9/7/25

(Atlanta, GA) To call the Seattle Mariners recent road trip a complete nightmare might be the understatement of the year. After the first six games, Seattle held onto the final Wild Card spot by just half of a game over the Texas Rangers after going 1-5 on the roadie. Positive news would come as Victor Robles would return to the team in game two on Saturday in Atlanta.

The M’s would still have to get through the opener without their spark plug as they started the three-game series with the Atlanta Braves on Friday night. While the Mariners road trip has been a disaster, it really doesn’t compare to the season that Atlanta has had. Coming into the year, the Braves were seen as strong World Series contenders but were pretty much out of the race by the deadline. Now looking to just play spoiler, Atlanta would come into the series with an always solid lineup against a dreadful Seattle lineup.

Braves 4, Mariners 1 (Game One)

Chris Sale would be the puzzle that the Seattle Mariners had to solve in the opener on Friday night. The reigning NL Cy Young winner has put together another strong season and the veteran was looking to capitalize on the M’s struggles against lefties. Seattle’s own Opening Day starter would get the start as Logan Gilbert continued his quest to round into his ace form that he hasn’t had consistently since his injury in April.

Sale spun a quick inning in the 1st thanks to Cal Raleigh getting caught stealing by Drake Baldwin. In the bottom of the 1st, Jurickson Profar led off with his 13th double of the season. Gilbert would then walk Matt Olson before an Ozzie Albies single loaded the bases with nobody out. It looked like it would be another big, early deficit for the M’s but Gilbert would strikeout Drake Baldwin for the first out. It wouldn’t be a complete escape as Ha-Seong Kim drove in the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-0. With runners on the corners and two outs, Logan Gilbert sat down Michael Harris II on strikes to minimize the damage and keep it a 1-0 deficit.

Seattle couldn’t get much of anything going on offense outside of a Leo Rivas double in the 3rd that was left stranded. Fortunately, Logan Gilbert really settled in after a bumpy 1st inning. Gilbert only allowed three hits from the 1st inning on and stranded two in scoring position. Gilbert struck out seven over his six innings with only one walk allowed in a quality start to begin the series.

Great defense by Atlanta really helped Chris Sale on Friday night. Seattle had numerous base hits taken away and never got a real groove going. In the top of the 7th, the M’s changed that a bit. Jorge Polanco singled but remained at first base with two outs. Brian Snitker went to his bullpen and brought in Dylan Lee to face Dominic Canzone. The inning stayed alive with Canzone’s single to center to bring Leo Rivas to the plate. He remained hot with a base hit to center to bring in Polanco and tie the game up at 1-1. They couldn’t get the clutch hit as rookie Harry Ford pinch hit for Luke Raley and went down swinging to end the inning but the game was at least tied.

Matt Brash got a double play to erase an error by Eugenio Suárez to hang up a zero in the 7th. Tyler Kinley spun a quick 1-2-3 top of the 8th for Atlanta before Gabe Speier came in for the home half. Jurickson Profar welcomed the lefty to the game with his second double of the day to put the go-ahead run in scoring position to start the inning. Matt Olson wasted no time putting Atlanta back in front with a single to center to make it 2-1. Ozzie Albies’ second triple of the season began snowballing things for the Braves as he drove in a run before scoring on a Drake Baldwin single. In the blink of an eye it was 4-1 and while Carlos Vargas would get out of Speier’s mess it didn’t matter. Raisel Iglesias sat the M’s down in order to finish off the opener with the M’s dropping their fourth in a row, 4-1.

Notable Performances

Mariners

Braves

• Ozzie Albies- 3-4, 3B, RBI, R, 2 SB
• Matt Olson- 1-3, RBI, R, BB
• Chris Sale (ND)- 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO

Mariners 10, Braves 2 (Game Two)

Victor Robles returned to the Mariners on Saturday in the middle game of the series in what fans were hoping would be a jolt to a slumbering lineup. Seattle would also need another great start from their starter as Bryce Miller got the ball looking to be the stopper. Atlanta would go with rookie Hurston Waldrep who had dominated since his call-up in August after the deadline.

It took no time at all for the M’s to strike and take a lead. Cal Raleigh walked as the second batter of the game, bringing Julio Rodríguez to the plate. J-Rod went down and got a splitter and hammered it out to left for a two-run no-doubter. It was his 29th of the season and three batters in, the Mariners had a 2-0 lead.

Bryce Miller got off to a really strong start and looked to be on his way to his best outing of the season. The only baserunner off of him the first time through the order was Matt Olson, who had a one-out single in the 1st. Olson would get the best of Miller once again in the second meeting. A splitter in Olson’s sweet spot was crushed 459-feet for a solo bomb, making it 2-1.

Seattle couldn’t manage to add on to their lead against Waldrep who managed five innings of only two hit, two run ball but with five walks the M’s couldn’t really capitalize on. Seattle left two walks stranded in the 6th before Atlanta erased the Mariner lead. Drake Baldwin singled with one out in the bottom of the 6th and Ha-Seong Kim followed with his own base hit. Ronald Acuña Jr. walked to load the bases with one out and Dan Wilson had to go to Gabe Speier out of the bullpen. He would get Michael Harris II to fly out to center, but Baldwin scored to tie the game at 2-2. Sean Murphy then grounded out to end the inning to keep the game tied.

Daysbel Hernández came in for the Braves in the top of the 7th and things fell apart for Atlanta. Randy Arozarena singled to lead off the inning. He moved up to second on a Cal Raleigh sacrifice fly, but Julio Rodríguez made sure that it didn’t matter. Julio battled in a nine-pitch at-bat before winning emphatically with his second home run of the game and 30th of the season to make it 4-2. Two batters later, Eugenio Suárez added on with his 43rd home run of the season to make it 5-2. Hayden Harris would then come in out of the bullpen but a double by Jorge Polanco and single by J.P. Crawford added another run to make it 6-2 Mariners after seven.

Seattle landed the knockout blow in the top of the 8th. John Brebbia came in and hit Randy Arozarena before striking out Cal Raleigh. Julio Rodríguez then singled the other way into right field to put a couple on for Josh Naylor. A 3-1 hanging slide to Naylor was driven out to right field for a three-run blast and Naylor’s 17th home run of the season. If that wasn’t enough, Cal Raleigh added one more with his MLB-leading 52nd home run of the year in the top of the 9th to make it 10-2. A double digit outburst got the M’s a little positive energy as they beat the Braves in game two, 10-2.

Notable Performances

Mariners

Braves

• Matt Olson- 2-4, HR, RBI, R
• Ha-Seong Kim- 2-4
• Hurston Waldrep (ND)- 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 SO

Mariners 18, Braves 2 (Game Three)

Seattle finally had an opportunity to win a road series and end the horrible road trip on a positive note. Luis Castillo would need to have a good outing on the road which has not really happened this season for the Mariner veteran. Atlanta made a change to their rotation and pushed back Spencer Strider which meant Joey Wentz would get the ball in the finale for the Braves.

This game got out of hand fairly quickly as the M’s jumped on Joey Wentz in the 2nd. With nobody on and two outs, Josh Naylor flipped a single to left before stealing second for his 24th stolen base of the season. Mitch Garver drove a fly ball to deep center that was narrowly missed by Michael Harris II. Naylor scored as Garver recorded his first triple since 2019 and the Mariners led 1-0.

In the top of the 3rd, Joey Wentz was rocked and didn’t make it out of the inning. A single by Victor Robles and a walk for Randy Arozarena began the inning before Cal Raleigh singled to load the bases with nobody out. Julio Rodríguez stayed scorching hot with a smoked grounder down the left field line that just clipped off the third baseman’s glove. That allowed all three runs to score as J-Rod reached second with his 25th double of the year, making it 4-0. After stealing second, Julio got to jog home as Jorge Polanco blasted his 24th home run of the year to left for a two-run shot, making it 6-0. Josh Naylor made it back-to-back with a solo shot for his 18th to add on. Mitch Garver’s single brought Dylan Dodd in to pitch but singles by J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena broke thing open even more as it was 9-0.

Both teams got a run in the 4th as Julio doubled before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jorge Polanco later in the inning. Atlanta got a run on Jurickson Profar’s 13th home run of the season to make it 10-1 before Luis Castillo was hit by a comebacker from Matt Olson. La Piedra looked to be ok as he then got a double play and a fly out to flush the solo home run and keep the lead at nine for Seattle.

Eugenio Suárez made it 11-1 with his 44th homer of the year but that was still just the tip of the iceberg. As substitutions were made, Seattle continued to hit at will off of Rolddy Muñoz. Seattle added on seven more runs in the 9th with one coming off of a wild pitch and another on a Randy Arozarena single. Cal Raleigh provided more excitement with his 53rd home run of the season to drive in two more and widen his home run lead over Kyle Schwarber’s 49. Geno would tack on his second homer of the game and 45th of the season to put the exclamation point on this one. Atlanta score one in the bottom of the 9th off of Luke Jackson but this game was all Seattle. They would win 18-2 to take the series in Atlanta.

Notable Performances

Mariners

Braves

• Jurickson Profar- 2-4, HR, RBI, R
• Ozzie Albies- 1-4, R
• Joey Wentz (L, 5-6)- 2.1 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO

What’s Next

This was the first series win on the road for the Seattle Mariners (75-68) since before the All-Star Break when they swept the Detroit Tigers on July 11th-13th. In doing so, they kept their AL West hopes alive as Texas took two out of three from Houston to move Seattle to just 2 1/2 games back of the Astros. The M’s are well behind the Yankees (5 1/2 games) for the top Wild Card and 3 1/2 behind Boston. The Mariners sit 1 1/2 games ahead of Texas, two ahead of Kansas City, 2 1/2 ahead of Cleveland, and four ahead of Tampa Bay for the final American League playoff spot.

Seattle doesn’t get a day off until next Monday but they do return home now for a seven-game homestand. First up will be another team that needs a lot to go their way to make the playoffs in the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals (72-72) sit 4 1/2 games behind the Mets for the final NL Wild Card spot but have to jump three other teams before even getting to New York. That makes St. Louis a dangerous and desperate team coming to T-Mobile Park. The Cardinals have won three consecutive series over Cincinnati, the Athletics, and San Francisco so they are red hot coming in.

St. Louis doesn’t have too many standout stars in their lineup or rotation this season and traded closer Ryan Helsley at the deadline. We had to dig deep for this spotlight Alec Burleson is having himself a pretty nice season. In his fourth season, Burleson is going to be right around the same in terms of power numbers but his batting average has jumped. A .269/.314/.420 slash line last season seemed to just tease what he was capable of. All three have jumped to.286/.337/.451 in 2025 and he now looks like he could be their middle of the order thumper that this team so desperately needs.

• Game 1, Monday 6:40pm- Miles Mikolas (7-10, 4.89 ERA) vs. Bryan Woo (12-7, 3.02 ERA)
• Game 2, Tuesday 6:40pm- Matthew Liberatore (7-11, 4.15 ERA) vs. George Kirby (8-7, 4.47 ERA)
• Game 3, Wednesday 6:40pm- Michael McGreevy (6-3, 4.68 ERA) vs. Logan Gilbert (4-6, 3.61 ERA)

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