Mariners takeaways: Seattle continues recent stretch of wins with 4-game sweep of Rays
Shed Long Jr. approached the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning late Sunday afternoon, bases loaded, needing only a single to lift the Mariners to another walk-off win.
But, he delivered much more than that.
Long watched two sliders from Tampa Bay reliever Diego Castillo pass by, then he crushed the third deep to right field. Long said on a postgame video call with reporters he knew he won the game as the ball soared beyond the reach of Rays right fielder Diego Castillo.
But, he didn’t know the line drive would clear the fence, giving him his first career grand slam to cap a thrilling weekend for this surging Mariners club in front of a season-high crowd of 18,172 at T-Mobile Park.
“It was unbelievable,” Long said of the game-winner — which was the club’s first walk-off slam in 15 seasons. “Honestly. Unbelievable. Just a great feeling. It’s one of the coolest things you can do in baseball in my opinion.
“It was a great just feeling rounding the bases and just knowing that I was able to help my team win.”
The walk-off victory was Seattle’s third in four days — and second consecutive in extra innings — and closed out a four-game series sweep of the defending American League champions.
“That’s quite an exclamation point to put on the weekend,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Coming into this series, I mentioned early on I was looking forward to it, and I thought our team was as well, to kind of see where we’re at.”
When the weekend began, the Mariners were still hovering just below .500, and looking to build on the series win over the Twins that opened the homestand following a rough road trip.
When the weekend ended with Long’s blast, the Mariners were suddenly 38-36, jumping two games over the .500 mark for the first time since May 8, and beginning to close in on the Astros and A’s, who are sitting atop the AL West.
The Mariners have won seven of their last eight games heading into Monday’s off day. They also improved to 8-1 in extra-innings contests following Sunday’s walk-off.
And there are contributions coming from every end of the clubhouse.
“What a series,” Servais said. “Everybody chipping in. Huge outings out of our pitching staff, our bullpen guys. Offensively, coming up with big hits. Right when you think we’re down-and-out, guys will have great at-bats, get the extended innings and then you get the big knock, big homer whenever we needed it.
“A really awesome effort. I couldn’t be any more excited about this group going forward. … We’re playing on top of our game right now.”
This is the second time in the past month the Mariners have pieced together seven wins in an eight-game span, but this has been perhaps the most impressive stretch, which includes the sweep of the Rays, who entered the series leading the AL East, and tied for the most wins in baseball.
The Mariners seem to have found more day-to-day consistency in this recent stretch following so much uncertainty and roster movement in the first two months of the season, caused primarily by injuries.
“We are getting better, and that’s what I really focus on, is how we’re playing,” Servais said. “We’re executing, we’re doing the little things right, we’re running the bases the right way, we’re playing defense, we’re throwing strikes. The timely hitting, that comes and goes. It’s a lot of fun when it’s there. It’s not there every day.
“But, we’re getting better and that’s what excites me with this group is they continue to gain experience. We’ve got a lot of baseball yet to play, but it’s going to be fun. Hopefully we can keep them healthy. That’s been the struggle at times this year. But, really proud of this group.”
The series against the Rays began Thursday night, and Kyle Seager ended that game with a walk-off single in the ninth.
Friday night, the Mariners jumped out to an early lead, and cruised to a win behind another stellar pitching performance by Yusei Kikuchi.
J.P. Crawford provided more fireworks Saturday, launching his first career grand slam in the second inning, and scoring the decisive run in the 10th on Mitch Haniger’s game-winning single.
“I feel like we have a good team and we can go out there and compete with anybody, and that’s the mindset and that’s the goal every night is to go out there and get a win,” Haniger said postgame.
“It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, just play our game and I feel like if we do that, we’re going to have success.”
Then, of course, Long gave the weekend a fitting end with his game-winning slam, which was the ninth walk-off grand slam in franchise history, and first since Richie Sexson hit a walk-off slam in 2006.
“We’re riding a wave right now,” Servais said ahead of Sunday’s finale. “We’re playing really good ball.”
“It’s a great feeling to have,” Long said of this recent stretch. “I’m just looking forward to keep working and hopefully we can keep it going.”
GRAND RE-OPENING
T-Mobile Park plans to return to full capacity for the Mariners’ next homestand.
The club announced Thursday it has received permission from Washington state as well as King County to return to its full seating capacity beginning July 2. This follows the state’s plan to reopen by June 30.
The Mariners begin a nine-game homestand that Friday with a three-game series against the Rangers, then host the Yankees and the Angels for three games each ahead of the All-Star break.
The first game of the Texas series will be a “Grand Re-Opening Night,” the release says, and will feature ticket specials and the first postgame fireworks show since 2019.
“We’re all excited about it,” Servais said last week of welcoming more fans back to the ballpark. “ … We all know once it gets around late June, July and August there’s no better place to watch a ballgame than T-Mobile Park, so excited to get our fans out there.”
Per the release, all areas of the ballpark — which seats nearly 48,000 — will again be open to fans.
The ballpark will also no longer have social distancing or vaccinated-only sections, the release says, proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test will not be required at the gates, and while masks will not be required for fully vaccinated fans, it is recommended unvaccinated fans still wear masks.
Single-game tickets for the remainder of the season will be available beginning June 24.
INJURY UPDATES
▪ Mariners starting pitcher Justin Dunn was placed on the 10-day injured list Friday, and will be shut down from throwing activities for about two weeks as he recovers from a right shoulder strain, Servais said last week.
Dunn left his most recent start Thursday with discomfort in the shoulder after tossing two scoreless innings against Tampa Bay.
“Hopefully that calms down a little bit and he can start building up arm strength and going from there,” Servais said.
This is Dunn’s second trip to the 10-day IL in three weeks. He missed one start earlier this month while dealing with inflammation in the same shoulder.
The Mariners have several off days scheduled before the midseason break, and will move to a five-man rotation with Dunn out.
“Right now we won’t slide anybody else in there,” Servais said. “We’ll just go five until we get to the All-Star break, is what we’re hoping for. We’ve got to keep all those guys healthy, but that’s the plan right now.”
▪ Mariners first baseman Evan White, who has been on the IL since May 14 with a left hip flexor strain, was removed from his rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma last week and returned to Seattle after a setback in his recovery.
Servais said Thursday the club would continue to monitor White’s progress for a handful of days before hopefully sending him back out on a rehab assignment.
ROSTER MOVES
The Mariners made the following roster moves in the past week:
▪ The Angels claimed infielder Jack Mayfield off waivers Sunday. Mayfield was designated for assignment on June 10 when the Mariners acquired Jake Bauers from Cleveland. He appeared in 11 games for Seattle after being recalled from Tacoma last month.
▪ The Mariners recalled catcher Luis Torrens from Tacoma on Monday, while optioning right-handed reliever Yohan Ramirez. Torrens hit .219/.318/.521 with four doubles, six home runs, 19 RBI and 10 walks to 22 strikeouts in 19 games with the Rainiers after he was optioned on May 20.
▪ The Mariners also traded reliever Yacksel Rios to the Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations Monday. He made three relief appearances for Seattle and was designated for assignment on June 11.
▪ Minor league infielder Andres Mesa was selected as the player to be named later Monday to complete the trade with the Rangers that brought reliever Rafael Montero to Seattle in December.
▪ When Dunn was placed on the 10-day IL on Friday, the Mariners recalled Ramirez from Tacoma, while also selecting reliever Vinny Nittoli from Triple-A. Catcher Jose Godoy was optioned to the Rainiers and center fielder Kyle Lewis (right meniscus tear) was transferred to the 60-day IL in other corresponding moves.
ON DECK
The Mariners wrap up this homestand with a short two-game series against the Rockies beginning Tuesday night.
Seattle then hits the road for a week to play a pair of three-game sets against the White Sox and Blue Jays.
This story was originally published June 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Mariners takeaways: Seattle continues recent stretch of wins with 4-game sweep of Rays."
