It was a terrible first inning for the Mariners, in what would eventually be an 8-3 loss to the Nationals on Saturday.
Cole Young flew out on the first pitch of the game. Julio Rodríguez struck out on the next three. And Josh Naylor popped out on the first pitch he saw. That’s right: Nationals’ starter Cade Cavalli needed just five pitches to set down the Mariners in the top half of the first.
The bottom half was somehow worse. After a quick out, Luis García Jr. hit a grounder toward first. Naylor
ranged to his right, snatched the ball with a back hand, turned, and lobbed to… nobody really. Luis Castillo was covering the bag and didn’t — well, couldn’t — make much of an effort at the ball as it skittered toward the dugout. Another groundout moved García to second, and a single from C.J. Abrams would score the game’s first run. Daylen Lile yanked a hanging slider off the wall in right field that Victor Robles over ran, allowing Lile into third with an RBI triple. Dylan Crews would score him with a single a few pitches later. It was 3-0 after the first.
And you know what. I’ll admit it. I fell asleep after that.
It was a true summertime baseball nap. A muted game on a Saturday afternoon, the time on the baseball calendar where the season feels old but not quite late. An open window with the sounds of a gorgeous, 76-degree day in filtering through, which today mostly meant birds and bugs and sirens. And a too-full couch with my 50-pound dog at my feet, every shift and sigh and fart waking me just long enough to glimpse at the score. I dreamt of a wonderful place, filled with fire and brimstone, and there were all these guys in teal pajamas sticking tridents in my butt. And-
Oh, the game. Well, let’s see what happened from there, shall we?
The Mariners would briefly come back to tie the game. Cavalli pretty well dominated through the first four innings, facing just one over the minimum. That’s not a surprise, as he’s pretty good. But things fell apart for him in the fifth. Dominic Canzone got plunked to lead off. Victor Robles nearly had extra bases on a shot to center, but Crews ran it down with a nice leaping grab. Mitch Garver put runners on the corners with a single of his own.
That brought up Colt Emerson:
Emerson got a fastball up and in and crushed it into the upper deck for his sixth home run of the year. It’s been an odd debut for Emerson. He’s swung at bad pitches, whiffed a ton, and hasn’t really squared up the ball. Still, he’s gotten the most out of the good contact he’s made, and it’s obvious why the Mariners were willing to commit to him before seeing him in the majors. He wasn’t really supposed to be good right away — his call up was one of circumstance rather than readiness — and I won’t be at all concerned when his line starts to slump. But I’ve been saying that for a while now, and I’m still waiting.
As far as I can tell, that was it for fun things in this game. García would hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to give the Nats a 5-3 lead. The Mariners would threaten in the seventh with a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases. But with two outs, Naylor hit a weak fly out to center to end the threat.
Dan Wilson turned to former National José Ferrer in the seventh. A double, walk and single made it 6-3. Wilson then turned to Eduard Bazardo. With runners on second and third, Crews hit a hard grounder to Emerson at short, who made a dive-ish to his left and fired to plate to get the runner (after a review).
It looked like Bazardo might escape with the game still 6-3, but he made a pickoff attempt to first that got past Naylor and made it 7-3. Then another single made it 8-3, the final score.
The Mariners have one final game on what’s been an unfortunate, three-city, nine-game road trip. They’d won eight straight in the weeks leading up to crawl back above .500. They’ve since stalled, now 3-5 since leaving home. Monday’s off day will be a relief. I wish I had a kicker here.
