6/30/23

Rays 15, Mariners 4

(Seattle, WA) Coming off arguably the most disappointing series of the season, the Seattle Mariners began Friday with a team meeting as they prepared for the opener of a three-game series against the team with the best record in baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays. Team meetings are unique because they either happen for a coaching change, a big series, or during a serious struggle. The Mariners have undoubtedly been in a slump and the team meeting at first looked like it had lit a spark under this team. That spark quickly died as Friday night turned into an embarrassing performance as Seattle was blown out by Tampa Bay, 15-4.

Seattle would get to Cy Young contender Shane McClanahan early in the bottom of the 2nd. Teoscar Hernandez began the inning with his 11th double of the season. Two batters later, one of the hottest hitters on the Mariner roster stayed hot. Tom Murphy drove a hanging curveball off of the hand operated scoreboard in left field for his fourth home run of the season, giving the M’s a 2-0 lead.

More damage came later in the inning. Cal Raleigh, Jarred Kelenic, and Jose Caballero loaded the bases following the Murphy home run with only one out. J.P. Crawford shot a grounder through the right side of the infield for a base hit. Raleigh and Kelenic scored to extend the lead to 4-0 while Caballero reached third and Crawford made his way to second on the throw to the plate. Julio Rodriguez couldn’t drive in another run as he flew out to shallow center field and Ty France ended the inning with a groundout. However, the Mariners were plenty happy with a 4-0 lead.

Bryce Miller was a big reason the Mariners were happy with the four spot. Miller was dominant in his first three innings, striking out six Rays in the first three frames and not allowing a hit. After recording the first out of the top of the 4th, things changed. A blister on a finger on Miller’s throwing hand brought out trainers and manager Scott Servais. While Miller stayed in the game, he clearly wasn’t the same. A walk to Luke Raley brought up Randy Arozarena and the shutout was gone. Arozarena continued his epic 2023 with his 15th home run of the season to cut the Mariner lead in half to 4-2. That ended Bryce Miller’s night as the blister took him out of the game with Seattle leading 4-2.

Matt Brash pitched his way out of trouble in the 4th and had two quick outs before getting in more trouble in the top of the 5th. A two-out triple for Wander Franco put a runner 90-feet away with Luke Raley stepping up to the plate. Raley would cash in on the two-out opportunity with a base hit to right field to score Franco and cut the Tampa Bay deficit to 4-3.

The lead completely vanished in the top of the 6th. Trevor Gott looked really good except for one pitch to Josh Lowe. That pitch would be a fastball in the middle of the plate that Lowe hit out to dead center for his 12th home run of the season. Just like that, Tampa Bay had stormed back to tie the game at 4-4.

Everything that happened prior to the top of the 8th will be forgotten. The game quickly turned ugly as the Mariners were all of a sudden taking haymaker after haymaker from the Rays. Tampa Bay would record eight runs on seven hits in the top of the 8th, highlighted by RBI doubles for Josh Lowe, Christian Bethancourt, and Wander Franco. It didn’t get better in the 9th when Mike Ford came into pitch for Seattle as the DH gave up a home run to Jose Siri among two other runs to finish out the game. With fans booing for the final two innings of the game, it finally came to an end. The final out was recorded and Seattle dropped the opener by a final score of 15-4.

As the Mariners (38-42) look for any sort of positivity or momentum, they will try to do so on National TV on Saturday on Fox at 4:15pm. George Kirby (6-7, 3.26 ERA) will take the mound for the M’s as they need a long outing after using a lot of bullpen arms in the opener on Friday. Another shutdown pitcher will take the mound for the Rays (57-28) as Tyler Glasnow (2-1, 4.45 ERA) continues to work his way back from Tommy John surgery last year.

Notable Performances

Rays

• Randy Arozarena- 2-5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
• Josh Lowe- 3-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
• Shane McClanahan (ND)- 3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO

Mariners

• Tom Murphy- 1-2, HR, 2 RBI, R, BB
• J.P. Crawford- 1-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB
• Bryce Miller (ND)- 3.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO

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