariners right fielder Mitch Haniger that said last offseason that he wanted to “End this f****** drought,” getting emotional when talking about how much the city of Seattle meant to him. Jarred Kelenic, with his own struggles, has had excellent months of September in his now two years in major league baseball, and famously held a “believe” sign up during Seattle’s miracle run last year. Both of those outfielders came up big in today's game.
Haniger opened the game up in the bottom of the first inning by slamming a homer deep into center field. The Seattle right fielder doubled up by slamming another two-run homer to left field, planting itself into a fan's hands in Edgar’s cantina. The first homer opened the scoring, and the second one tied the game back up. After Haniger’s display of power, Jarred Kelenic wanted in too. Kelenic slammed a two-run homer to the Rangers bullpen, opposite field. Two innings later, Kelenic helped extend the lead he had created by launching a solo bomb to right field.
Jarred Kelenic notched his second multi-homer game (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Pitching uncharacteristically starts the game out poorly
The Seattle pitching has carried the Mariners for the majority of their 2022 season, and it is expected that they will occasionally not live up to their own excellent standard. As mentioned, Marco Gonzales gave up three homers in four innings. Gonzales was able to minimize the damage to the four runs off those homers. Later in the game, it was the normally lights out bullpen that gave up three more runs, forcing a Seattle to have to rally. Reliever Paul Sewald gave up two homers, and Andres Munoz gave up a run. It had to be the Seattle offense that came to save the day.
Reliever Paul Sewald gave up two homers in his outing tonight (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Staying alive
Despite Seattle failing to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Mariners remained resilient. Having gone to extra innings 15 times before this game, and had gone 9-5 in those games. In both the top of the tenth and eleventh, Texas was able to strike and get the “ghost runner” across the plate. Both times, the Mariners found a way to stay calm, and strike back. Having gone 0-4 for the entirety of the game, JP Crawford came to the plate in the bottom of the eleventh looking to redeem himself.
Dylan Moore, having stolen third base, represented the winning run. Crawford, looking to pick up his first hit of the game, lined a ball right at third baseman Josh Jung. Jung, who had terrorized the Mariners in the series opener, could not be Texas’ hero today. Jung couldn’t snare the liner, and the ball rolled off his glove and creeped into left field. Dylan Moore could have walked home in the time it took, and Seattle had won the game. Their 20+ year postseason drought can come to an end tomorrow, September 30th with another win of their own, or a Baltimore Orioles loss.
JP Crawford slams the line drive that won the game for the Mariners (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Quick notes
With the Baltimore Orioles loss today and the Mariners win, Seattle’s magic number to make the playoffs drops down to one.
Seattle can clinch their first playoff berth in 21 seasons with an Orioles loss tomorrow or a Mariners win.
The Mariners are 6-0 in 11+ inning games (5-0 at home) this season.
The Mariners have had multiple players hit 2+ HR in the same game twice this season (1 of 2 teams in MLB to do that along with NYY): Julio Rodríguez, Eugenio Suárez (9/11 vs. ATL) Mitch Haniger, Jarred Kelenic (9/29 vs. TEX)
Mitch Haniger's 442-foot home run is the farthest-hit home run at T-Mobile Park this season.
Mitch Haniger seemed determined to help the Mariners clinch a playoff berth (Photo by Liv Lyons)
What’s next?
Seattle begins a new series tomorrow, welcoming the Oakland Athletics to town for the weekend. Friday, September 30th is the first sellout game of the homestand. The Mariners will have sophomore starter Logan Gilbert on the mound for the game that could end their drought, battling Oakland starter Ken Waldichuk. First pitch time is at 6:40PM PST. Seattle will look to bounce back from their last series against the Athletics, a series which they lost.
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