Three takeaways from the Mariners’ narrow win over the Boston Red Sox
The Seattle Mariners held on to a 6-5 win over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night at T-Mobile Park, improving to 4-1 on the season.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
1. MARINERS WILL HAVE ‘GROWING PAINS’
Rookie third baseman Dylan Moore, making his first career start, recorded three consecutive errors on sharp grounders with two outs in the ninth inning, which allowed the Red Sox to scratch across three late runs.
Moore, who made his MLB debut during the Mariners’ Japan series, hadn’t committed an error in his first four appearances, but the three Saturday nearly resulted in a ninth-inning collapse by Seattle.
“The ninth inning got a little crazy there,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Certainly things happen. The young players out there are going to to through some growing pains, we certainly went through a little bit tonight, but got to learn from it.”
Friday night, three runs in the final frame cost the Mariners a win. Saturday, they were able to escape.
“You’ve got to wash it,” Servais said. “Dylan Moore is a good player. He is, he’s had a good spring training, we like him a lot. It’s just sometimes it gets going a little too fast, and that’s what happened tonight. But, he’ll be back out there. It’s part of baseball.”
The Mariners have experimented with different looks in the infield so far this season, with veteran third baseman Kyle Seager (hand) out the first several weeks, and have committed eight errors in the first five games.
All eight errors have been in the infield — Moore with three, shortstop Tim Beckham and first baseman Jay Bruce each with two, and Ryon Healy with one while playing third. Half of the errors have been at third.
2. HOME RUN STREAK CONTINUES
The Mariners now have 13 home runs this season spread across five games, with Bruce adding his first of the season on a decisive three-run blast in the fifth.
Eight players — Beckham (three), Domingo Santana (three), Healy (three), Bruce (one), Edwin Encarnacion (one), Mitch Haniger (one), Omar Narvaez (one) and Mallex Smith (one) — have hit long balls for Seattle so far this season.
“We’ve been really putting together some great at-bats,” Bruce said. “From walks to singles to home runs, you name it, we’ve got a group of guys who come in here and we know what we want to do and we know the approach we want to take.”
Half of the runs the Mariners have scored this season — 21 of 42 — have come as a product of a home run.
“We’re swinging the bats good right now,” Servais said. “I think our guys are prepared going into games. You see early in games we’re ready to hit. It doesn’t take us one time through the lineup for guys to make adjustments. ... We’re getting some good hacks at it and we’re squaring up some balls. I hope it continues.”
3. EXTRA-BASE HEALY
Every hit Healy has recorded this season has been for extra bases. Through five games, he is leading all major-league hitters with seven extra-base hits — five doubles and two home runs.
“I like my approach,” he said. “I feel prepared. And I haven’t felt prepared for a long time.”
Healy added to that total Saturday night with back-to-back doubles in his first two plate appearances. He has also hit safely in each of the Mariners’ first five games.
“He’s got a good approach right now,” Servais said. “It’s great to see. It really lengthens our lineup when he and Tim Beckham are doing what they’re doing in the five-six hole.”
Healy said some mechanical adjustments at the plate have made a difference in his at-bats.
“Eliminating the leg kick helps me be on time more often,” he said. “I feel like I battled that a lot last year. So, for me just getting in a better hitting position earlier, it allows my eyes to do more of the work, and that’s just all I’m looking for.”