9/8/24

(St. Louis, MO) Only 24 games remained in the season as the Seattle Mariners made their way to St. Louis to wrap up a ten-game road trip. With still plenty of ground to make up in the race for the playoffs, both the Mariners and Cardinals had to win this series or put themselves on life support. Luckily for the Mariners, they built some momentum in the final two games in Oakland and they would need to carry that momentum over against a streaky St. Louis squad.

Mariners 6, Cardinals 1 (Game 1, September 6th)

For the first time since 2013 the Seattle Mariners took the field at Busch Stadium in St. Louis to do battle with the Cardinals. With the all-time record of 9-12 against the Red Birds, Seattle would look to start the series off hot as Bryce Miller took on Erick Fedde for the third time in 2024.

Bryce Miller got out of a first and third jam in the bottom of the 1st before Erick Fedde left two stranded himself in the top of the 2nd and 3rd. In the top of the 5th, Paul Goldschmidt made a great play to take a hit away from Josh Rojas to begin the inning. After that the M’s took advantage of Fedde’s struggles. Three consecutive Mariners reached as Victor Robles was hit on the elbow and Julio Rodríguez reached on an infield single. After Cal Raleigh walked to load the bases with one out for former Cardinal Randy Arozarena. Facing the team that he debuted with in 2019, Arozarena got the M’s on the board with a sacrifice fly to center. Robles trotted home and Seattle had a 1-0 lead.

After getting another clean inning from Miller, the offense provided some breathing room. With nobody on and one out, J.P. Crawford flipped a single the other way into left field to put some traffic on for Dylan Moore. Already having a career year, Moore added to it on the very next pitch. Moore ripped a screaming line drive just over the wall in left for his 10th home run of the season. His two-run blast opened things up as the Seattle lead grew to 3-0.

Bryce Miller was strong one again but didn’t go as deep into the game due to a high pitch count. Still, the young righty made the pitches he needed to make to keep St. Louis from doing any damage against him. Miller went six scoreless innings and allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out four. After really struggling in Anaheim, Miller once again bounced back to put together a quality start and set the bullpen up to finish the opener off.

While St. Louis did get to the Mariner bullpen in the 7th on Jordan Walker’s second home run of the year, the solo blast was all the Red Birds could muster. The Mariner lineup also made sure to give Andrés Muñoz the night off by adding some 9th inning insurance. Mitch Haniger hit a pinch hit single but then moved up to second on a wild pitch to begin the inning. Julio then moved him up to third with a base hit to right to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Kyle Leahy fell behind Cal Raleigh 3-0 and had to give into the Mariner catcher with a fastball in the middle of the plate, just above the knees. Raleigh smoked a grounder down the right field line and into the corner, allowing Haniger and Rodríguez to score, making it 5-1. Following Raleigh’s 15th double, Arozarena moved him up to third with a sacrifice fly while Luke Raley singled him home. The added insurance allowed Trent Thornton to pitch freely in the 9th. After walking just one batter, Thornton got Jordan Walker to pop up to Crawford to end the game. Seattle made it three in a row as they took game one from the Cardinals, 6-1.

Notable Performances

Mariners

Cardinals

• Jordan Walker- 1-4, HR, RBI, R
• Michael Siani- 2-3, SB
• Erick Fedde (L, 8-9)- 4.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO

Cardinals 2, Mariners 0 (Game 2, September 7th)

All throughout the offseason, there were many “experts” that thought Logan Gilbert should be traded to St. Louis. The Mariner All-Star got to take the mound in Busch Stadium in game two but opposing the Red Birds. Veteran starter Kyle Gibson would look to put a stop to the Mariners three-game winning streak.

If you like offense, this wasn’t the game for you. Seattle would put together a threat right out of the gate after Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh both singled to begin the game. After Randy Arozarena went down on strikes, Luke Raley drew a walk to load the bases with just one out. Kyle Gibson would then settle in and get both Justin Turner and Jorge Polanco on strikes to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.

Neither team could get much going from there on out. Both sides would get a double but neither could cash in against Gilbert or Gibson. Some command issues did force Kyle Gibson out of the game a little early as he went just 6 2/3 innings while allowing three hits and three walks with nine strikeouts but did not allow a run. The Cardinals bullpen would also find success as JoJo Romero escaped Gibson’s bases loaded jam and Andrew Kittredge stranded two runners in the 8th. The game would go to the bottom of the 8th with still no score.

With one out, Gilbert hit Jordan Walker to put a man on for St. Louis. He would end up paying for that dearly. Logan hung a slider to catcher Pedro Pagés and he did not miss hit. Pagés crushed his sixth home run 402-feet for a two-run blast. Gilbert’s one mistake cost him as the Ryan Helsely struck out three of the four Mariners he faced in the 9th to waste Gilbert’s phenomenal performance as the Cardinals shutout the Mariners in game two, 2-0.

Notable Performances

Mariners

Cardinals

• Pedro Pagés- 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Lars Nootbaar- 1-3, 2B
• Kyle Gibson (ND)- 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 SO

Mariners 10, Cardinals 4 (Game 3, September 8th)

With the series on the line, both the Mariners and Cardinals sent their Opening Day starters to the mound in the finale on Sunday afternoon. For Seattle, Luis Castillo would try to earn the M’s their first series win of the road trip while the Cardinals would hope Miles Mikolas could put an end to a nightmarish season.

Neither starter would go very far in this game but they would each leave for different reasons. For Mikolas it was because of his performance. In the top of the 1st, Seattle would bat through the order. A leadoff double for Julio Rodríguez was followed by a Cal Raleigh RBI single to give Seattle a 1-0 lead two batters into the game. Randy Arozarena then singled to put runners on the corners for Luke Raley. The lefty smashed a line drive into right center that got all the way to the wall. Raleigh and Arozarena scored on Raley’s 16th double of the season. Justin Turner, a late addition to the lineup when Victor Robles was scratched, made it five consecutive hits to start the game with a bloop single to left. Raley held up at third to put runners on the corners. After two consecutive strikeouts, Turner moved up to second on a passed ball and Mitch Garver took advantage. A line drive into left center scored two more and the Mariners gave Castillo a 5-0 lead in the 1st.

After La Piedra pitched a quick, clean bottom of the 1st, he got more offense in the 2nd. J-Rod recorded his second hit of the game and two batters later he got to jog around the bases. Randy Arozarena continued his bid for a fourth consecutive 20-20 season as he crushed a Mikolas slider out to left for his 19th homer off the season. Mikolas would get the final out of the inning, but would not come back out for the 3rd as Seattle had opened up a large 7-0 lead.

St. Louis showed signs of life in their half of the 2nd. A single for Nolan Arenado and a double for Iván Herrera put runners on second and third. While Castillo would strikeout Jordan Walker for the second out, he would not be able to escape the inning unscathed. José Fermín sent a grounder up the middle for a two-out base hit. Arenado and Herrera both scored to get the Cardinals on the board, 7-2.

Luis Castillo would be forced to leave the game in the 4th with a hamstring strain. He will undergo an MRI when the team gets back to Seattle and we will get more information on Tuesday. Despite some bad news, the offense continued to put in work. In the top of the 5th, Jorge Polanco cashed in on a Justin Turner walk. Polanco launched his 14th home run of the season to continue to pull away, making the score 9-2.

After Jordan Walker doubled in two more in the 8th to make it 9-4, Seattle found their way to answer and put up double digits for the second time on the road trip. In the 9th, J.P. Crawford flipped a two-out double to left to drive in Luke Raley and make it 10-4. That lead would be more than enough as J.T. Chargois pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to finish off the series win with the Mariners earning a 10-4 blowout victory.

Notable Performances

Mariners

Cardinals

• Jordan Walker- 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI
• José Fermín- 1-4, 2 RBI
• Miles Mikolas (L, 8-11)- 2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO

What’s Next

A big series win for the Mariners helped them wrap up the ten-game road trip with a 5-5 record. While that wasn’t great, Minnesota lost two out of three to Kansas City and Houston took two of three from Arizona. Going into this week, Seattle (73-71) sits 4 1/2 games back of the Houston Astros in the AL West and 3 1/2 back of Minnesota for the final Wild Card spot. Seattle also need to keep tabs on the Detroit Tigers who are even in the standings with the Mariners but Detroit holds the head-to-head tiebreakers. Houston will host Oakland for three this week and Kansas City will visit the New York Yankees. More importantly, Minnesota will have three games at home with the Los Angeles Angels and Detroit will host Colorado.

Meanwhile for the Mariners, they will return home to T-Mobile Park for the next nine games starting with their final interleague series of the season. It will be the second leg of the Vetter Cup as the San Diego Padres (81-64) look for some revenge in the PNW. The two teams met for two games in San Diego back in July just before the All-Star Break where the Mariners won both games 8-3 and 2-0. That was a series where Julio Rodríguez started to heat up but pitching really dominated as Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller combined for 13 2/3 innings with just nine hits allowed and only one walk with three runs. The Padres have lost three of their last four including a series loss to San Francisco over the Giants.

Since the All-Star Break, Manny Machado has been on a heater for the San Diego Padres. After posting a .941 OPS in the month of August, Machado has cooled down a little bit but in September still has a slugging percentage of .519 while driving in seven runs. Adding into his already elite of the elite defense, Machado seems to be as comfortable in San Diego as he has been anywhere else as he is closing in on his third 100+ RBI season as a Padre. With young stars like Jackson Merrill, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Jake Cronenworth setting the table, the opportunities for Machado with runners on are getting more and more plentiful. San Diego will likely get traffic on base but the key for the Mariners is shutting down the damage doers and Manny Machado continues to be the most damaging bat in a deep lineup.

• Game 1, Tuesday 6:40pm- Yu Darvish (4-3, 3.51 ERA) vs. George Kirby (11-10, 3.61 ERA)
• Game 2, Wednesday 6:40pm- Michael King (12-8, 3.10 ERA) vs. Bryan Woo (7-2, 2.36 ERA)

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