Game 17 - Polanco, Haniger show how it's done
Where to begin.
The Mariners beat the Reds 9-3 on Monday in their best, most complete game of the season. The batting was great. The pitching was great. The fielding was great. Everything fell in line.
It started in the first. JP and Julio each walked to leadoff the game. Jorge Polanco worked a three ball count and looked set to join them. But instead he got a heart zone fastball and laser’d a 110 mph home run into the seats in right field. Polanco got it started again in third, drawing a leadoff walk and immediately coming around to score on a Mitch Haniger home run. The duo was part of another rally in the seventh. Julio singled to leadoff the inning, Polanco drew another walk, and Haniger doubled home a run.
With a home run and two walks on Monday, Polanco has three home runs and a 28% walk rate in his last 10 games. His season wRC+ is now up to 109. Haniger’s wRC+ is up 160 after hitting his third home run and third double of 2024.
It wasn’t just them, either. The Mariners posted a collective .377 xwOBA on Monday and every batter reached base. They also struck out only seven times (their fewest in a game this season), and dropped their strikeout rate to 28.2%—no longer the highest in MLB.
Even Luke Raley picked up a pair of hits. The first was a cheeky drag bunt to the shift-vacated space at third. Now, generally I’m a fan of players trying this, but I didn’t love it for the situation. There was a runner on first with two outs, and a successful bunt only changed the odds of scoring from 10% to 20%. Frankie Montas was struggling to find the zone and had thrown 40 pitches by the time Raley came up—he was clearly vulnerable. But it worked. He got on base, and maybe that’s just what he needed to get going. He tripled later in the game, scoring both Polanco and Haniger as part of the seventh inning rally.
Jonatan Clase also picked up his first hit in his MLB debut with an RBI single in the sixth. I’m interested to see how Scott Servais uses Clase and Raley going forward. Both played Monday with Mitch Garver getting a day off, but that won’t always be the case.
George Kirby looked good in his fourth start of the season. The Reds were overwhelmed early with some blatant late swings on the fastball—like ball-in-glove level of late swings. He posted a 26% whiff rate and limited hard contact. It wasn’t Kirby’s best outing, and he made a few mistakes, but it was a solid performance overall. Kirby lowered his FIP to 3.08 (far below his 6.64 ERA) and joined Luis Castillo in the top 15 for pitcher fWAR.
Neither Kirby nor the rest of the Mariners staff issued a walk. It was the third consecutive game Mariners pitching did not walk anybody, which apparently is the longest streak in franchise history.
The defense was also excellent. Polanco made a slick diving play behind the bag at second to save a run. His defense was a bit shaky early, but he’s made several solid, clutch defensive plays over the last few series. Julio also tracked down a ball destined for the gap. He hasn’t put it together at the plate quite yet, but he’s leading MLB outfielders in Outs Above Average.