Mariners notes: Super-heated Ty France continues offensive surge with eight-hit weekend
Seattle’s bats aren’t warm.
They’re red-hot.
No team’s offense – through Saturday’s stat keeping – has been better.
After the Mariners plated 13 runs on Saturday, Seattle’s position players led the majors in both FanGraphs WAR (4.0) and wRC+ (132), the latter measuring a team’s ability to create runs in relation to league average.
And Ty France, who clobbered five hits and drove in five runs throughout the 13-7 slugfest, increased his weekend total to eight after going 3-for-5 on Sunday. In 64 at-bats, Seattle’s first baseman has posted a .375/.459/.656 slash line and reached base 34 times this season, more than anyone else in the American League.
His 24 hits lead the majors.
“I’m just getting on time,” France said Saturday. “When I’m on time, I’m able to react to pitches… and put good swings on pitches. That’s basically what it comes down to for me. When things are going well, it just means my timing is right and I’m able to get a good swing off.”
Jesse Winker, who walked off Sunday’s 5-4 win over Kansas City in the 12th inning, told reporters France is “everything you want in a hitter.” Acting manager Kristopher Negron knows what he’ll get out of France each time he walks into T-Mobile Park.
“He barrels the ball up,” Negron said on Saturday. “He swings at the right pitches. When he gets in the box, he’s ready to do some damage from the first pitch.
“He’s going to put together at-bats, he’s going to be a great teammate, he’s going to work his tail off… and it comes through on a 5-for-6 day.”
JULIO TAKES BALL FOUR
Jesse Winker said that the best at-bat in Saturday’s 13-7 slugfest was Julio Rodriguez’s eighth-inning walk.
Tied 7-7 at the time, and with the bases loaded, Rodriguez took a borderline fastball at the bottom of the zone. If his previous 14 strikeouts on called strike three served as any indicator, home plate umpire Dan Iassogna would have sat the top prospect down via strikes.
Rodriguez knew the pitch was a ball, he told reporters after the game. It was only a matter of whether Iassogna agreed.
When ball four was granted, Rodriguez exploded with excitement. So did T-Mobile Park when Donovan Walton trotted home and Seattle took an 8-7 lead.
“That’s my job,” Rodriguez said. “I knew it was a ball, but I was like, man, if you call that right now, we’re going to have some words.
“I feel like that would be the time you see me get fired up about something.”
The late-game take in a high-leverage moment put Rodriguez’s discipline on display, given nine of his 14 caught-looking strikeouts had been called incorrectly.
Winker called Saturday’s at-bat “special.” Negron said it’d be easy for the 21-year-old, with over 28,500 fans chanting his name, to let the moment “speed up on you.”
“And he slowed it down,” Negron said, “and put together a great at-bat. That’s a tough 3-2 pitch to take right there. I haven’t seen how close it was, but from the dugout, it looked really close. For him to be able to stick to his approach, and not chase pitches outside the zone, is big.”
SHORT HOPS
- Seattle (10-6) leads the American League West by one game.
- Logan Gilbert leads American League starters with a 0.54 earned run average.
- Jesse Winker leads the American League with 15 walks.
- Texas turned a first-inning, 3-3-6 triple play against Seattle on April 20, which began on a Jesse Winker lineout to Nathaniel Lowe. It remains the only triple play turned in the 2022 season, and was the first since the Yankees on June 20, 2021.
- Acting manager and former Triple-A Tacoma manager Negron earned his first career major league managerial win after Seattle’s 4-2 win over Texas. Negron, 36, played for the Mariners from 2018-19 and took over for manager Scott Servais throughout his recovery from COVID-19. After Sunday’s win, Negron’s record improved to 4-1. “It’s been special,” Negron said. “The whole coaching staff has done an amazing job, just helping me out every step of the way. … It’s been a huge group effort. I’m labeled as the acting manager, but it’s been one big cohesive group.”
ON DECK
Seattle (10-6) swept the Royals and completed their nine-game home stand at 7-2. They’ll have Monday off and begin a nine-game road trip Tuesday.
First up is a three-game series in St. Petersburg, Florida with the Tampa Bay Rays. They’ll play in Miami next for three games with the Marlins, and stop in Houston for three with the Astros before returning home on May 5.
Mitch Haniger, Paul Sewald, and Luis Torrens – each currently on the COVID-IL – are “feeling better” and plan to travel with the team for the upcoming road trip, says acting manager Negron.
“Hopefully they’re good to go on this road trip,” he added. “Once they pass protocols, they’ll be ready to go with us.”
