Tonight was an out away from functional perfection. When Trent Thornton went down in a heap, rolling in agony as he grasped his right ankle on the potential final play of the game, it smudged a cinematically pristine evening at the ballpark. I hope he is not as severely injured as it looked in the moment, and will proceed with the recap of the Seattle Mariners 6-0 romp victory over the Texas Rangers henceforth.
What the Mariners accomplished Thursday night was precisely what they’d sought to achieve
with their efforts at the deadline and this season. Top to bottom, entering tonight, Seattle’s lineup was the most potent collection they’ve assembled since at least the 2002-2003 clubs. Having shaken up the order at last, the M’s featured their two best hitters on the season hitting 1-2 in Randy Arozarena and Cal Raleigh. Each looked the part, with strong days highlighted by a cloud-tickling moonshot from Raleigh to give him 42 homers on the season. He’s now chasing just three for the catcher record, and while his numbers on the night may reflect a single shot, he scalded the ball all evening.
As the ever-loquacious Dan Wilson noted on his superstar backstop postgame, “Cal with the homer, another record of some kind tonight from what I understand.” Even after decades in the game, it can be difficult to keep up with Cal’s context for this magical season.
It was the lineup’s youngest member who stole the show, however, with Cole Young about two years the junior of Julio Rodríguez. Hitting ninth behind his middle infield compatriot J.P. Crawford after the shuffle, Young entered the night the only M’s starter with an OPS under .700, and while that’s still the case, it’s much, much closer. Something like 470 feet (bite me, Statcast) closer.
This is the type of night it was. Eugenio Suárez didn’t just return, he received standing ovations, immediately turned a buttery-smooth double play, and cracked a double that later let him become the game’s first run for Seattle off Rangers starter Kumar Rocker. Josh Naylor made a few sharp plays at first and swiped yet another base. J.P. didn’t just watch a game in hand go by, but yanked a sharp line drive that felt to the M’s slumping shortstop like providence. Young didn’t just crush his longest ever home run, as he’d note postgame, but cracked a RBI triple with a swim move befitting of a kid with a California smile raised nonetheless in the outskirts of Pittsburgh, PA.
“I knew I hit it hard but I was honestly thinking a single, but then when he ran past it I knew I had a chance at three. Once I was rounding second trying to block the throw a little bit, I just pulled out the swim move—I don’t really do that, I could definitely improve on that swim move a little bit.”
Clumsy or clean, it was more than sufficient for Seattle to coast to victory, particularly as Jorge Polanco and Dominic Canzone added strong days at the dish to run Rocker after just 4.2 frames. If there was a way things needed to go, they went Seattle’s way almost all night long.
George Kirby was once again dominant against Texas, continuing his reign of terror against the Police of the Lone Star State, stretching himself to 8-0 in 10 career starts against them with an ERA beginning with zero. Despite some early free passes, six shutout and just five baserunners goes a long, long way to cooling the concerns of his slow return to form this season. Newly acquired Caleb Ferguson even got in on the action with a scoreless frame, it was, in essence, a party from the jump that presented Seattle as a dominant offense and pitching staff as was dreamed of.
For the man of the hour, and for fans treated to this relaxing, stellar victory, it was just as perfect as the light of the sunset on the Salish Sea:
Geno: “It feels like I never left, which is good for me and I just want to keep continuing” —audio is broken by J.P. yelling SEATTTLEEEE! like Geno did in the Instagram from today—”That’s right.”
More from lookoutlanding.com:
- 40 in 40: Mike Leake
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 1/1/18: New Year, Edgar Martinez, and J.D. Martinez
- Mariner Moose Tracks, 12/31/17: Edgar Martinez, Barry Bonds, and Sandy Koufax
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/30/17: Edgar Martinez, Miguel Sano, and Wade Davis
- Jerry Dipoto doesn’t care about your fan theories
- Sporcle Friday: Most Walks in a Season
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/28/17: 4MOM, Jose Altuve, and Michael Fulmer
