Mariners get 85th win in a runaway over Rangers, but A’s officially eliminate M’s from postseason chase
Let’s take the time machine back to about a year ago.
The Minnesota Twins ended the year with 85 wins, and that was enough to earn the American League’s second wild card to the playoffs, while the Mariners were mired in a record number of injuries and players used to finish with 78 wins (three more than the Oakland Athletics).
Now?
The Mariners won their 85th game of the season with a season-high 13 runs in a 13-0 shutout victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday at Globe Life Park, crushing the Rangers with home runs from Robinson Cano, Mike Zunino and Dee Gordon from the fifth inning on.
And the Mariners (85-69) still have eight games to play, including seven more at home after their series finale against the Rangers on Sunday.
Except the Athletics with a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Twins later in the night officially and mathematically pushed the Mariners playoff drought to 17 consecutive seasons, which is the longest active run without a playoff appearance in any of the major North American professional sports associations.
Yes, a streak even longer than that of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.
Another season, no Mariners playoff games.
A year ago 85 wins is in line for playoff baseball (the Mariners had 86 wins in 2016). But the Astros entered Saturday with 96 wins, the Athletics had 93 wins and even the Tampa Bay Rays had 86 wins. The A’s had an 8.5
So 85 Mariners wins probably never felt so hollow, especially when the playoffs seemed a given when Seattle was 24 games above .500 in June.
So hollow that even a 13-0 blanking, with the Mariners tying a season-high for runs scored, still felt empty.
Where did all this offense finally come from?
“Scoring runs,” Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters afterward. “We really are and doing it consistently. A lot of it has been driven by (Mitch) Haniger and the middle of our lineup. When Robbie and Cruzy get going we really have a chance to put big numbers up there and that’s what we’ve done a couple times this trip.”
It was scoreless through four innings and the Mariners got two quick outs in the top of the fifth before Haniger doubled – which was all it took.
Jean Segura followed with a rare walk and on a 2-1 pitch from the Rangers’ most consistent starter all season, Mike Minor, Cano launched it past center field for a three-run homer and a Mariners lead.
That was one of Cano’s three hits – his fourth consecutive multi-hit game.
Cano’s double in the seventh scored Haniger, who had his second double of the game. So four-RBI night for Cano.
In the sixth inning, the Mariners got a home run from Mike Zunino, his 20th home run of the season and second consecutive year with at least 20 homers.
And then in the eighth inning, the Rangers had Bartolo Colon enter in relief … and it got strange.
Kyle Seager was given a triple on what should have been a single to right field that got past Nomar Mazara to the wall. If that’s Dee Gordon running instead of Seager then that’s an inside-the-park home run.
So, instead, Gordon followed with an outside-the-park home run, launching a fastball to right-center field. That was Gordon’s third home run of the season after Seager got his first triple of the year and second in the past two years.
Gordon’s three homers are the most he’s had in a season since his 2015 All-Star season with the Miami Marlins, when he hit four.
Translation: That Seager-Gordon triple-homer sequence was about as rare as it gets.
The Mariners had a 7-0 lead.
And this wasn’t like Erasmo Ramirez’s outing the day before, when Ramirez lasted 2 2/3 innings and allowed six runs against the Rangers in a rain-shortened 8-3 Mariners loss.
Gonzales cruised once he worked out some of the kinks of the first inning. He’s pitched a career-high 161 2/3 innings this season (his previous high was 126 between the majors and minors last year).
So that’s why Nick Vincent replaced him after Gonzales allowed just one hit in six innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
Gonzales went to the disabled list with a neck strain in late August and since he returned on Sept. 11 he has allowed four runs in 16 innings pitched (2.25 ERA).
“I’ve felt great the past two starts,” Gonzales said. “And I feel like I’m finally executing to my standard and to what I think I can. I was really encouraged.”
The Rangers obliged in the seventh inning by loading the bases with one out against Vincent, but he got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Then it was Guillermo Heredia, Ben Gamel and Kristopher Negron continuing to pour it on for the Mariners offense, setting a season-high with 13 runs scored and working on the Mariners’ season run differential.
A few takeaways:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><br><br>Robinson Canó breaks the tie with a big 3-run homer in the 5th. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoMariners?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoMariners</a> <a href="https://t.co/kczB6ox4BZ">pic.twitter.com/kczB6ox4BZ</a></p>— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/1043686828539228160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Rare air
Mitch Haniger is one of two outfielders in Mariners history to have a season like this.
A season with at least 35 doubles, 25 home runs and 90 RBI. The other to do that is Ken Griffey Jr., who did that in 1992 and 1993.
Haniger obliged with two more doubles on Saturday night to push his season batting average to .287. Haniger went 3-for-5 and since Aug. 1 he is batting .338.
Haniger pushed his hit streak to 11 consecutive games.
“Yeah, Hani is going to have a day off tomorrow,” Servais said. “He’s earned it. He’s on a great run and we’ll find someone else to lead off tomorrow. But really good at-bats tonight.”
Cano crushing
Robinson Cano is just one double away from tying Lou Gehrig for 40th-most career doubles in MLB history, but he won’t get there if he keeps doing what he did in the fifth inning on Saturday.
Cano crushed a 2-1 pitch for a three-run home run over the wall in center field for his ninth of the season and his fifth since returning from an 80-game drug suspension on Aug. 14.
Then in the seventh inning he dropped a soft hit into shallow left field to score Haniger and he reached second base just in time for another one of those career doubles.
Cano went 3-for4 in the game with a walk and four RBI. He has 11 hits in his past 15 at-bats (.733) to raise his season batting average to .301.
Twenty Zs
Mike Zunino has much to work on this offseason to continue to constitute his place as the Mariners’ starting catcher.
But there’s been signs that there’s plenty of offensive potential in his bat. He hit his 20th homer of the season with a solo shot in the top of the sixth inning against the Rangers on Saturday.
That’s his third season with at least 20 homers and second in a row. He already has more home runs than any catcher in Mariners history with 95 now in 543 games. Dan Wilson had 86 in 1,181 games and Dave Valle had 68 in 752 games.
Except Wilson had a .261 career batting average and .690 OPS (on-base plus slugging). Zunino entering Saturday had a .207 career average (.197 this year) and .683 OPS.
Play of the game
The most critical play was Robinson Cano’s three-run homer.
But the most interesting?
That was the Kyle Seager-Dee Gordon sequence in the eighth inning, Seager got a “triple” when what should have been a single got past Rangers right fielder Nomar Mazara to the wall and Seager made his way into third base.
That was Seager’s second triple in two years.
And Dee Gordon followed with a first-pitch home run off of Bartolo Colon. The two-run shot was his third home run of the season – his most homers in a year since he was an All-Star in 2015 with the Marlins.
Yes, a Seager triple and a Gordon home run.
Go figure.
Top batter
Robinson Cano had as many hits as the Rangers had combined. Cano went 3-for-4 with a single, double, home run and season-high four RBI to up his season batting average to .301.
His past 15 at-bats – he has 11 hits.
“Starting this road trip his timing has been much better,” Servais said. “Getting to all pitches and the home run he hit – I don’t know if he got all of it but he certainly got enough of it. It was a big hit to get us on the board.”
Mitch Haniger and Guillermo Heredia also had three hits each. Haniger had two doubles.
The only Mariners to not get a hit were Jean Segura, though he walked twice (that’s how you knew this game was rare), Gordon Beckham and Andrew Romine each went 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter, Ben Gamel had a pinch-hit sacrifice fly and Cameron Maybin had a pinch-hit walk.
Otherwise, Nelson Cruz had two hits and two RBI (upping his season total to 93 RBI), Ryon Healy had one, Kyle Seager the triple, Dee Gordon the homer and Mike Zunino homered.
Top pitcher
It might have been Marco Gonzales’ final start of the season before the Mariners shut him down.
He wants another.
“Yeah, I’m a competitor,” Gonzales said. I want to go out there and pitch. If I get one more that would be great. I would like to go out there and compete.”
Gonzales pitched six innings in this one and allowed one hit, one walk and struck out three, including two in his final frame.
The top at-bat might have been against Delino DeShields Jr. in the sixth when Gonzales won the 10-pitch battle by striking DeShields out with a changeup.
“Just a really good outing,” Servais said. “Not overpowering but he really mixed his stuff well. He has a knack where he knows, ‘OK, this is probably my last inning.’ And he goes out there and tightens everything up.
“He’s had a heck of a season and it’s been a complete year for him, and it’s nice to see it end this way.”
Quotable
So, will Marco Gonzales see another start?
“We’ll see,” Servais said. ‘I know he wants to show he has more left in the tank.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Zunino with a big fly to left to extend the Mariners lead in the 6th. Back-to-back seasons of 20+ home runs for Mike. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoMariners?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoMariners</a> <a href="https://t.co/3DZG7H9eD1">pic.twitter.com/3DZG7H9eD1</a></p>— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/1043688129629118464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A big night for <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Mariners</a> offense with 3 Home runs in a 13-0 win. Dee Gordon even went yard. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ROOTFANFAV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ROOTFANFAV</a> <a href="https://t.co/NTMOCswi3L">pic.twitter.com/NTMOCswi3L</a></p>— ROOT SPORTS™ | NW (@ROOTSPORTS_NW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ROOTSPORTS_NW/status/1043701232890785792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This story was originally published September 22, 2018 at 8:17 PM.