Mariners vs. Rangers: A tale of three pitchers

Other Mariners’ notes & statistics:

• The Mariners are now 3-1 this season in series openers.
• Seattle is so far 3-4 to start the season in night games; last season they were 57-49 in 106 night games.
• The Mariners are 6-3 this season when scoring at least four runs and 1-3 when scoring three or fewer.
• Seattle leads the Majors with 60 walks so far this season; Jesse Winker is second in the Majors with 14 walks, while Crawford and Eugenio Suarez are tied for second on the Mariners with seven walks.
• Crawford saw his run of consecutive games safely reaching base stopped at 11, but got back on track in game 13 with a three-run home blast; he is ranked 11th in the Majors in OBP.
• In the series opener, Jarred Kelenic hit a home run off the right-field foul pole for the second time this season (the first time was during the 5-1 win versus the White Sox in Chicago); his struggles are not behind him yet however, as he had no hits and struck out five times in six at-bats during Wednesday and Thursday.
• The Mariners continue to see excellent improvement in their offense, after ranking last in batting average, 28th in OBP and 26th in slugging percentage in 2021. After 13 games this season, they rank 19th, ninth and 12th respectively.
• Seattle’s bullpen took a slight step back during the Rangers series, but is still among the best in the Majors; they rank second in batting average and WHIP, as well as sixth in ERA.
• Ray’s Mariners debut in Seattle was notable for his 1,300th career strikeout, which came in the first inning.
• Ty France is tied for 10th in the Majors with 16 hits, and tied for fifth with 12 RBI.
• Julio Rodriguez continued to see gradual improvement with his bat, with two further hits in the Rangers series, including his second Major League RBI; he also stole two bases and is now tied for second in the Majors with four overall.

All statistics correct following completion of games on April 21, 2022

COVID update:

Paul Sewald has joined Mitch Haniger and Luis Torrens on the COVID-19 IL. As of April 20, they were all listed as day-to-day, with their expected return dates yet to be determined.

In addition, manager Scott Servais, third base coach Manny Acta and assistant coach Andy Bissell have also tested positive for COVID-19. Kristopher Negron is serving as acting manager.

Quote of the series:

“That’s special. I mean, I didn’t know this was going to be happening today. I always envisioned this as a possibility somewhere in the distant future, or something like that. But no, it’s a great group of guys. The staff is amazing. The players are great and thanks to all of them and thanks to skip. He was chatting with me all day.”

Negron talking about taking over as acting manger in the absence of Servais.

Are you confident that Gilbert is already one of the Mariners best starters, or do you still need to see more? As for Gonzales, are you concerned, or do you fully expect him to return to form sooner than later this season? Let us know in the comments section below.