Mariners have a slight win, 7-4

As sympathetic as I am to the FUBAR for Kumar campaign – although the Pirates seem to be on a different level of success – I have to say I hate losing my team. This past week or so, fun game against the Dodgers on Wednesday though, was pretty brutal to watch, and no doubt brutal for the youngest team in baseball to go through. Could she not have had one convincing win? For us? In front of their?

Turns out they can!

Nick Margevicius, coming off a surprising quality start against the Astros, was fire out of the gate, needed just a dozen pitches to get through the first frame while beating leadoff man Nick Solak on a slow curve of 70 MPH and Danny Santana to get whiff on a switch to middle. Lefty misdemeanor! He would coax a flyout from Todd Frazier to end the frame, and it was former first-round pick Kolby Allard’s turn to take the mound, and you know what it looks like every so often against AL West teams the Mariners in bundle runes giving up away from cheap hits, close walks, and maybe throwing in a mistake?

Last night that script flipped.

JP Crawford caught an ugly 0-for-20 by striking out a 0-2 cut in left field, and Sam Haggerty followed suit by scoring his first Major League RBI and flashing his plus speed:

Although he would officially be credited with a double and a foul, it was pretty impressive to blow Haggerty in the third on a ball hit in the left field corner, and a wild pitch would bring him home just a minute or so later. After a Kyle Lewis walk and a Kyle Seager ground, it was Austin Nola’s turn to get the doil party underway:

Tim Lopes followed with a soft liner to center, proving once again that you can not stop him, and after a Dee Gordon strike, Braden Bishop decided “hey, this is a perfect time for my first big league for extra base”:

Joe Odom worked a walk of six pixels, and Allard’s clock had run, and he was certainly not happy about it.

Wes Benjamin would come and Crawford out, but no biggie! Big Marge again needed just twelve pitches to blow through the second, knocking out Joey Gallo and José Trevino and pulling Rougned Odor back on an easy fly to the right. After a Haggerty popfly, Kyle Lewis once again proved that this is his world, and we just live in it.

Suffice it to say that this is how I felt about seeing it.

Lewis would work a second walk last night, and came into the game with a Z-Swing% minus O-Swing% of about 42% – in other words, a batting eye borders on Joey Votto territory. The strikeout rate is below 25%, the strikers are just a hair below 14%, he runs a 175 wRC +, and is tied for the sixth best position player in all baseball by fWAR. Yes, that will play out. If there is nothing else, 2020 has revealed that Lewis has all the benefits of a bona fide star, he is ours, and you can not have him.

Margevicius crosses through the third and fourth innings, punches the corners beautifully with his high-80s fastball and flips into that sloooow curve enough to keep the Texas hitters honest, and Bishop left him another hand with an RBI foundation in the third to bring home a sixth run. Unfortunately, they got him a bit into the fifth, when Trevino led the frame by cutting a double just on the left field line on a low curve. Although Marge managed a flyout from Odor and a groundout from Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Rod Refsnyder worked an easy walk away from him, and Scott Heineman got nasty enough from a 0-2 fastball from outside to grab a two-run double.

more than heiny-man I am equal

Margevicius prevented further damage by getting Solak on a flybar to the left on a 67 (!) MPH curve, but opened the sixth inning by leaving a 1-1 fastball in July a little too much on the plate for Santana to pick up. beat.

At this point, the Rangers’ bats had completely caught on in Marge’s game plan, with both Gallo and Trevino on hits, although Gallo was probably the worst bunt I’ve ever seen for a basic hit:

After Trevino’s knock had run to the first and third, Margevicius’ night was done. Although his line of goals is not the best, his fastball command was unreachable all evening, and although eight swinging strikes from 82 fields are not spectacular, he got his fair share of the job and a weak contact. It’s easy to see a soft-throw lefty and jump to a Wade LeBlanc, Tommy Milone, or Andrew Albers comp, but Nick Margevicius is just 24 years old, coming off some abuse by the Padres. He’s worth keeping in mind for the rest of the year.

Joey Gerber flew a sack to Odor to make it 6-4, but other than that, the bullpen was flawless, and the clubs tackled on a seventh and final run by Tim Lopes on a foul that Evan White missed without doubt would have dealt.

Matt Magill worked a scoreless frame, helping to revamp his trade value after this meltdown earlier this week, and Dan Altavilla must have taken advantage of the black magic in his belly as he hit the side in the eighth while absolutely dominant saw. It blows my mind to think he’s the second-longest tenured Mariner and has the greatest league experience in the Seattle bullpen behind Magill. Taylor Williams scored his fifth save with a perfect ninth, and showed some guts by dumping Odor on a 3-2 slider for the second out.

Wishes like these are good for the soul. In a short season where each game is 2.7 times as important as one in a normal year, they need to be extra tough. Tomorrow we have Justus Sheffield against Jordan Lyles, who managed the Ms to grab a quarter of runs from the last time they faced him. Maybe this young, awkward baseball team can grab a series of wins. Maybe, just maybe, FUBAR for Kumar can wait for another day.