8/5/25

(Seattle, WA) 162 games feels like a lot when the season began back at the end of March. In the blink of an eye we are into the month of August and the up and down season for the Seattle Mariners has reached a point where they need to find some more consistency. With the AL West race tightening up over the weekend thanks to Houston being swept by Boston and Seattle taking three of four from Texas, the playoffs are well within reach for the M’s who look to make the postseason for the second time since 2001.

No team in the American League has an easier remaining schedule than the Seattle Mariners and they would look to take advantage of that before a playoff contender comes to town this weekend. While the Chicago White Sox entered the three-game series with the Mariners on Tuesday night with the worst record in the American League, things have been very different since the All-Star Break. With a 10-5 record and back-to-back series wins, the Sox entered Seattle looking to play spoiler for what was a feel-good weekend for the Mariners.

In the opening game of the series, Seattle would turn to their All-Star starting pitcher in Bryan Woo who despite going six innings in every start this season, entered the outing amidst his toughest stretch of 2025. Davis Martin would take the ball for the White Sox, looking to replicate his success in his first start against the M’s when he went a career-high 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball back in May.

Mariners 8, White Sox 3 (Game One)

It wasn’t the start that Bryan Woo envisioned coming out of the gates. Lenyn Sosa came to the plate as the second batter of the game and got Chicago on the board as their offense continued their nice second half. Woo grooved an 0-1 fastball right over the middle of the plate and Sosa hammered it out to left center for his 12th home run of the season. Only six pitches into the game and the White Sox had taken a 1-0 lead.

Seattle struggled against Davis Martin when they faced him back in May but did get a couple hits by Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor in the 1st but couldn’t do anything with them. Bryan Woo stranded a two-out double by Kyle Teel in the 2nd and then Seattle had their response in the home half. With nobody on and two outs, Dominic Canzone faced off with Martin for the first time and emphatically won the first battle. Canzone crushed a heater 108.3-mph off the bat out to right field for a solo shot. His seventh home run of the year got things back level as the M’s tied it up 1-1.

Things were quiet in the 3rd as both defenses sharpened up but Chicago’s defense let them down and it would end up costing them. Leading off the bottom of the 4th, Josh Naylor scalded a groundball to second that was booted by Josh Rojas, putting Naylor on first via the error. In stepped Eugenio Suárez and he brought the good vibes to T-Mobile Park. After looking silly in a strikeout against Martin his first time up, Geno was prepared for the cutter this time around and did not miss it. Suárez crushed his first home run since returning to the Mariners out to left for a two-run shot and his 37th long ball of the year. This one felt different as Mariner fans showered Geno with appreciation as he gave them a 3-1 lead.

The new faces continued to provide offense for the Mariners as they pulled away in the 6th. Walks to Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez put men on first and second. The former D-Backs would pull off a double steal to move up to second and third before Jorge Polanco smacked a grounder into center field. Naylor and Geno scored on Polanco’s two-run single to make it 5-1. A wild pitch and a grounder ended up putting runners on second and third with one out when Cole Young added another run with an RBI groundout as Seattle put up a three-run inning to take a 6-1 lead.

Bryan Woo settled in after a shaky start to his outing and threw a phenomenal ballgame. After giving up the solo homer in the 1st and a double in the 2nd, Woo retired the last 16 batters that he faced in the game. Once again Woo went 6+ innings, this time going seven while the offense opened up a comfortable lead. Woo only allowed the one run in seven innings and just two hits with no walks and tying his career-high in strikeouts with nine. With Seattle’s rotation always being talked about, Bryan Woo has emerged in a more national spotlight in a big time breakout season for the third-year pro.

Chicago’s bullpen didn’t have a nice night on Tuesday as Bryan Hudson came on for the bottom of the 7th. After retiring Cal Raleigh to begin the inning, Hudson would give up a single to J-Rod to put a man on for Josh Naylor. He wasn’t going to let Geno have all the fun as Naylor wanted a first as well. For the first time since joining the Mariners, Naylor went yard at T-Mobile Park sending his 13th home run of the season out to right. The energy could not have been better as Seattle opened their lead up to 8-1.

In the 9th, the Mariners felt the loss of Trent Thornton a little bit. Normally in a blowout, Thornton will pitch the 8th and 9th to save the bullpen but with his torn achilles, the M’s had to burn Casey Legumina in the 8th and Jackson Kowar in the 9th. It wasn’t clean for either and while Legumina did still hang up a zero, Kowar wasn’t as fortunate. Chicago got back-to-back solo home runs from Luis Robert Jr. and Colson Montgomery to make the score a little more respectable. Kowar would get Edgar Quero to fly out and struck out Kyle Teel looking to put an end to this one. It was a clean and comfortable win for the Mariners as they took the opener from the White Sox, 8-3.

Notable Performances

White Sox

Mariners

• Bryan Woo (W, 9-6)- 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO
• Eugenio Suárez- 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB, SB
• Josh Naylor- 2-3, HR, 2 RBI, 3 R, BB, 2 SB

What’s Next

After having Monday off, the Seattle Mariners (61-53) have actually lost ground in the AL West race as Houston took the first two games of their series with the Miami Marlins and Texas has won their first two with the New York Yankees. That adds up to Houston leading Seattle by three games in the AL West and Texas by 4 1/2. While Boston continues to win and has taken over the top AL Wild Card spot, the Mariners have slid into the second spot, one game ahead of the slumping Yankees and 1 1/2 ahead of Texas who is the first team out as things currently stand.

Seattle will continue their three-game series with the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night at 6:40pm. George Kirby (6-5, 4.13 ERA) will get the start in the middle game and will look to put up his third consecutive quality start after going six scoreless against the Rangers his last time out. Jonathan Cannon (4-8, 4.77 ERA) got off to a great start in July with three strong starts in a row, Cannon has fallen on hard times in his last two outings against Tampa Bay and Philadelphia. In those two starts Cannon went 10 1/3 innings and allowed 12 runs on 14 hits with four home runs allowed.

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