The Mariners have completed a mopping of the Angels to continue a 9-game win streak. Maybe mopping undersells it: this was a total dismantling of this beleaguered franchise from beginning to end, both on offense and defense. George Kirby dominated on the hill today, overpowering hitters up and down the lineup, tallying up 14 strikeouts through 6.1 innings of work. Meanwhile, the Mariners drove Kyle Hendricks from the game early, putting up a 6-spot on the veteran, but the punishment didn’t stop there
as the Mariners continued to feast on the bullpen, driving their lead up to 11 nothing. Eventually, Christian Moore and Oswaldo Peraza would scrape one back each on home runs for the Angels, but too little too late. Mariners would go on to win the game 11-2.
Now, more than just dominating the game, the Mariners made some history today. In his first at-bat of today’s game, Cal Raleigh hit an opposite-field bomb to bring himself to 54 home runs on the season.
This keeps Cal as the league leader in home runs, gives him the most home runs by a catcher in a season (passing Javy Lopez’s 43), and ties him with Micky Mantle for the most home runs in a single season by a switch-hitter. With only a few weeks left in the season, I have no doubt Cal will pass Mantle, barring a massive cold streak. That being said, I still think there is potential for 60. Cal has slowed down some in the second half compared to the first, but I still think the potential is there to hit six more home runs this year. Now breaking Judges’ AL record? Probably not, but a man can dream.
Postgame, Cal talked about playing hooky from school one day in seventh grade to go with his dad to see old Yankee Stadium before it was torn down. At a gift shop, Cal’s dad purchased him a Mickey Mantle souvenir to impress on his young switch-hitter.
“I remember him talking about him like he was a god, which he was. It’s kind of cool to think about that time, back then.”
Jorge Polanco also claimed his own spot in Mariners history as he extended his 12-game hitting streak today, tied Jim Presley’s franchise record for most consecutive games with a double at seven, and extended his games with an extra base hit streak to nine. With three doubles on the day, Polanco seems to be getting hot at the right time as he smashes doubles all over the field for the Mariners. Dare I say, it’s time to start talking about what an extension looks like for Jorge “Two-bagger” Polanco.
George Kirby also had himself a day. The young righty went 6 and 1/3rd inning, tying his career high for strikeouts in a game with 14. Kirby’s fastball was working well for him today, averaging 96.6 mph and keeping his location tight. It was an excellent bounceback for Kirby, who’s had some rough outings lately. “I reached out to everyone you could possibly imagine,” he said postgame, “just trying to get some confidence back.” Whoever he talked to, Kirby should keep them on speed dial, because he turned in one of his best outings of the season.
“I felt like today I was just really locked in, just taking a breath before every pitch and really having a lot of conviction on everything I was throwing today.
That’s not to say the day was without issue; he did throw one mistake pitch to Christian Moore to give up a home run after a lengthy layoff in the bottom of the fourth:
Then Oswaldo Peraza went down and got one to tag Kirby again an inning later:
But outside of that one mistake and a home run, where all you can do is tip your cap to the batter, Kirby absolutely dominated the Angels, matching his career high with 14ks. Kirby came about his final strikeout in a roundabout way; according to Dan Wilson, Kirby, with a pitch count around 85, wasn’t supposed to go back out for the seventh, but there was some miscommunication and Kirby, once he had touched the mound, was required to pitch to one batter. That batter was Jo Adell, the one hitter Kirby hadn’t struck out that day. Finally he got that last ticket punched.
But enough about the other team, let’s get into why we’re all here, let’s see the Mariners put up a crooked number. The fun started right away for the Mariners as Cal Raleigh followed a Randy Arozarena single in the first with his 54th home run of the season, to give the Mariners an early 2-0 lead:
In the third inning, after reaching on an infield single Cal would score from first on a double from Julio, to make it 3-0:
Julio would go on to steal third after the call was overturned on review and scored on a fly ball from Josh Naylor. 4-0:
Jorge Polanco then doubled for the second time this game to the opposite field and was driven in by Dom Canzone on a single. 5-0:
But wait there’s more! J.P. Crawford led off the 4th with a single and moved up by a walk to Cal. Another double from Julio scored JP and put men on second and third. 6-0:
Now the runs start coming in bunches. Naylor followed that up with a single of his own, scoring Julio and Cal. 8-0:
At this point Hendricks was mercifully lifted from this game, but his replacement Connor Brogdon didn’t fare any better. The third double of the day from Polanco put Naylor on third and Polanco on second before a single from Canzone drove in two more. TEN-0:
No stop to the bleeding yet. A walk from Leo Rivas was followed by a double from the captain himself, J.P. Crawford, scoring Canzone. 11-0, Mariners.
The Angels were finally able to end the fourth, but the game was far out of reach by now. Kirby would continue to dominate the lineup for the next two and a third. Hancock and Legumina came in and shut down the last two-thirds of the seventh, the 8th, and the 9th without issue.
It was an absolute pleasure to watch the Mariners operate on all cylinders like this: the offense clicking, the starting pitching dominating, and the bullpen performing without issue. It’s times like this that I can’t even question how the Mariners end up in first in the AL West. At times, this iteration of the Mariners can be pretty frustrating. It often feels like when one person is off, they’re all off, and it’s tough to watch a team you know has so much talent struggle so mightily against teams like the Orioles, and then lose important games on the road. Still, the Mariners seem to have finally hit their stride at the right time; however, with just 16 games remaining in the season, there is still plenty of time for the Mariners to fall out of the playoffs altogether with another Road Trip From Hell. But if the Mariners can hold it together over the next two weeks, there’s no reason to believe they can’t walk into the playoffs as the division winner.
