Mariners impress in 8-5 road win versus Guardians

Led by J.P. Crawford, the offense continues its recent revival and the Mariners clinch a big road win against a strong Guardians ball club.

Don’t look now, but the Seattle Mariners are the hottest team in baseball. Genuinely. They have the best record in the Majors since May 26, as well as the largest lead in their division.

There are understandably critics out there who will point to the quality, or lack thereof, when considering the Mariners’ opposition during their recent run of good form. Every opponent has a sub .500 record with the exception of the Kansas City Royals, who won that particular road series.

As such, the Mariners entered their three-game series versus the Guardians in Cleveland, looking to prove they are as good as their record indicates. And for one game at least they proved just this, winning 8-5 on Tuesday night.

Mariners offense sets the tempo early

The Mariners fell behind 1-0 early in the bottom of the second, but soon responded in fine fashion. By the middle of the sixth inning they had recorded seven runs, to take a seemingly comfortable 7-1 lead.

The majority of this scoring came in the top of the third, as the Mariners notched four runs and forced Guardians starter Triston McKenzie from the game with his shortest outing of the year. J.P. Crawford got things rolling with a two-run blast, before Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver both added RBI doubles to make it 4-1.

Crawford then had his second hit of the night an inning later, with a RBI double of his own to increase the advantage to 5-1. Luke Raley and Dylan Moore added solo bombs in the next two innings, and the Mariners were sailing.

However, as is often the case with this Mariners ball club, they almost can’t help but make life difficult for themselves. As a result they allowed the Guardians to begin to launch a comeback, to make for some anxious moments.

Miller finally records a road win

The comeback began in the bottom of the sixth, as the home side scored two runs, to close the score to 7-3 Mariners. Bryce Miller also saw his day ended in the inning, with one out still remaining.

This is not to say Miller had a bad outing. In fact he recorded his first road win since his second start of the season, in Milwaukee.

Overall, the righty allowed six hits, two walks and three earned runs, while also striking out two. As much as it wasn’t a standout performance per se, it still represented another quality start for the Mariners, who lead the Majors in this category with 46.

Miller admitted he got tired towards the end of his outing, in which he threw 92 pitches. Overall though he was just happy his ball club got the win, as he said:

“We’re feeling good. This is how we expected to start the year and we’re starting to put it together. It’s a really good baseball team. We’re going to throw it and whenever we swing it like that, it’s going to be tough to beat us.”

Garver made it 8-3 Mariners in the top of the seventh, with his second RBI of the game. The offseason acquisition continues to improve after a disappointing start to the year, with his surge highlighted by a .927 OPS during June.

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Nervy ending for Mariners

The Guardians just wouldn’t go away though, gradually chipping away at the Mariners’ lead and finding themselves with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth with just one out. Ultimately it came down to Andrés Muñoz to come in and close things out, as he went on to record his 13th save of the season.

Crawford spoke to the media postgame, about the recent improvement by the lineup. He said:

“Everyone’s up there ready to go from pitch one. We’re not being lackadaisical up there. We’re not missing the pitches we should be hitting.”

Mariners manager Scott Servais started off his postgame session with the media, by praising the offense. He said with a laugh:

“Road wins are always exciting! Awesome night offensively, we played really good offense up and down the lineup. All the extra base hits, a (few) home runs mixed in there early, to get through the starter and some of their early bullpen guys, which isn’t easy given they’ve got a really good bullpen. But our guys came out really aggressive tonight, which was great to see.”

Next up the Mariners will aim to clinch the series with a game to spare, when they send Bryan Woo to the mound on Wednesday evening. Luis Castillo will then close things out, by taking the ball on Thursday in an early start.

Is this recent run of productive form by the lineup sustainable for the Mariners? Or do you expect them to remain in the bottom third of the various offensive categories for the majority of the 2024 regular season? Let us know in the comments section below.