Mariners takeaways: Seattle rallies to top White Sox in opening homestand finale
The Mariners rallied for seven runs in the sixth inning Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park to close out their opening homestand with an 8-4 win, while avoiding a sweep against the White Sox.
Seattle (3-3) now hits the road for seven games against the Twins and Orioles before returning home on April 16.
Here are three takeaways from the series-ending win:
1. The Mariners’ offense, which has struggled in spots early on, erupted for seven runs in the sixth
The Mariners struck out a season-high 15 times on back-to-back nights and combined for only four runs in their first two games against the White Sox this week — including their first shutout loss of the season in Monday’s series-opener.
They nearly doubled that production in one inning Wednesday afternoon, rallying for seven runs in the sixth inning to erase what was once a 4-1 deficit and close out a win in their series finale against Chicago.
“I really like our ball club,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I’m proud of our guys. Our guys play hard all the time. We may not play pretty all the time — and today was a little bit ugly, certainly on the mound — but we play hard. And that’s a tribute to our guys. The young guys have a lot to prove and a lot to learn.
“As long as we keep doing that, you will scratch out some wins like we did today. It looked like we were really kind of dead in the water and you look up and we had a rally going and young guys kind of feed off each other, and that’s what we saw in that inning today.”
Here’s how the decisive inning unfolded:
Jose Marmolejos drew a leadoff walk, Dylan Moore singled to right, and both advanced on a throwing error. Tom Murphy then reached on a sharp infield single to load the bases with no outs.
The Mariners then moved one base at a time to ultimately tie the game.
Rookie Taylor Trammell roped a single to right to score a run. J.P. Crawford drove in a run two batters later on a line drive to right. Mitch Haniger’s sac fly then tied the game at 4-4.
Ty France fell behind 0-2 before drawing an 11-pitch walk to load the bases again, and Kyle Seager cleared them with an opposite-field double to give the Mariners a lead they never lost.
In his second at-bat of the inning, Marmolejos singled to drive Seager in for the game’s final run.
The Mariners sent 11 players to the plate in the inning.
The eight runs they combined for matched their season-high from Opening Day, when they walked off against the Giants in extra innings.
“Really up and down the lineup, really good quality at-bats in a game that we certainly needed it, because it wasn’t something to write home about on the mound today,” Servais said. “But, we’ll take the win.”
2. Justin Dunn only allowed one hit in his season debut, but also walked eight
Dunn’s season debut had its ups and downs.
He only allowed one hit — a leadoff double to Luis Robert in the second — and only one of the three runs he was charged with crossed the plate while he was still in the game.
But, he also issued eight free passes — the most by a Mariners starter in a single game since Travis Blackley walked nine in 2004 — and was often trying to work out of trouble as his pitch count climbed.
Dunn noted he had some trouble settling in the stretch, which impacted his execution, and resulted in some long at-bats and long innings.
“I think this week for sure if you watch me throw any bullpen there’s going to be a lot of pitches thrown out of the stretch,” he said. “We’re going to get that locked in and get that taken care of, because that’s where I’m going to need to make pitches to keep us in the game and give us a chance to win.
“Fortunately enough my teammates picked me up and we got a win which is really all that matters, and I’m super encouraged by that, but I’m definitely going to go to work this week and get the stretch locked in. I had a good cue out of the windup that (James Paxton) helped me with, and continue to fine tune that and get that locked in.
“But, if I can get both rolling together and get on the plate, I mean I only gave up one hit, so if I can stay where I’m at there and let the stuff play, I think I’ll have some really good success.”
Dunn worked around two walks each in both the first and second innings to keep the White Sox scoreless, but his pitch count reached 47.
He appeared to settle in the third, retiring the White Sox in order on 10 pitches. He sat Chicago down in order again in the fourth on eight pitches.
But, then came the troublesome fifth.
Dunn walked Billy Hamilton on eight pitches to open the inning. After getting a soft pop up from Danny Mendick for the first out, he walked both Adam Eaton and Jake Lamb on four pitches each.
With the bases loaded, he worked another pop up from Jose Abreu for the second out. But, four pitches later, Yasmani Grandal was trotting to first, and Eaton walked in to score what was the tying run at that point.
Dunn was pulled at that point, and replaced by reliever Will Vest, who promptly served up a two-run single to Zack Collins on the first pitch, which gave Chicago a 3-1 lead. Dunn was charged with all three runs in the inning.
He completed 4 2/3 innings allowing the three runs on one hit with the eight walks and three strikeouts on 93 pitches.
3. Evan White made an early exit with tightness in his left quad
Mariners first baseman Evan White was replaced on defense by Marmolejos ahead of the fifth inning after leaving the game with left quad tightness.
White appeared to be in discomfort after running to first on a fielder’s choice in the third inning that knocked in Seattle’s first run.
“We’ll see how it is,” Servais said. “I don’t know anything more than that. Obviously it’s a day game over in Minnesota tomorrow and then the off day, so probably looking like Marmo getting in there.”
White is the third Mariners player to make an early exit in the past two days.
Both starter James Paxton (left forearm strain) and outfielder Jake Fraley (hamstring strain) left Tuesday night’s loss early and were placed on the 10-day IL on Wednesday morning.
Paxton, in his season debut, exited in the second inning, 24 pitches into his outing, with discomfort in his forearm.
The veteran left-hander grimaced as he returned to the mound following a 92 mph fastball to Andrew Vaughn, and bent over as catcher Luis Torrens jogged over, the infield gathered around him and Servais and athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson to hurry from the dugout.
Paxton appeared frustrated as left the field with Torgerson moments later.
“I feel like for me it’s kind of been one thing after another,” Paxton said postgame Tuesday. “I work really hard and do everything that I can to be out there, and I’ll continue to do so, and hopefully I can catch a break and stay healthy for a good chunk of time in the future.”
Fraley left the game following an impressive diving catch in left field to end the top of the fifth.
Both Paxton and Fraley underwent MRI scans Wednesday morning. Servais did not have an update on the results postgame.
The Mariners are also still without the reigning American League Rookie of the Year in center fielder Kyle Lewis, who is also on the 10-day IL with a bone bruise on his right knee.
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 5:02 PM.
