Mitch Garver's homer sends Mariners past Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - When Nick Mears came jogging in from the Royals bullpen to start the seventh inning, you could almost hear a collective sigh coming from the Mariners dugout.
It's not as if Friday night's small crowd of 18,842 at Kauffman Stadium provided enough noise to drown out such exhortations.
Why the sense of relief?
Well, after getting shut down for six innings by lefty Noah Cameron, who struck out eight batters to match a career high, the chance to face a right-handed pitcher, or somebody other than the starter, offered hope of something better.
The adjustment was immediate.
Cole Young worked a leadoff walk on six pitches and Mitch Garver crushed a 1-0 sinker at the top of strike zone, sending a towering blast over the visitors' bullpen in left field for what would be the decisive hit in a 2-0 win for the Mariners.
Great way to start the road trip," manager Dan Wilson said. "A good all-around win. All of our pitchers - their stuff looked really sharp tonight."
The Mariners got a shutdown pitching performance from starter Logan Gilbert and relievers Eduard Bazardo, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz, who combined to hold the Royals scoreless in a game for the fourth time this season. It was the Mariners' second combined shutout of the season.
Of course, that effort wouldn't have mattered if the Mariners hadn't found a way to score at least a run.
They certainly didn't threaten to score against Cameron, who allowed four hits - two to Julio Rodríguez and singles to Randy Arozarena and Garver - over six innings with two walks and eight strikeouts. But he couldn't pitch forever. One upside of the Mariners striking out so much was they pushed Cameron's pitch count to 96 after six innings, forcing the Royals to go to their bullpen.
The Mariners platoon bats of Rob Refsnyder, Patrick Wisdom and Victor Robles went a combined 0 for 8 with six strikeouts and a double play.
"Cameron pitched us tough tonight with a lot of strikeouts," Garver said. "You get the righty in the there and you get the different look, and you never know. Baseball is a funny sport; you never know who's gonna hit one and who's gonna get the pitch to hit. Cole worked that leadoff walk, and we talk about it all the time, that those leadoff walks really hurt you sometimes, and that one did."
So which is better, hitting the game-winning homer or catching a shutout?
"I'm just as proud or even more proud to be behind the plate for that one," Garver said.
Gilbert delivered a solid outing for Seattle despite falling an out short of a "quality start" of six-plus innings pitched and three runs or fewer allowed.
He held the Royals scoreless through five innings and looked dominant, allowing just two base runners - a first-inning single and a third-inning walk.
"He really showed up tonight, man," Garver said. "That was impressive. He had all of his pitches working, there wasn't a pitch that we didn't throw. He was confident in all of them. I feel like we were on the same page tonight. He has so many pitches to work with. It's fun to be creative back there. And when he executes like he did tonight, it makes it even more fun."
It seemed like Gilbert would get through six, having thrown only 71 pitches going into the inning and retiring 13 of the last 14 batters he faced.
After getting a quick out to start the inning, he lost a seven-pitch battle with leadoff hitter Maikel Garcia, giving up a single to right. Gilbert retired Bobby Witt Jr. on a fly out to left field on another seven-pitch battle. But a seven-pitch walk to Vinnie Pasquantino ended his outing.
"They put up some good at-bats, especially at the end," Gilbert said. "I think I was a strike away, at 80 pitches and got to 90 something. For whatever reason, sometimes the sixth inning is like that."
Wilson felt Gilbert was starting to tire and called on Bazardo to face veteran slugger Salvador Perez. Bazardo added to the Royals' miseries with runners in scoring position, getting Perez to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Gilbert's final line: 5⅔ innings scoreless pitched, two singles allowed with two walks and six strikeouts. He threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 21 batters he faced.
"It's usually what I try to do, and it's funny because the last game I think I did the same thing and gave up seven runs or whatever," he said. "I'm just trying to never shy away from that."
Bazardo returned for the seventh and dominated, striking out the side. Brash worked around a leadoff single and a two-out single for a scoreless eighth while Muñoz had a drama-free ninth for his ninth save this season.
"His execution was just a little bit better," Garver said of Bazardo. "He was able to spin the ball to the back door and below the zone."
Muñoz didn't throw a single fastball in his appearance. He worked a 1-2-3 ninth, throwing 14 sliders and two changeups. It's something that Garver joked about with pitching coach Pete Woodworth before the inning.
"I had a conversation with Woody before I even went out there and I said, 'Would you even be mad if I didn't call a fastball?'" Garver said. "But his slider is a plus pitch. We love the slider. He's confident throwing it in any count. It's one of those pitches that we can kind of wear out when we want to, and he's able to execute it, so why get away from it?
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