Mariners takeaways: Marco Gonzales continues rise, Marmolejos dominates Triple-A
Scott Servais called him a “bulldog.” One teammate thought “pitbull” was more fitting, and another considered him “phenomenal.” When Thursday’s quick, two-hour, eight-minute game dwindled to a close, it became clear that the afternoon belonged to Marco Gonzales, and no man would take it from him.
After facing the minimum in the eighth, manager Scott Servais met Gonzales in the tunnel. His team had a two-run lead, and his starter found himself three outs from a complete game.
The skipper had no intention of taking the ball away, and because the pair were on the same page, the meeting was short-lived.
“Hey, how are you feeling,” Servais asked, as Marco neared the 100-pitch mark.
“You gotta let me finish this,” Gonzales replied. “There’s nobody else who can come in this game. I don’t want you to pick up that phone. … Let me go.”
Servais let Gonzales take the mound in the ninth to finish what he started. “You’ve got 115 pitches, so go out there and get it done. Don’t dance around. Go right after them.”
Marco worked a clean ninth inning, as he had in seven of his first eight frames. The lone exception was the second inning -- when Texas’ Charlie Culberson cranked a solo home run into the T-Mobile Park bullpen -- but Texas would muster only a single and a walk from that point on.
With family and friends in town to meet his newborn daughter, Gonzales tossed the best outing of the season — and perhaps the best of his career.
“I’ve been waiting (for) this “dad strength” to come around,” Gonzales said. “It just feels good to feel like I have my feet under me and pitch with my heart, and go out there and have fun.”
The opening months of the season did not live up to the expectations of what many thought Marco would and could be, but Seattle’s three-time Opening Day starter is on the upswing. When fans booed him off the field during a July 3 loss to the Rangers, his earned run average touched six after allowing seven runs in less than four innings of work.
But since, each of the Gonzaga product’s starts have improved on the last. He threw 6.2 innings of shutout ball last week in Yankee Stadium, and Thursday’s start was what Gonzales considered a “snowball effect” after his best outing of the year.
“My teammates kept believing in me. My coaches kept believing in me,” Gonzales said. “I knew that once I felt confident, and got the ball rolling, I’d be good. I just tried to have faith in the work and the process, and just (tried) to keep it rolling.”
Like any complete game, you’re likely to see at least one or two highlight-reel defensive plays behind the pitcher. After Gonzales walked Jose Trevino in the sixth, Seattle’s Abraham Toro continued his newfound success at second base when he snagged a line drive off the bat of Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Trevino’s lead was a step too large, and Toro rifled the ball to first base to turn a crucial double play in what was then a one-run game.
As for Marco’s other seven innings where he faced the minimum, he stayed ahead in counts and tied up right-handed hitters with his fastball. He forced weak contact off the bat — what he’s known for doing — but simultaneously reached a career-high nine strikeouts during what can only be described as a masterclass, taught using 108 pitches.
“It was awesome. I didn’t have to do anything,” outfielder Jake Fraley said with a chuckle. “I just stood out there and relaxed. Especially with it being hot, I can’t ask any more (than) for Marco to do that, so I made sure to thank him, and let him know… he was unbelievable.”
Marmolejos visits the minors, and quickly dominates the leaderboards
In the days Jose Marmolejos sat on the major league waiver wire, he reflected on his career. What brought him to the big leagues? What made him successful at the highest level?
When his batting average fell to .139 on May 20, the Mariners designated Marmolejos for assignment. He was out of options, and would have to clear waivers to stay with the club. The first baseman cleared them, and joined Triple-A Tacoma three days later.
He trusted, he prayed, and he focused on the positives.
Almost three months later, there’s a new leader in the Pacific Coast League’s batting average and on-base percentage rankings. The Rainiers, with Marmolejos’ help, have won 14 of their last 18 games.
Through Saturday, Tacoma’s best player sported a .379 batting average, and reached base over 47 percent of the time.
“It’s a major blessing,” Marmolejos told The News Tribune. “Trusting and focusing on the positive things. There’s always going to be negatives… but you have to stay positive with what you do, and your work ethic has to be consistent.
“If you trust that, don’t change anything, and keep working hard, and trusting that it’s going to come, the consistency is going to be there.”
Upon his Tacoma arrival, Marmolejos is walking more, and striking out less. The 28-year-old mashed 20 home runs in his first 214 Tacoma at-bats, though he’s not looking for home runs at the plate.
He’s worked with manager Kristopher Negron and hitting coaches in the cages. Marmolejos isn’t necessarily trying to drive baseballs over the fence, but instead looks for contact, and hopes the rest will take care of itself.
At Saturday’s batting practice, Marmolejos swung smooth and easy, but they consistently reached the warning track. On one swing, he launched one into the light tower in right-center field, before falling onto an access road outside of the stadium.
“(I’m) trying to stay with the ball,” Marmolejos said. “See the ball all the way through. It’s not (about) the pitcher. It’s more of when I see the ball coming out, what are my swing decisions? What’s a strike? What’s a ball? Trying to recognize that has been way better.”
The Rainiers, now at 51-37, are within a game of Reno for first place in the division. It’s a positive bunch, a team that stays ready to go, Marmolejos said.
As teammates took turns in the batting cage Saturday, Dillon Thomas shouted: “It’s just a game! Have fun!”
“(The coaches) let us be us,” Marmolejos said. “They can come in and say something, but they never try to change us. That’s the biggest thing.”
INJURY REPORT
Justus Sheffield, out since July 8 with a right forearm strain, made his first rehab appearance in Tacoma on Sunday. Scott Servais said that the club hoped for the left-hander to complete three innings of work, though Sheffield lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing four runs and walking five.
Justin Dunn strained his right shoulder in mid-June, and while he has yet to make a rehab appearance in the minor-league system, Servais told reporters earlier this week that he is “not far behind” Sheffield in his progression back to Seattle.
Kyle Lewis (right meniscus tear) took batting practice with the team during Seattle’s most recent home stand, a promising sign that the defending AL Rookie of the Year could return in the coming weeks.
Servais noted that Lewis has spent time with Ichiro in the hitting cages, mainly to “get a feel for where he’s at physically.” He’s a bit behind in his running progression, but once he’s comfortable on the basepaths, Lewis will start a rehab assignment.
“He looked great,” Servais said. “Really excited about what I saw out of Kyle (Friday). He looked awesome. Way better than I thought it would look.
“He’s not up to 100 percent running. … As soon as he gets to the point where he can get on the bases, start making some turns, then you’re talking about going on a rehab (assignment).”
UP NEXT
The Mariners (63-56) completed their home stand with a 4-2 record, taking two of three from both Texas and Toronto. They’re remain alive in the postseason race, though Oakland (68-50), Boston (69-51), and New York (65-52) continue to pull away from the rest of the American League hopefuls.
Seattle’s 9-3 win on Saturday ended a streak of ten games decided by two runs or less. They were 5-5 in those games, despite losing in heartbreaking fashion to the last-place Rangers last Monday. With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, the Mariners couldn’t bring home what would have been the winning run, and eventually lost in extra innings.
Taking two of three from the Toronto certainly kept Seattle from falling even further behind the Blue Jays, who entered T-Mobile Park with a two-game lead on the Mariners. That lead, following Sunday, was cut to one.
“Our guys pay attention to who we’re playing against and where they’re at in the standings,” Servais said. “For whatever reason, I thought we played really well all year long against good teams… at the top of the division or ahead of us. That says a lot about our young players who want to go after them.
“We probably need to do a bit better bringing our intensity against the teams below us in the standings.”
After an off-day Monday, Seattle starts an eight-game road trip in Arlington to face the Rangers for the third time this month. They’ll play Texas three times, visit the Astros in Houston for three more, and complete the trip in Oakland for two.
They’ll leave behind home-field advantage, and crowds of 25,000-plus that filled the seats in Seattle over the weekend.
The team fed off of energy from the fans, and rallied two nights for walk-offs -- a loud single from Luis Torrens on Wednesday, and a four-pitch walk from Jarred Kelenic Friday.
“The atmosphere has been great,” Toro told reporters after Saturday’s win. “The last ten games have been one or two runs… it just shows that we don’t give up. Every game, we’re competing and we’re fighting. That’s what I like about this team.”
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.