Mariners continue to offer hope with 6-1 win over Cardinals

The Mariners make it three straight wins with outstanding pitching from Bryce Miller and a fine offensive effort, to keep the playoffs alive.

Following the Mariners’ heartbreaking walkoff 3-2 loss to the Athletics on Tuesday night, we wrote about how they were falling apart at the worst possible time. With four consecutive one-run losses, their hopes of a playoff berth were fading fast.

We ended the article by stating if the Mariners were ever going to have one final push for the playoffs, it really was a case of now or never. Well, it’s so far so good since then, with three wins in a row.

Yes, the Mariners’ playoff chances are still in single figures when it comes to the likes of FanGraphs (9.2 percent) and ESPN (9.3 percent). However, for what it’s worth, they are within 4.5 games of both the Astros at the top of the AL West and the final AL wild card spot, with 20 more to play.

Of consequence, the three straight wins have all come on the road, where the Mariners have struggled this season. The latest such victory came on Thursday evening, 6-1 versus the Cardinals in St. Louis.

Arguably the biggest takeaway from the game — aside from actually winning of course — was that this was a complete team effort. We’re talking offense, pitching and defense, with all three areas providing important contributions to the victory.

Miller Time becoming a more frequent experience

Bryce Miller continued his excellent sophomore campaign, which sees him well on course to set a whole host of personal Major League bests. At the time of writing, he is projected to have a 3.18 ERA, 3.68 FIP and stellar 0.992 WHIP.

Against the Cardinals specifically, Miller went 6.0 innings of shutout ball. He allowed just three walks and two walks on his 94 pitches, while also striking out four and recording his 11th win of the 2024 season.

The 26-year-old now has nine starts where he has pitched at least 6.0 innings and allowed no earned runs, which is best in the AL. This includes eight outings where he’s allowed no runs full stop, which ties a club record. (Hisashi Iwakuma in 2013.)

Mariners manager Dan Wilson was extremely complimentary of his young pitcher. Speaking to the media postgame, he said:

“He’s just so calm and collected out there. He just continues to throw up zeroes, and I thought he had good stuff again tonight, a good breaking ball, from time to time it really was outstanding. He just continues to do what we preach, and that’s control the strike zone, dominate the zone and stay ahead of the hitters.”

J-Rod and Mariners defense do their bit

As well as Miller pitched though, he wouldn’t have come through unscathed if it wasn’t for some excellent defense from the players behind him. This included a top level effort from Julio Rodríguez in the bottom of the sixth.

Rodríguez seemingly came out of nowhere to snag a ball off of the bat of the Cardinals’ Alec Burleson, which had looked for all the world like it was going to be a double. Grateful for the effort by the center fielder, Miller said:

“I didn’t think anyone was going to get to that one, and then Julio came out of nowhere, from a mile away, and got to it. So that was cool.”

For all the effort of Miller and the defense, the Mariners only had one run themselves through five innings, courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Randy Arozarena. Was this going to yet another game, where the lack of scoring ultimately nullified another outstanding pitching effort?

The lineup gets it going

Fortunately for everyone concerned, the answer would be no, as the lineup started to warm up. Dylan Moore hit a two-run bomb in the top of the sixth, to give the visitors a valuable 3-0 advantage.

At the same time there were still some understandable nerves, especially with Miller leaving the game. The bullpen has not been quite up to the same standard as recent seasons, with them give up plenty of leads.

Along these lines, when Jordan Walker hit a solo blast off Troy Taylor in the bottom of the seventh to make it 3-1, there was some nervousness. Collin Snider did throw a scoreless eighth, but the Mariners still weren’t out of the woods.

Finally though, Wilson’s players all essentially put the game to bed in the top of the ninth. A Cal Raleigh RBI double and Luke Raley RBI single made it 6-1, followed by Trent Thornton closing out the game in the bottom of the ninth.

Wilson discussed the value of the late scoring. He said:

“Getting three runs in the ninth, that’s big. It takes a lot of pressure off our pitching staff. That’s all huge, and it all adds up. It’s the little things. We’ve talked about that a lot. We’ve played a lot of close games, so little things make a big difference, and adding on late is huge.”

In respect of the lineup in general, their 11 hits marks the first time this year the Mariners have had more than 10 hits in three consecutive games. Of equal importance, a club with the most strikeouts in the Majors during 2024, equalled a season low with just five on Friday evening.

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Keeping it simple at the plate

J.P. Crawford explained why this was possible, when speaking to the media afterwards. He said;

“As a group, we simplified a bunch of stuff. Everyone’s going into each at-bat just relaxed and calm and ready to do damage. We all have a plan, and these last couple games the plan’s been simple, and I think everyone’s bought into that.”

Crawford made sure to give plenty of credit to a certain Hall of Famer, for this change from a game plan which was at times just too complicated. Speaking about Edgar Martinez, he said:

“He’s been huge. He’s been really good. He’s been helping everyone here, and he’s been helping me out these last couple days. The advice he gives is so simple, and it really works way better than anything else.”

We fully appreciate that a few games of success do not equate to long-term productivity, but you have to start somewhere. For what it’s worth, the Mariners have averaged 5.36 runs per game so far under Wilson, compared to 3.93 when Scott Servais was in charge.

Regardless, the Mariners need to keep scoring enough and winning, to put some pressure on the Astros and the other AL wild card contenders. Along with continued excellent pitching of course, with Logan Gilbert taking to the mound on Saturday late afternoon at Busch Stadium.

So how is this all going to play out for the Mariners? Will they fall away, come up just short, or make the playoffs? Let us know in the comments section below.