Mariners carry lead wire-to-wire, open series against Rangers with win
The Mariners continue to let the kids play in this shortened season, and there are nights in this season focused on development that are quite fun to watch.
Friday’s series opener against the Rangers was one example.
Kyle Lewis, a serious contender for the American League Rookie of the Year award, mashed his team-leading sixth home run.
Young lefty Nick Margevicius was outstanding through his first four innings, and picked up his first win as a Mariner despite running into some trouble later in his outing.
Sam Haggerty doubled and drove in a run for the first time in his career to kick start what ended up being a decisive four-run first inning, and Braden Bishop got on track driving in another run on a ground rule double to bookend the frame.
Then there was Camas High School product Taylor Williams, who notched another save as the Mariners topped the Rangers, 7-4, at T-Mobile Park to push their record to 9-19.
The Mariners knocked Rangers starter Kolby Allard out early with that four-run first. J.P. Crawford opened the frame with a single before Haggerty’s double scored him. Lewis then walked and scored on an Austin Nola single. Nola later scored on Bishop’s double.
“That’s what it takes trying to put big numbers up there,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said during his postgame video call. “It can’t just be those guys in the middle of the lineup. Everybody’s got to contribute, and that’s what happened in the first inning.”
Allard was lifted after facing all nine of Seattle’s batters, and the Mariners continued to get offensive contributions up and down the lineup as the game continued.
“Games like this are the perfect example of hitting is contagious, good at-bats are contagious,” Bishop said.
Lewis crushed his solo homer to center in the second, and a Bishop grounder scored Tim Lopes, who earlier stole the Mariners’ majors-leading 29th base, in the third to make it 6-0 at that point.
Lewis continues to lead all qualified rookies in most offensive categories including hits (35), RBI (18), walks (16), average (.354) and on-base percentage (.440). He’s tied with White Sox center fielder Luis Robert with the six homers.
Through this first month, he said he’s most happy with how he’s been able to contribute to the team in multiple ways — both on offense and defense.
“I think overall, what I’m evaluating right now, is just how did I play overall as a whole game,” he said.
Leading by two runs, Seattle added a bit more insurance in the seventh, when Lewis drew another walk and eventually scored on a fielding error.
That was enough to keep Margevicius in line for the win.
“It’s huge,” Margevicius said of the early lead. “It allows me to be super aggressive in the strike zone. That was kind of my mentality the whole night, especially after we scored — go up and throw up a zero. I learned back in college, my college coach was huge on throwing up a zero after scoring runs, and it’s kind of never left me, so every time we throw up some runs, I’m going out there doing everything I can to throw up a zero.”
Four the first four innings of his third start this season, Margevicius looked untouchable. Texas managed a single hit off him on an infield dribbler, and he matched his career-high with seven strikeouts, including two in each of his first three innings.
The Rangers finally got to Margevicius in the fifth. Jose Trevino slipped a double down the left field line to open the inning. Margevicius retired the next two batters, but issued a walk to to Rob Refsnyder on five pitches — the 17th batter Margevicius faced, it was also the first at-bat when he threw ball three.
Margevicius went up 0-2 on Scott Heineman, but the Rangers’ center fielder jumped on an outside fastball and pushed a double down the right field line, scoring both runs and cutting the lead to 6-2.
Danny Santana tacked on another run for the Rangers when he clobbered a home run to right to lead off the sixth. Joey Gallo then beat the shift with a pop up bunt to the third base side, and Jose Trevino knocked a single to right center to give Texas runners at the corners.
Margevicius was pulled at that point with one out in the inning and 82 pitches. Rookie reliever Joey Gerber got the final two outs of the inning, but Rougned Odor scratched across another run on a sac fly to make it 6-4.
When his book was closed, Margevicius had suddenly allowed the four runs on six hits with a walk and the seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings on a steady diet of fastballs.
But, as much as the Rangers slipped away from him in his final two frames, Margevicius again showed why he can be a more than capable replacement for injured starter Kendall Graveman in Seattle’s six-man rotation.
Across his first three starts since taking over that spot, Margevicius has allowed six runs — including the season-high four Friday — across his 14 2/3 innings.
“He has really shown well for himself,” Servais said. “This is a guy, he’s still only 24 years old, he fits right in the same bucket with (Justus) Sheffield and (Justin) Dunn and a number of young pitchers we have.
“He’s going pitch in this league a long time. He really is. He throws strikes, he does not beat himself and he’s always got a good plan when he’s out there.”
Seattle’s bullpen managed to hold on late. Matt Magill worked an easy 1-2-3 seventh, Dan Altavilla struck out the side swinging in the eighth, and Williams picked up his fifth save of the season in a 1-2-3 ninth.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 8:54 PM.
