Mariners snap losing streak behind Walker’s quality start, homers from Nola, Moore
Maybe the Mariners just needed to come back home.
Wednesday night’s series opener against the Dodgers wasn’t without some blunders, but Seattle did snap a seven-game losing streak in its return to T-Mobile Park following a troubling nine-day road trip.
Taijuan Walker recovered brilliantly from a pair of long innings early, Austin Nola and Dylan Moore both homered, reliever Taylor Williams worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and the Mariners (8-18) got back on track with a 6-4 win.
“We’ve been right there,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said during his postgame video call. “We’ve been very competitive. We’ve played our tails off and nice to get a win tonight. Everybody feels a little bit better when you put a W up.”
The Mariners took the game’s final lead in the third, when Nola crushed a three-run homer to the upper deck of Edgar’s Cantina in left field.
Rookie Kyle Lewis outlegged an infield single to lead off the inning, and Kyle Seager walked ahead of Nola to set up the go-ahead blast that put the Mariners up 4-3.
But, the celebration surrounding Nola’s third homer of the season was fleeting. Moments later, rookie Evan White fouled a 95 mph sinker off his left knee cap and made an early exit.
Clearly in pain, White immediately fell to the ground, and after attempting to get up, sat behind the plate as trainer Rob Nodine and manager Scott Servais rushed out to check on him.
White eventually walked back to the dugout on his own, but was helped down the stairs by Nodine and taken into the clubhouse. X-rays on his knee were negative, and the club listed him as day-to-day.
Second baseman Shed Long Jr. entered the game as his replacement and Moore, who started the game at second, shifted to first.
Long extended the inning taking over White’s at-bat and drawing a walk. He eventually scored on a sac fly to center by J.P. Crawford.
Moore added another insurance run in the sixth with his fifth homer of the season on a solo shot into Seattle’s bullpen in left center.
The three-run lead was plenty for Walker, who settled in nicely after watching his pitch count climb to 50 in his first two innings.
He needed 19 to get out of the first in part due to a fielding error by Moore at second, and 31 to work his way out of a jam in the second.
Max Muncy and Joc Pederson each knocked solo homers off Walker in the inning to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead, and he allowed a single and a walk before getting Corey Seager to ground out to strand the runners without further damage.
But, from there, Walker worked through each inning on 13 pitches or less. After Cody Bellinger added a third solo shot for the Dodgers in the third, extending their lead to 3-1 at that point, Walker didn’t give up another hit.
“The second and third innings when I gave up those home runs, we noticed they were just sort of sitting on the fastball,” Walker said. “The fastballs I threw that they hit the home runs on weren’t perfect pitches, but it just seemed like they were just sitting fastballs, so we made an adjustment and said, ‘Let’s just start doing more off-seed. Let’s start pitching backwards.’
“And that’s what we did, and I was able to land my off-speed pitches for strikes, still get ahead with it, and show the fastball out of the zone. ... It was fun. It was nice making that adjustment midgame like that and recognizing it early. Nola did an amazing job behind the plate. We switched up the game plan and we executed really well.”
The ability to make the midgame adjustment shows the maturity Walker has developed, Servais said.
“The last time that Taijuan was a Mariner here a few years ago, he couldn’t have made that adjustment midgame,” Servais said. “He’s learned. He went to some changeups and two-seamers, a lot of curveballs, got the cutter going.
“And it really slowed things down, slowed them down in the batter’s box. They were just jumping all over the fastball. So, really nice adjustment by him and Austin Nola to recognize that and execute it midgame. It says a lot for where Taijuan’s at and the adjustments he’s made throughout his career.”
Another fielding error in the third, this time by Kyle Seager on an A.J. Pollock grounder, again kept Walker on the mound, but he picked Pollock off without throwing another pitch.
Walker retired the final 12 batters he faced after that, and during that stretch collected his 500th career strikeout when he caught former teammate Chris Taylor looking at a cutter in the fourth.
“It’s always cool to hit milestones like that,” Walker said. “Hopefully there’s many more to come.”
Max Muncy marked Walker’s final strikeout of the night, and was tossed after swinging at a splitter out of the zone for strike three. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was ejected moments earlier for arguing with the home plate umpire.
Walker finished seven complete innings while allowing the three runs on four hits with one walked and matched his season-high with eight strikeouts. He threw 106 pitches, and his last inning was his quickest. It was his third quality outing in three starts.
“He hasn’t pitched a lot in the last couple years, but he’s completely healthy,” Servais said. “He’s getting a really good feel for his secondary pitches. That was the key to the ball game tonight, and Taijuan’s got a lot of confidence.
“He’s pitched against the Dodgers quite a bit coming over from Arizona. So, he knows their lineup, had a pretty good idea how he wanted to attack them. Again, the key to the ballgame was he was able to make a switch midgame and go a little bit more soft stuff with the curveball and changeup, helping him get deep in the ballgame.”
The Dodgers crept back with a run in the eighth off rookie reliever Anthony Misiewicz, who allowed a leadoff double to Mookie Betts. Crawford then snagged a sharp liner in the shift from Corey Seager for the first out, but Justin Turner promptly singled Betts in to make it 6-4.
Misiewicz recorded another out before Servais called for Camas High School product Williams in the bullpen. Williams got a fly out to end the inning.
Williams worked out of a jam in the ninth to pick up his fourth career save, striking out Corey Seager swinging with the bases loaded for the final out. Williams struck out the side in the inning, while also allowing two walks and an infield hit.
“I felt in control the whole time,” Williams said. “I think it was just a matter of making pitches. I think I made a pretty good pitch there to start off the inning and unfortunately it was an infield base hit.
“And from there I kind of lost a little bit of feel for the command of my fastball, especially against those right-handed hitters, so I just tried to focus on my breathing and stay calm and stay within myself, and fortunately I was able to make pitches when I needed to.”
The Mariners took the game’s first lead in the first inning, when Nola singled in Moore. Nola finished 2-for-4 with four RBI.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 9:57 PM.
