Game 29 - Mitch Garver sets us free
Mitch Garver bat-flipped the script on what looked certain to be a miserable evening.
Garver came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on first and the Mariners down 1-0. He took the first five pitches he sawâthree out of the zone, then two tough strikes away. Thatâs when A.J. Minter offered up the mistake he was looking for, and Garver didnât miss.
Garver in his walkoff bat flip captured the sense of relief Iâm sure he and the rest of the team felt in that home run. It had been a brutal game for the Mariners offense until the very last pitch.
The futility culminated in the seventh. After mercifully âchasingâ starter Max Fried, the heart of the Mariners lineup came up only to strikeout in order. The Mariners were hitless to that point, and in fact, they had not recorded a hit since the third inning of Sundayâs loss to Arizonaâ44 consecutive batters without a hit. In that span, they struck out 22 times, for an even 50%.
The Mariners combined .195 xwOBA over the last two games is their second worst stretch of 63 plate appearances since 2021.
When the Mariners did finally threaten in the 8th, they didnât seem to know what to do with it. Ty France walked to leadoff the inning, and Josh Rojas followed it up with a pinch-hit single to breakup the no hitter. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Luis UrĂas squared to bunt. This made sense to an extent. UrĂas against a righty wasnât a favorable matchup, and the Mariners wanted to stay out of the double play. But UrĂas has all of one successful sacrifice bunt in his career back in 2021. And it seemed odd in that situation to not call on Luke Raley, whoâs proven himself to be a pretty good bunter. Maybe they thought the odds of UrĂas getting the bunt down and saving Raley to pinch-hit for Sam Haggerty was better than odds of Raley getting the bunt down and keeping Haggerty in to hit. Regardless, the biggest head scratcher was letting France run the bases for the sacrifice attempt, and then calling on Leo Rivas to pinch run only after UrĂas struck out.
I generally donât care to think about these types of managerial decisions, but the whole situation felt a bit messy.
Garver thankfully made it moot.
The only reason the Mariners were in a position to win in the ninth was another brilliant starting pitching performance. It doesnât seem to matter anymore whoâs pitching or who theyâre facing, but this time it was Bryce Miller against probably the best offense in MLB.
Miller was perfect through five and one-third innings before Travis dâArnaud walked on four pitches. Miller immediately got Jarred Kelenic to ground into double play to face the minimum through six with a no hitter intact.
The only blemish for Miller came in the seventh against the dynamic duo of Ronald AcuĂąa Jr. and Ozzie Albies. AcuĂąa broke up the no hitter with leadoff single on a grounder up the middle. He then stole second and third before scoring on a double from Albies. Miller quickly recovered to end the threat, striking out Austin Riley and Matt Olson before getting Marcell Ozuna to fly out.
Millerâs final line: seven innings, two hits, one walk, one run, 10 strikeouts. He got 17 whiffs, including 15 on his fastball, and he gave up just one batted ball over 100 mph.
Cody Bolton and Austin Voth added four more strikeouts in relief to hold the Braves at 1-0 into the ninth. It was the Braves worst offensive performance by xwOBA (.197) since July of last year. And with 14 strikeouts in 30 plate appearances, it was their highest strikeout rate (46.7%) in a game since 2022.
The Mariners are now 12-5 since April 10, mostly on the back of their starting pitching. In that period, Mariners starters have an average Game Score of 65. Itâs their best 17-game streak by Game Score in the Dipoto era, and the best 17-game streak for any team since 2022.
Luis Castillo will have a chance to keep in going on Tuesday and deliver the Mariners a fifth consecutive series win.
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