6/15/25

(Seattle, WA) Almost nothing went right for the Seattle Mariners on their six-game road trip to Anaheim and Arizona. Seattle went an abysmal 1-5 and were returning home playing their worst baseball of the season. Things were starting to get very intense early as it felt like a six-game homestand would be a deciding factor on where this team stood. Are they the April team that looked like American League contenders or are they the May and June team that look like a fourth-place team in the AL West?

Six games at home against two Wild Card contenders would be vital games for the Mariners to get back on track and get momentum building again. First up, another struggling contender would come to down for three games as the Cleveland Guardians began their west coast trip in the Pacific Northwest. A team that was in the ALCS just last fall have gone ice cold and seen the Detroit Tigers pull away in the AL Central and the Minnesota Twins pass them as well. Both these teams needed this series to stop the bleeding and their free fall in the standings.

Mariners 7, Guardians 2 (Game One)

For game one, there was added pressure for the Seattle Mariners as they could not let their losing streak snowball and carry over into the homestand. Luis Castillo would be the guy on the mound looking to stop the bleeding against Gavin Williams for Cleveland.

Seattle left the bases loaded in the 1st which was not a great way to get the fans to buy back in. Luis Castillo did not allow a hit in each of the first two innings but hit a snag in the top of the 3rd. With the bases empty and one out, Nolan Jones jumped on a first pitch fastball from Castillo who had been very aggressive in attacking the Cleveland lineup. Jones took advantage of it by sending his third home run of the season out to center. The very next batter would be Steven Kwan and he matched Jones’ result by going down and getting a changeup at the bottom of the zone and sending it to right center for his sixth of the year. The back-to-back home runs got Cleveland going as they took a 2-0 lead.

Heading into the bottom of the 4th, the score remained 2-0 with Gavin Williams starting to settle in after a very taxing first couple of innings. The first pitch he threw in the home half of the 4th was a mistake and Rowdy Tellez made him pay. The big left clobbered a hanging curve out to right field for his 11th home run of the season. The bomb got the M’s on the board, trailing 2-1.

Seattle was not done yet in the inning as they evened things back up by the end of it. Two batters after Rowdy, Ben Williamson pulled a grounder just inside the third base bag and down the line for his eighth double of the season. He would move up to third after a Cole Young sacrifice fly to deep center, but with two outs, the M’s needed a clutch base hit. Seattle’s hottest hitter would come to the plate in J.P. Crawford and he stayed hot on Friday night. J.P. punched a line drive the other way into left field for a game-tying RBI single. Seattle finally got a hit with a runner on and it tied the game up at 2-2.

Seattle turned a couple of double plays to erase Cleveland’s few baserunners but the M’s also stranded doubles by Rowdy Tellez and J.P. Crawford to keep the game tied. After Carlos Vargas spun a quick 1-2-3 7th, Seattle’s bats erupted in the home half to change the game quickly. Cal Raleigh began the inning with a walk before Jorge Polanco pulled a double into the left field corner. With runners on second and third and nobody out, the Mariners had a golden opportunity.

Hunter Gaddis would try to put out the fire, coming in out of the Guardians bullpen. However, Seattle would not be denied this time. Randy Arozarena smoked a single to left field to put the Mariners out in front as Raleigh scored, making it 3-2 with runners on the corners and nobody out. After Arozarena stole second, Rowdy Tellez was robbed of a base hit by Daniel Schneemann who was phenomenal at second base for Cleveland. With one out, Dominic Canzone would chase an 0-2 changeup off the plate but was able to pull it into right center field for a base hit. Polanco and Arozarena both scored easily, making it 5-2. After a Ben Williamson single, Cole Young got involved by going the other way down the left field line with his second double of the year, scoring Canzone. The floodgates had burst open and Seattle had taken a commanding 6-2 lead.

Matt Brash would allow a harmless single to Steven Kwan, but hung up a zero in the top of the 8th. Left-hander Kolby Allard remained in for Cleveland to pitch the 8th but wasn’t as efficient. After Raleigh was retired, Jorge Polanco gave the Mariners fans a sign of progression hitting from the right side of the plate. The switch hitter has been only hitting left-handed for most of the season due to a side injury. That injury looked to be long gone as Polo skied a cutter in off the plate out to left field for his 11th home run of the season and his first from the right side of the plate. The solo bomb added an insurance run, making it 7-2.

With the big lead, Dan Wilson decided to not use Andrés Muñoz and instead called upon Eduard Bazardo to finish things off in the 9th. Bazardo cruised right through the Guardians order, sitting down Carlos Santana, Daniel Schneemann, and Lane Thomas in order, needing just nine pitches to close things out. Seattle snapped their three-game losing streak and began the homestand on a high note, with a 7-2 win over Cleveland.

Notable Performances

Guardians

Mariners

• Dominic Canzone- 2-5, 2 RBI, R
• Jorge Polanco- 2-5, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 R
• Luis Castillo (ND)- 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO

Mariners 4, Guardians 3 (Game Two)

Looking to keep the vibes high after a nice game one win, the Seattle Mariners took the field on Saturday with the opportunity to win the series early before the finale. George Kirby would try to build off the best start of his season in Anaheim when he struck out 14 over seven innings. For the Cleveland Guardians, planned Opening Day starter Tanner Bibee would take the mound to try to give the Guardians any sort of momentum.

Seattle wouldn’t wait around this time and struck early. In the bottom of the 1st, J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez both singled as the first two batters to face Tanner Bibee. J-Rod then stole second for his 12th stolen base of the season to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Cal Raleigh would then drive a fly ball that hit the top of the wall in right field. Crawford scored but Julio had to hold up to make sure the ball wasn’t caught. Raleigh slid into second with his 12th double of the year. Jorge Polanco then would bring in Julio with a sacrifice fly to center to give Seattle a quick 2-0 lead.

George Kirby kept Cleveland off the board early thanks in part to a double play in the 2nd. In the top of the 4th, the Guardians built another threat. Back-to-back one out singles by Carlos Santana and Daniel Schneemann put a couple of runners on for Bo Naylor. Unlike his brother earlier in the week, Seattle pitching kept Naylor at bay as Kirby struck him out for a big second out. Nolan Jones was a different story however. After homering the night before, Jones sent a double to center that was cut off by Julio. While Santana did score, J-Rod cutting the ball off kept Schneemann at third. After walking Gabriel Arias, George Kirby would strikeout Ángel Martínez to end the inning with the Mariners still leading 2-1.

George Kirby would look to cruise through the 5th inning as he retired both Steven Kwan and Kyle Manzardo to get two quick outs. Then came the perennial MVP candidate in José Ramírez who had been held quiet for the first half of the series. J-Ram took advantage of a 2-2 sinker up in the zone and sent it 379-feet for his 13th home run of the season. The solo blast evened things up as the game was tied 2-2.

J.P. Crawford was picked off in the bottom of the 5th which killed the Mariners response to the Cleveland run. In the top of the 6th, Gabe Speier took over out of the bullpen and Cleveland got singles by Daniel Schneemann and Nolan Jones. Jones would steal second to put runners on second and third with one out, but Speier recorded a big strikeout of David Fry for the second out. Ángel Martínez would then stand in but he had no effect on the game. A wild pitch allowed Schneemann to score to grab the 3-2 lead for the Guardians. Martínez popped out to Rowdy Tellez but the damage was done as the M’s trailed 3-2.

Seattle struggled to get anything going against the Cleveland bullpen but fortunately the Seattle bullpen kept Cleveland quiet as well. The Mariners would have to come back in the bottom of the 9th against one of the best closers in baseball in Emmanuel Clase. Entering the 9th, Cleveland was 112-0 when leading after 8 innings in the last two seasons.

Dominic Canzone got the Mariners off to a good start with a leadoff single before Dylan Moore pinch ran for him. Moore stole his ninth bag of the year to put the tying run in scoring position before Miles Mastrobuoni walked. Cole Young got down a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third with one out. Cleveland intentionally walked J.P. Crawford to take their chances with Julio Rodríguez. Again, J-Rod didn’t need to swing to tie the game. D-Mo got a great secondary on a pitch in the dirt. While the ball didn’t kick far away, Moore would score to tie the game at 3-3. J-Rod would strikeout while Cal Raleigh was intentionally walked. With the bases loaded and two outs with the winning run on third, Jorge Polanco came to the plate. With a 1-1 count, Polo grounded one back up the middle and into center field. Mastrobuoni came home as the Mariners rally was completed. A series win was solidified on a walk-off as Seattle came back to beat the Guardians 4-3.

Notable Performances

Guardians

Mariners

• Jorge Polanco- 1-3, 2 RBI, BB
• J.P. Crawford- 3-3, R, 2 BB
• George Kirby (ND)- 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO

Mariners 6, Guardians 0 (Game Three)

With an opportunity to sweep a fellow American League playoff contender, the Seattle Mariners entered Father’s Day on Sunday with some positivity for the first time in June. Emerson Hancock would once again look to continue whittling down his ERA after his tough season debut. For the Cleveland Guardians, Luis L. Ortiz would be the one attempting to salvage the series to start their west coast road trip.

Scoreless after an inning, Seattle and Cleveland both eased their way into the finale. In the bottom of the 2nd, Seattle landed some big haymakers. Randy Arozarena led off the inning with a walk before Rowdy Tellez hit his sixth double of the season. Following a Mitch Garver strikeout, Dominic Canzone worked an eight-pitch walk to load the bases with one out. Miles Mastrobuoni brought in the game’s first run as he roped a single to right field. Everyone moved up 90-feet to keep the bases loaded with the Mariners leading 1-0. It would then turn into a very memorable first Father’s Day for J.P. Crawford as his daughter watched on. J.P. would go down and get a slider at the bottom of the zone, sending a towering grand slam to right for his sixth home run of the season. Crawford killed Cleveland all weekend but this was the big blow as it gave the Mariners a 5-0 lead.

Nothing really happened for either team in the next few innings as the score remained 5-0 heading into the bottom of the 5th. Randy Arozarena turned a walk into a double as he stole his 14th bag of the season to get into scoring position. Rowdy Tellez couldn’t move him along as he struck out swinging for the second out. Mitch Garver came to the plate having a rough day and quickly fell behind 0-2. Ortiz would catch too much of the plate with a slider and Garver checked in with a base hit to left. Arozarena came home to score and Seattle tacked on an insurance run, making it 6-0.

Emerson Hancock was brilliant on Sunday afternoon. While he is not a big strikeout guy, he took advantage of an aggressive lineup for the Guardians as he got a lot of weak contact up and down the order. Hancock would finish his outing after seven scoreless innings in which he allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out four. While the M’s have in recent memory struggled against good contact-oriented teams, Hancock used the aggression to his advantage to dominate the Guardians this time around.

In the 9th, Eduard Bazardo once again came in to finish things off. Two quick outs were recorded as he struck out Austin Hedges before Johnathan Rodríguez grounded out to Bazardo. Kyle Manzardo kept the game alive as the former Washington State Cougar singled to give José Ramírez one more shot to extend his 39-game on-base streak. It was not meant to be as J-Ram sent a harmless grounder to Polanco at second. That would put an end to the on-base streak and the game as Seattle completed the sweep of Cleveland with a shutout victory, 6-0.

Notable Performances

Guardians

Mariners

• Emerson Hancock (W, 3-2)- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO
• J.P. Crawford- 1-3, HR, 4 RBI, R, BB
• Miles Mastrobuoni- 1-4, RBI, R

Roster Moves

• Mariners select the contract of RHP Zach Pop from Triple-A Tacoma. SP Logan Evans optioned down to Triple-A Tacoma.
• Mariners activate SP Logan Gilbert from the IL. Corresponding move TBA.
• OF Leody Taveras clears waivers and outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma

What’s Next

A huge sweep for the Seattle Mariners (36-34) gets them back to above .500 but did not gain any ground in the AL West. Houston also completed a sweep of Minnesota while Texas swept the Chicago White Sox. The Los Angeles Angels were swept by the Baltimore Orioles while the Athletics swept the Kansas City Royals. Seattle is now 4 1/2 games back of Houston while Texas has moved into third at 5 1/2 games back. The Angels drop back to 7 1/2 games out while the Athletics sit 13 games out.

The schedule doesn’t get much easier for the Mariners as they will now host another AL Wild Card contender as the Boston Red Sox come to down. Boston (37-36) is coming off a strong week where they took two of three from Tampa Bay and swept the New York Yankees. A five-game winning for the Red Sox and winning eight of their last ten should have the Red Sox flying high, but the vibes are low after Boston traded away franchise cornerstone Rafael Devers on Sunday to the San Francisco Giants. With Devers now gone and Alex Bregman on the IL, Boston are now looking like sellers come the deadline, especially if they drop another series to the M’s.

With Devers leading the team in every offensive category except one, we have no other choice but to spotlight Jarren Duran. The outfielder leads the Red Sox in hits and is a very intriguing player to watch at the trade deadline. The potential Mariner target, Duran has a special combination of speed and power and is a dangerous bat for the Mariners to deal with. However, his strikeout numbers are way up this season and he enters the series batting just .235 this month. He went 0-8 over the weekend and if the Mariners can keep him cold, they should be in a very good place in the series.

• Game 1, Monday 6:40pm- Lucas Giolito (2-1, 5.45 ERA) vs. Logan Gilbert (1-1, 2.37 ERA)
• Game 2, Tuesday 6:40pm- Walker Buehler (5-4, 5.01 ERA) vs. Bryan Woo (5-4, 3.39 ERA)
• Game 3, Wednesday 1:10pm- Garrett Crochet (6-4, 2.24 ERA) vs. Luis Castillo (4-4, 3.29 ERA)

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