Seven words for seven more innings of Mariners baseball (Mariners defeat Padres 8-3)

The great thing about baseball is that even after a toothache-painful loss, you usually get the chance to come back the next day right away; there has been no stew in one’s own juices for a week like in the NFL. The other extreme of this, however, is again needing to play a double header half an hour after the previous game ended, with a bench shortened by injury, after your bullpen blew a huge lead to lose the game on a walkoff. Still! The Mariners played, and kept up pace with the red-hot Padres, and this time got the end they should have before. Sometimes a mulligan is just what you need.

First entry: GLORIOUS

Keeping the crime train rolling, the Mariners first came to Garrett Richards, with JP Crawford and Sam Haggerty hitting one after the other, followed by a walk to Kyle Lewis to load the bases. Kyle Seager hit a soft fly that JP scored, and then Austin ran Nola to reload the bases. That set the stage for Garrett Richards to graciously throw a comically miserable mid-mid-speed ball to Jose Marmolejos, who did what you have to do with a comically wry mid-mid-speed ball:

And then Shed Long came into action with a delicious little oppo taco of his own:

That bounced Richards out of the game to be replaced by Luis Perdomo – not to be confused with Luis Patiño, who you will see later; Perdomo is a former Rule 5 pick who ran so Yohan Ramirez could fly. Perdomo got Dee Gordon on the line to end the massacre.

Yusei Kikuchi would return one of those runs, giving up a solo homer to Manny Machado, who absolutely could not be stopped late, but otherwise navigated through the top of the Padres lineup unharmed, including knocking out Tatís Jr. ., for his third K on the day handed over by Mariners pitching.

Second entry: LABORIOUS

The second inning was not so sharp for Kikuchi. It started with boring Jake Cronenworth hitting a ground ball with eyes to extend his hit line to 11, followed by longtime Joe Doyle crushing Ty France doubled in the corner to put runners on second and third with just one out . A Profar heel to Seager scored Cronenworth, but Kikuchi was able to hit Austin Hedges and Trent Grisham back to escape the inning without significant damage to anything other than his pitch count – 45 pitches through two innings.

Third entry: DESULTORIOUS

Desultory means the lack of a plan, goal or enthusiasm. Seager led half of the Mariners of the inning with a double, but his teammates showed a lack of plan, goal or enthusiasm to bring him in, and the inning ended with Seags still standing where he started on second basis. Luckily, the Padres had a similar desultory approach, and Kikuchi had a much smoother go in his half inning, cutting through the top of the Padres lineup including the dangerous Tatís and Machado 1-2-3. Kikuchi’s fast ball hit an easy 97 today, and his cutter – his cutter! – touch 95.

Fourth entry: MERITORIOUS

Both jars worked their respective inning quickly and without damage. Perdomo retired from Long, Gordon and Crawford 1-2-3, and Kikuchi gave up another ground ball one to the boring Cronenworth, but also collected two strikeouts, including Ty France to swing through 97 at the top of ‘ the zone and one on a cutter at 94 (!) that looked like it would get a knuckle out of Wil Myers’ knuckles.

Fifth inning: precious

The nice thing about playing the Padres is that there is never a shortage of premium perspectives to be seen. San Diego called up Luis Patiño earlier this month, but this is the first chance I got to see him. I saw Patiño in the last game that the Mariners would play at Spring Training, in a night game shortened by rain. Then Patiño pumped big things – a fast-paced 90s ball, a biting shot, and a hard turn just a few miles slower than the shot – without much idea where it was going. Here he got some easy starting points from Sam Haggerty and Kyle Seager, but also ran Kyle Lewis and Austin Nola, with ball four after Nola was a wild pitch that moved Lewis to third. Unfortunately, the Mariners could not do anything with Patiño’s wandering control, as Marmolejos tapped softly to end the inning.

Things got real for Kikuchi in the fifth, when Jorge Mateo – no longer an athlete! of the inning lay with the first double of his young career. Trent Grisham nodded 96 km / h in the right field for a single-scoring Mateo, which not only narrowed the Mariners to 6-3, but also brought the teeth of the Padres lineup a little closer. However, Tatís ‘bad show against the Mariners continued when he flew out softly on a breaking ball (not soft: Tatís’ curse word after he flew out), and then Machado politely struck in a double play around the inning and the day of Kikuchi to end. Kikuchi was not perfect – he needed 81 spots in his five innings – but he knocked out six and ran no one next to pumping some gas. It was generally another encouraging outing for Kikuchi. Just keep this kind of start together, Yusei.

Sixth inning: INEXPERIENCEOUS

More perspectives! David Bednar, another player I remember from the AFL, but who now suddenly throws 97 because Padres, has an ERA of more than 6, but did not appear when he blew the Mariners 1-2-3 threw. Meanwhile, the Mariners countered with their own perspective in left-hander Aaron Fletcher, who threw no strikes in his first 10 pitches and left with the bases loaded and only one out. That made fellow prospect Joey Gerber clean up the mess, but luckily Joey puts the “freak” in “neat freak” with his oddball delivery:

Seventh inning: victories

David Bednar did not have the same luck against the top of the Mariners order, with JP rapping a leadoff single for a multi-hit game, followed by yet another set base. Sam Haggerty thought that a game with multiple hits seemed like a fun idea, so he doubled down in the right corner of the field to give the Mariners the necessary assurance. If I were a professional baseball player, I would just watch what my teammate did when he got a hit and tried to replicate it. Unfortunately, Kyle Lewis is an iconoclast and knocked out, ending his hit streak of 10 games, but Austin Nola knows a good thing when he sees it, and singles in left field to drive more insurance for the Mariners home. Marmolejos followed with louder contact, doubling to deep center field, but Austin Nola with slow feet was held on third. Bednar then lost control of the strike zone and ran Tim Lopes, coming within feet of giving up the second grand slam of the day to Shed Long, but Petco just kept it up.

That left a five-run lead in the hands of Yoshihisa Hirano, who began walking something called a Greg Garcia on four straight lanes. Can we have Gerber back please? Is Ljay still tired? Can Braden pitch Bishop?

(No, but he can catch. From number one.)

Tatis then hit an infield single to put runners on first and second with one out and bring up the Monster Machado.

Machado also hit one after Seager, who made the turn to Dee, but the ball apparently got stuck in Dee’s glove and they were unable to turn the game-winning doubles game. Two outs.

The final boss: anime villain Eric Hosmer.

Hosmer decided he would be aggressive on a first pitch split.

It did not succeed, as the body language of Hosmer where you can tell. The ball was then kicked back to Hirano, who passed to the hero of the day, Marmolejos.

Tomorrow, the Mariners begin their next series in Anaheim against the miserable Angels. Now I have a taste for this winning thing, so let’s roll it.