Edwin Diaz inches closer to history. Mariners needed that behind more sluggish offense
If Scott Servais was waiting for the Seattle Mariners’ offense to finally find its long-lost spark, he’ll need to wait some more.
Offense is what the Mariners want.
Wins are what they need.
And they got the latter with just barely enough of the former thanks to Cameron Maybin’s leadoff triple and Dee Gordon’s go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. Erasmo Ramirez and the Mariners bullpen continued to shut down the team with the fewest wins in the major leagues from there for a 2-1 victory on Monday at Safeco Field.
“We have to score runs to win,” Maybin said. “But it’s going to take everybody now this time of the year. Coming down the stretch it’s going to take a team effort. We have to go out and have fun and at the end of the day see where the chips fall.”
Gordon’s sacrifice fly is an example of that. He’s mired in a .273 season batting average that has knocked him to ninth in the order, but he made the winning play in this one – even if it didn’t help his individual stats.
And the Mariners (77-61) really can’t afford many more losses with now 24 games remaining in the season. Especially after earlier Monday the Oakland Athletics beat the Yankees. The A’s lead on Seattle remains at 5½ games for the American League’s final wild card.
“We got to keep it rolling,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Not a lot of offense to talk about tonight, but the story of the day was pitching – and we had just enough to get it done.”
And they had plenty from the backend of the bullpen. Edwin Diaz closed out the ninth by striking out the side for his major-league leading 52nd save and needs 10 more to tie the single-season major league record held by former Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Save .<br><br>That ties Eric Gagne (2002) for 8th-most in single-season Major League history. <a href="https://t.co/qnXPWq1tZA">pic.twitter.com/qnXPWq1tZA</a></p>— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/1036828501662294016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Mariners are 61-0 this year when Diaz enters the game with a lead, even if this took him 23 pitches.
“They battled in their ABs,” said Diaz, on the same day his manager debuted his Diaz-style haircut at Safeco Field and a section was set up for fans to line for the haircut as well.
“But I still won them.”
Ramirez was run after just three innings for seven runs his previous start in San Diego, but he rolled through the Orioles’ lineup on Monday.
Except 24-year-old Orioles lefty Josh Rogers was rolling, likewise, through the Mariners’ offense.
Remind anyone of last week, when the Mariners were shut down by a pair of Padres rookies? Rogers was making his second career start after arriving from the Yankees in a trade that sent coveted lefty reliever Zach Britton.
And Baltimore struck first when Ramirez allowed just the second hit of his outing – a line-drive solo home run off of the right-field foul pole from Jonathan Villar to lead off the fourth inning.
The Mariners responded by doing what they do worse than any team in the major leagues this season: draw a walk.
No, not Jean Segura. He’d only drawn 24 walks in 546 plate appearances entering Monday. He led off with a groundout.
But Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz followed with back-to-back walks to set up Ryon Healy’s game-tying single (though Healy was thrown out diving into second base).
Then the Mariners hit two triples in the fifth inning, one from Maybin (who hadn’t recorded a hit since Aug. 17) and another from Mitch Haniger, who extended his career-high hit streak to 15 games.
Maybin scored the go-ahead run on Gordon’s sacrifice fly.
Servais said afterward that he had spoken with Maybin about not waiting for the perfect pitch at the plate.
“He was telling me to be more aggressive and it’s good to get that OK to be more aggressive,” said Maybin, who finished 2-for-3. “Today I was and I need to continue to work on it.”
The Mariners didn’t get anymore, coming after Servais said earlier in the day that a Mariners’ final postseason push would have to be driven by their offense.
But it was enough for Ramirez, who rebounded after a clunker of an outing his last start against the Padres, when he allowed seven runs and nine hits in three innings.
This time Ramirez was back to form, allowing the one run and two hits in 5 1/3 innings and 76 pitches. He’s allowed one earned run or fewer in four of his five starts since returning from the disabled list.
Servais turned to the bullpen with the Orioles order approaching the third time through in the lineup. Zach Duke, Nick Vincent, Alex Colome and Diaz kept it rolling from there with 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.
Let’s get to it. Three takeaways:
52 saves
Erasmo Ramirez is now tied with former Dodgers closer Eric Gagne (2002) for eighth-most saves in a single season in MLB history, picking up his 52.
And he again struck out the side, pushing his season strikeout total to 115 for the season He entered the day only trailing Brewers All-Star Josh Hader for most strikeouts by a reliever this season and Hader had 113.
And it came on the night the Mariners had a section dubbed “Electric Eddie’s Barbershop” named because Diaz won a bet with Servais – if he saved 50 games, the 51-year-old Servais would get the same haircut as the 24-year-old Diaz with the lines shaved into the side of his head.
Diaz completed that more than a week ago in Arizona and Servais got the haircut in San Diego last week.
But fans could get the same haircut at Safeco Field on Monday.
“I heard a lot of people came to get the haircut,” Diaz said. “I feel pretty happy about that. I heard a lot of people while I was in the bullpen yelling, ‘Diaz, Diaz, see my haircut?’ They were looking good.”
Diaz is now one of just eight relievers in MLB history with at least 52 saves and he needs 10 more to tie former Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez’s single-season record of 62 saves.
Ramirez right
Erasmo Ramirez’s game plan was obvious: throw a lot, a lot of strikes.
Of the 11 pitches he threw in the second, all were strikes. Through that frame he had thrown 24 of 28 pitches in the zone.
“The main part was just attack,” Ramirez said. “Attack the hitters and show them you are going to attack everyone and play around the strike zone, and today was the point – go and execute every pitch.”
And his velocity was up, too (back between 91-92 mph) from his previous start (89-91) – a three-inning clunker in a bad loss to the San Diego Padres last week. He allowed seven runs and nine hits in those three frames.
Another last-place team, another opportunity. Against the Orioles Ramirez pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed two hits, one run, with no walks and five strikeouts. He exited with the bases empty after inducing a leadoff groundout in the sixth only because the Orioles had the top of the order due for the third time.
Other than that Padres stinker, Ramirez had allowed one run or fewer in each of his four other starts since returning from the disabled list on Aug. 12.
Triple Time
The Mariners might have the fewest doubles in the American League this season. And maybe they’re 11th out of 15 teams in the AL in home runs hit.
But they hit some triples. Cameron Maybin and Mitch Haniger each hit one in the bottom of the fifth, with Maybin scoring the go-ahead run on Dee Gordon’s sacrifice fly.
Haniger’s triple extended his career-high hit streak to 15 games, which is the longest-active hit streak in the majors.
Taco Time gives out free Mexi-Fries the next day if the Mariners hit a triple.
Haniger’s might have been an inside-the-park shot had he not turned on the gas around the bases only after it dropped just before the wall in left-center field.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Every three-bagger we hit means free Mexi-Fries for you. <br><br>Download the <a href="https://twitter.com/TacoTimeNW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TacoTimeNW</a> app to snag your free medium order of them tomorrow. <a href="https://t.co/manlDB2aGm">pic.twitter.com/manlDB2aGm</a></p>— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/1036847780348813315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Play of the game
Cameron Maybin’s leadoff triple in the fifth inning set up Dee Gordon’s go-ahead sacrifice fly for a 2-1 Mariners lead.
Top batter
Cameron Maybin hadn’t recorded a hit since Aug. 17 against the Dodgers. Since coming to the Mariners from the Marlins he had a .194 average (13-for-67) and .250 on-base percentage in 20 games entering Monday – after he hit .251 with a .338 on-base percentage in 99 games with the Marlins earlier this season.
He went 2-for-3 on Monday with a triple and the go-ahead run thanks to an improved approach.
“Cam was really having a nice year and he comes here on the trade and he’s been in a funk the past couple weeks with us,” Servais said. “Good opportunity to get him in there tonight and he needed to get aggressive. That’s what I talked with him about is just let it rip. If you see something you like let it rip. Don’t wait for the perfect pitch because sometimes it’s just not there. I thought he was really aggressive tonight.”
Top pitcher
Edwin Diaz entered for the ninth to face the top of the Orioles looking to improve to 29-0 when he enters in a one-run game.
He struck out the side for his 52nd save of the season.
Quotable
Dee Gordon let a softy fly ball slip just past his glove with two outs in the seventh inning, allowing Orioles shortstop Tim Beckham to reach second base easily. It should have been an easy play for Gordon, who was starting for the second consecutive game in center field after having never played there previously in his career.
“We’re asking a lot of Dee Gordon and people need to understand that for him to move around the field and do it with the right attitude and swag – he’s done a great job in the infield, and asking him to go to the outfield, it’s one of those plays that happens sometimes,” Servais said. “You got to let it go and move on.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2018 at 8:44 PM.