Mariners takeaways: Seattle remains within striking distance, Trammell’s triple clinches Triple-A West
“Still alive, boys.”
Scott Servais finished his post-game press conference, shuffled his papers, and grabbed his hat off the podium. He muttered those three words, flashed a grin, and walked off-camera.
A team that had an eight-tenths-of-a-percent chance to make the playoffs last Monday, the Mariners entered Oakland and pulled off a task they had yet to conquer in the history of their franchise: a four-game road sweep against the Athletics.
Tyler Anderson threw seven innings of one-run ball on Monday. Marco Gonzales lasted six innings in a two-run effort on Tuesday, and Chris Flexen clinched at least a series with another seven-inning, one-run start.
And when starting pitching wasn’t going to earn Seattle the sweep after three rocky Wednesday innings from Yusei Kikuchi, their offense rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win 6-5 and move to within two games of a postseason spot.
The Mariners were very much alive.
Servais noted that it’s really hard to complete a sweep in the minutes after his team broke out the brooms. He’s said that on numerous occasions this season, regardless of whether his team finished the task or not.
Servais hoped for a 8-3 win before the game, or at least something along similar (and comfortable) lines.
He wanted a win, and he wanted breathing room.
“I remember, I was talking to (Pete Woodworth), the pitching coach... a few days ago about it,” Servais said. “(Woodworth) said ‘remember that game we had in Tampa? We won 9-3.’
Servais chuckled at him.
“I said, ‘Tampa? Man, that was a long time ago.’”
An edge-of-your-seat win Thursday didn’t provide Servais with the breathing room he wanted, but it kept Seattle on pace. Cal Raleigh crushed a two-run homer that brought the deficit to one, and Haniger tied the game with a solo blast an inning later.
“It’s not really about me,” Raleigh said after the sweep. “At this point, it’s about the team.”
On Friday, Seattle won again by the same score from a day earlier. Paul Sewald induced a game-winning groundout with the Angels’ winning run at second base.
There still wasn’t any breathing room for Servais.
“A pull-your-hair-out game,” Servais said. “We’ve got a lot of momentum going. We believe. We really do. We believe we can do this thing.”
Saturday knocked the wind out of Seattle’s sails. Los Angeles’ 14-1 win over the Mariners ended a six-game winning streak, though Jarred Kelenic and Jake Fraley exploded for late-inning extra-base hits in a series-clinching Sunday win.
So what are Seattle’s playoff odds heading into the final home stand of the season? FanGraphs gives the Mariners a 2.8 percent chance of ending their two-decades-long postseason drought.
“Couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” Servais said after Sunday’s win.
“Still alive.”
TRAMMELL’S TACOMA TRIPLE CLINCHES TRIPLE-A WEST
Back in May, Taylor Trammell recalled his favorite moment of the year.
On Opening Night, Seattle’s then-starting center fielder rifled a ball into second base that robbed Giants third baseman Evan Longoria of extra bases, and kept the game within reach.
He looked over at Haniger, nodded his head, and signaled with his finger: one out.
“Oh wow, that was pretty sick,” Trammell thought to himself in center field. He remembers realizing after that play that he had made it, he told The News Tribune earlier this season.
Seattle sent the 24-year-old to Triple-A Tacoma on May 13, and brought him back on June 1. He was sent down a second time on July 11.
Even if Trammell’s throw on Opening Day was his favorite big league moment, his league-clinching triple last week may take the Triple-A cake.
In the ninth inning of a tie game in El Paso, the bases were loaded. Trammell stepped to the plate, and cranked a 2-1 fastball to the wall in left center field.
He slid into third, stood up, and pumped his fists. He cleared the bases, and the Rainiers were three outs away from a Triple-A West title.
“We’ve had a lot of young guys... that have kind of bounced around a little bit in their career, and they were able to really contribute to that season there,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “And a lot of those guys, we’ve seen at some point here in Seattle this year. So thumbs up. Great job by all of them in Tacoma.”
Tacoma (73-47) won nearly 61 percent of their games throughout a 120-game regular season. They toppled Sugar Land by two games, which finished second.
Servais doesn’t manage in the minor leagues, but when he elaborated to reporters last week on the difficulty of winning a Triple-A league, he spoke from experience.
From 2004-2010, Seattle’s manager served as the senior director of player development for the Texas Rangers, and worked for the Los Angeles Angels as assistant general manager before his tenure with the Mariners.
“It’s so fluid,” Servais said. “Guys are moving up and down. (Your) starting pitcher that night can be pulled ten minutes before the game starts, because he may need to go to the big leagues the next day to spot-start.
“The fact that Tacoma had the season they did says a lot.”
There’s an added task of offering communication and transparency. Triple-A clubs often work with recently-sent-down major league players, and it’s likely “they’re not really happy about it,” Servais said.
“Most times, they’ll pout for a day or two, and then they move on, understanding, ‘hey, here’s what I need to do and focus on to get better. To put myself in a position to go back and help the Mariners.’”
That’s a credit to the coaching staff, and first-year manager Kris Negron, who played with the Mariners in 2018 and 2019.
Tacoma’s season ends Sunday. They’ll host Salt Lake for a five-game set that begins Wednesday.
On Saturday, Seattle promoted minor-league pitcher Matt Brash to Triple-A Tacoma, who has yet to appear as a member of the Rainiers. Brash owns a 2.31 earned run average, along with 142 strikeouts, across 97 1/3 minor league innings this season with High-A Everett and AA Arkansas.
Andres Munoz, away from the majors with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery, made his Tacoma debut on Tuesday. The result? A clean, 1-2-3 inning that featured a strikeout and triple-digit fastball.
If either are added to the 40-man roster, they would become eligible to join the Mariners for their final home stand of the season.
SEAGER DRIVES IN 100 FOR FIRST TIME IN CAREER
Seager rounded third base, and high-fived base coach Manny Acta. He touched home plate after his go-ahead home run on Wednesday, and achieved a milestone only eight Mariners had ever done before.
The 33-year-old blasted his 35th home run on the season, and put Seager’s RBI count in triple digits. He’d reached 99 in 2016, but finished one short of the 100 mark. The last to post those numbers in a Seattle uniform? Robinson Cano in 2016.
“It’s hard to do in this league,” Servais said of Seager’s career-high 100th RBI. “You’ve got to be clutch, you’ve got to hit very well obviously with runners in scoring position. You usually have to hit a lot of home runs. and so you’re driving (in) yourself a fair amount.”
And even if Seager’s batting average sits at a career-low with just a week left in the season, he’s doing just that. His average remains at .215, but when runners are in scoring position, that number balloons to .311.
When the bases are loaded, Seager is hitting .444 and reaching base at a .462 clip.
“In the middle of the order, that’s kind of my job,” Seager said nonchalantly. “To knock in runs, and (have) the extra-base (hits), that’s something that I definitely take pride in and pay attention to.”
Seager’s home run off Oakland’s Cole Irvin jump-started Seattle’s offense on Wednesday night. A Thursday win capped off a sweep, and put the Mariners just two back behind the Yankees in the AL wild card race.
“Can’t stop there,” Servais said of Seager’s production. “I hope he’s got another, maybe 10 or 15 left in him down the stretch. That’d be awesome.”
UP NEXT
Following an 8-2 road trip, Seattle returns home for their final homestand of the year. After Sunday’s win in Anaheim, the Mariners are just two games back in the AL wild card race.
How’s the team feeling physically?
“We’re gassed,” Servais admitted last week with a chuckle, though he offered the point that every time, by this point in the year, is dragging to an extent.
“But mentally, the edge, the effort level, the energy overall in our clubhouse, is as high as it’s been at any point in the season,” Servais said. “They really like each other. They like hanging out with each other, giving each other a hard time.”
Seattle’s final six games, all against divisional opponents, feature a pair of three-game sets against the Athletics and Angels.
Chris Flexen takes the mound Monday in the series opener against Oakland.
“We’re really looking forward to coming home,” Servais said. “And hopefully, our fan base is excited about what we’ve been able to do. We’re looking for electricity to return to T-Mobile Park.”