At Cannae, in the south of Italy, the Carthaginian general Hannibal accomplished the impossible. He encircled an army greater in size than his own and put nearly all of them to the sword. It was his third major victory against the Roman Republic in 20 months. Every time the Senate and People of Rome assembled their legions and threw them against Hannibal, he was able to smash them in the field. It is estimated that nearly one-fifth of the male population of Rome was wiped out by Hannibal and his armies.
And yet, he lost the war. Following his victory at Cannae, Hannibal held a meeting with his advisors. His cavalry commander, a Numidian named Maharbal, urged Hannibal to seize the initiative and march on the city of Rome itself. Hannibal refused, stating that he needed more time to consider such an action. Maharbal responded by saying “You, Hannibal, know how to gain a victory. But you do not know how to use it.”
Bryce Miller made his return to the Major Leagues tonight in Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love (Romulus and Remus could never) did not welcome him with open arms. His first at bat was a 9 pitch grind against Trea Turner. Bryce eventually got him swinging, but it worked up his pitch count. The next at-bat did not go Miller’s way.
In an early 1-0 hole, the Mariners tried to claw back. A leadoff single by Eugenio Suárez was stranded in the second inning, but things started to turn around in the third when J.P. made loud contact on an inside sinker. We’ve seen J.P. hit nukes off of inside velocity from a lefty before, and for a second it looked like he was about to again. But Citizens Bank Park has a funny shape to it, and J.P. had to settle for a double off of his 106.1 mph, 416 foot fly ball. But just a few minutes late he was able to score on when Randy Arozarena hit a double of his own.
That tie was short lived, however. Miller lost his control in the bottom of the third, walking Bryson Stott and giving up a single to Trea Turner. After a Bryce Harper sac fly and a J.T. Realmuto RBI single, it was 3-1, Phillies. Bryson Stott wasn’t satisfied, however, and clonked a home run of his own in the fourth to make it a 4-1 lead. Things started to settle down after that. Miller was replaced by Eduard Bazardo in the sixth and induced some weak contact for an easy inning. But in the seventh inning, something started clicking for the Mariners.
After J.P. struck out on a foul tip, Dylan Moore managed to do something productive for the first time in months and worked a walk. That pushed Phillies starter and Cy Young hopeful Cristopher Sánchez out of the game. His relief, Orion Kerkering, picked up right where Sánchez and walked Randy Arozarena on four pitches. That brought up AL MVP hopeful and MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh with a chance to tie the game with one swing. Kerkering did his best impression of pre-2017 baseball and gave Cal four non-competitive pitches.
Julio, up with the bases loaded, broke his bat on an inside fastball and grounded out, but scored Dylan Moore from third. That brought up Eugenio Suárez with two outs. Since his return to Seattle, Suárez has been hitting the ball hard, but not all that frequently. He desperately needs a good game to turn his vibes around. Maybe he got it tonight, as he smacked a sweeper 111mph for a double and tied the game.
Things seemed to be turning around for the M’s, as Gabe Speier was able to shut down the Phillies in the bottom of the seventh and keep the game tied. The top of the eighth inning was ineffective for the Mariners, but they brought in the fireman, Matt Brash, to pitch the bottom half. It didn’t go well. Bryce Harper led off with a single, and then J.T. Realmuto, desperate to get in on the homer action, got a hold of a first pitch sinker and gave it as a souvenir to a fan in left-center field. With that it was all but over.
The Phillies brought Jhoan Duran in to pitch the ninth and the Mariners never had a choice. With two outs, he attacked Cal with three fastballs at 102 mph, and he swung and missed at all 3. Ballgame.
The Seattle Mariners can, on occasion, take the lead in the AL West. But they don’t know what to do when they get there. They panic, backslide, and forget how to play baseball. It is only by the grace of the baseball gods, perhaps Jupiter Optimus Maximus is one of them, that the Houston Astros are also flailing.
Fourteen years after the Battle of Cannae, with Carthage now under threat of invasion, Hannibal met the Roman army on the plains of Zama. There, he finally met his match. The Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio, who would henceforth be dubbed “Africanus,” smashed Hannibal’s army, elephants, and cavalry. Carthage would surrender a year later. Hannibal had been on the verge of total victory, but something — a lack of political and financial support from Carthage, a shortage of supplies, his own failure of imagination — prevented him from capitalizing on his victories. Instead of being perhaps the greatest general in history, he became just one more conquered foe on Rome’s inexorable path to Empire.
The Mariners acquired the best offensive players at the deadline. They reinforced their bullpen. The “big five” rotation of pitchers is back together for the first time in 2025. It is time to win ballgames, march on Houston, and win the division. Today’s game easily could have been a win. Tomorrow’s must be.
