8/27/25

(Seattle, WA) Interleague baseball always creates some interesting matchups and rivalries and the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres wrapped up their season series on Wednesday afternoon. While the Mariners had already secured the Vedder Cup and the season series, the three-game set was on the line in Seattle after the teams split the first two matchups.

Normally the pitching matchup would be a marquee matchup but Yu Darvish has not been his normal self this season. After not pitching for the first three months, Darvish is continuing to knock off the rust as the Padres battle for the NL West. Seattle would send their best starter in 2025 to the mound as All-Star Bryan Woo took the ball in the finale. Going 6+ innings in every single start this season, Woo would once again look to give the M’s offense a chance to win while quieting a tough lineup.

Mariners 4, Padres 3 (Game Three)

Both Yu Darvish and Bryan Woo had clean innings in the 1st but both dealt with traffic in the 2nd. Woo stranded Xander Bogaerts after his single and stolen base. Eugenio Suárez followed in Bogaerts tracks with a one-out single in the bottom of the 2nd and then swiped second base for his fourth of the season. Yu Darvish got a big strikeout of Jorge Polanco for the second out and just had to get Luke Raley to strand Suárez at second. Raley had other plans as he pulled a 3-2 curveball into the right center gap. Suárez scored as Raley slid into second with his seventh double of the year, giving the Mariners the 1-0 lead.

The score remained the same as Bryan Woo began to dominate the Padres and in the bottom of the 4th, his lead got bigger. Julio Rodríguez put a lot of pressure on the Padres with a leadoff single before stealing second for his 24th stolen base of the year. The throw attempt would sail into center field, allowing J-Rod to move up to third with nobody out. Josh Naylor would reach via a walk to put men on the corners for Geno. After struggling to begin his second stint with the M’s, Suárez is catching fire and continued that momentum in this AB. A first pitch cutter right down the middle was clobbered out to left field for a three-run shot for his second three-run homer in as many games. The blast was Geno’s 42nd of the year and opened up the Seattle lead to 4-0.

Bryan Woo started to struggle a bit in the 5th but kept the shutout alive into the 6th where he looked to keep his 6+ inning streak alive. After hitting Ramón Laureano to start the inning, Woo struck out Manny Machado for the first out. Ryan O’Hearn then singled to put men on first and second but Xander Bogaerts popped out to second for out number two. Gavin Sheets then ended the shutout with an RBI single to make it 4-1. Jose Iglesias would come up with a swinging bunt in the perfect spot and just beat out the throw from Bryan Woo and that would end the streak. Dan Wilson had to pull Woo with the go-ahead run coming to the plate. It ended the 25-start streak of 6+ innings for Woo. Gabe Speier would allow one more run on a hit batter, but struck out Freddy Fermin to protect the 4-2 lead.

Seattle wasted scoring opportunities in the 6th and 7th so the two-run lead would have to do in the 9th for Andrés Muñoz. He would start his outing off with a strikeout of Luis Arraez before giving up a double to Jake Cronenworth to bring the tying run to the plate. Will Wagner looked to do some damage with a liner to left center, but the ball was tracked down by Randy Arozarena for a big second out. Fernando Tatis Jr. wouldn’t give up and his 27th double of the year cut the lead to one at 4-3 with the tying run in scoring position. He would then steal third but it would not matter. Ramón Laureano sent a grounder to Geno at third that would close things out. It got a little tight at the end, but the Mariners won another series at home with a 4-3 victory over the Padres to complete a 4-2 homestand.

Notable Performances

Padres

Mariners

• Eugenio Suárez- 2-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, SB
• Luke Raley- 1-2, 2B, RBI
• Bryan Woo (W, 12-7)- 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO

What’s Next

Seattle (72-62) completes a 4-2 homestand with two series wins over the A’s and Padres. Houston also got the win over Colorado on Wednesday and will play the Rockies on Thursday while the Mariners are off so the M’s have no control if their 1 1/2 game deficit grows or shrinks. Boston, New York, Kansas City, Cleveland, and Texas all won also on Wednesday so everything remains the same in the Wild Card race. Boston holds the top spot, followed by New York while Seattle hangs on to the final spot with a three-game lead over the Royals.

With an off day on Thursday, the Mariners will now hit the road once again for a nine-game, three city road trip where they have a chance to bury a couple AL Wild Card contenders along the way. First up, Seattle heads to Cleveland for a three-game series with the Guardians. Cleveland (66-66) is clinging to life despite selling at the deadline. The Guardians were swept by the Mariners in Seattle so unless they get that sweep back, they will likely have to pass the Mariners completely as Seattle will have the tiebreaker. Since the deadline, Cleveland is 20-17 since the break but a seven-game skid from the 19th-25th has put them in a terrible spot with a month to go.

Of course the guy to watch for Cleveland is always José Ramírez but we will shift the focus elsewhere. The Guardians just let former Mariner Carlos Santana walk and kept Steven Kwan who has been solid once again. However, the bullpen looks very different with Emmanuel Clase on non-disciplinary paid leave since the end of July. New closer Cade Smith has not been quite as dominant as the Guardians had hoped since becoming the closer. He is 5-8 in save opportunities since becoming the 9th inning guy and has allowed eight runs since becoming the closer. He had allowed only 19 runs from the beginning of the season thru July 27th so if the M’s are down late, don’t give up hope and turn off the TV quite yet.

• Game 1, Friday 4:10pm- George Kirby (8-6, 4.05 ERA) vs. Logan Allen (7-10, 4.35 ERA)
• Game 2, Saturday 4:15pm- Logan Gilbert (4-5, 3.69 ERA) vs. Gavin Williams (8-5, 3.36 ERA)
• Game 3, Sunday 10:40am- Bryce Miller (3-5, 5.98 ERA) vs. Tanner Bibee (9-10, 4.73 ERA)

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