Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Leody Taveras' Perfectly Timed First Seattle Mariners Home Run Seals Series Win

Starting point is 00:00:00 Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh and Laudy Tavares Homer as the Marys take 203 in Chicago. We'll talk about it all coming up here on the Lockdown Marriss Postgame show. Colby, edit. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors. It is Wednesday, May 21st, 2025.

Starting point is 00:00:29 This is titting as Alice and Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Marys Post-Game show, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the promo code Locked-on MLB. That's L-O-C-K-D-O-N-M-M-L-B at Monarche for 50% off your first year. And as always, if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, you can check out our Patreon. All you have to do to check that out is click the link in the description of this episode. Merris beat the White Sox six to five this afternoon in Chicago. Hell of a time for Laotie Tavares' first home run.

Starting point is 00:01:05 uniform. I'll tell you that. He hits the game winner today. Colby, that's really nice to see from him, given how shaky the start to his Mariners career has been, right? I mean, you know, Monday, we even got asked about potentially moving on from him because it had been a rough go for him. I think heading into that episode, he had a 20 WRC plus in a Mariners uniform. I'm going to assume that's gone up quite substantially over the last two days. He had a double last night, went two for, two for four today, including the game winning home run. So, uh, Yeah, that was huge, right. Yeah, I mean, you certainly needed it.

Starting point is 00:01:39 You know, you needed somebody to step up big time. And sure, why wouldn't it be Lioti Tavares, who, like you said, yesterday actually had a big double that unfortunately the boys couldn't pick him up and hit a few other, you know, hard hit balls into the gaps over the last couple days. And so he does look like he was tracking the ball better, at least at the plate. And then, yeah, it's just phenomenal timing. Like, I don't know how else to put it. And it's nice to see him get paid off after putting together some actually decent at-bats over the last few days, a multi-hit day for him.

Starting point is 00:02:12 So, yeah, you know, we knew it was going to take some time. And maybe this is just a one-off. Maybe this is the only thing he does for the Mariners in his entire career. And he has to be DFA later on. But it does build some confidence. It should at least for Tavares. And he's had some good at-bats the last couple days. And, yeah, so I think, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's,

Starting point is 00:02:35 Leotis, I always want to say Leonis. I combine them sometimes. But Tavares, you know, you really, all you're really hoping for is that he's about an average bat. So, like, the idea that like, oh, you could turn him into Victor Robles was always silly. Like, maybe, but no, like, you shouldn't expect that. So, yeah, you know, hopefully over the last couple, the last couple days, he's started to make some of these changes that the Mariners think they can make with him.

Starting point is 00:03:01 And he's starting to see results of that. this is not the first big hit Tavares has had as a mariner, though. He's actually had a couple already in his mariner tenure, and that's helped them. That's helped the Mariners win. Like Tavares has helped the Mariners win a couple of games, and that's really all you were hoping for when you claimed him. And now we'll see if this is something to build on or this is a one-off. But either way, you needed it in the worst way possible. You're staring down the barrel of losing a series to the worst team in the American League.

Starting point is 00:03:31 and you're able to shut down this game and get the big dub. And somehow win the series before you head off to Houston to play your division rival, who also lost today. So, yeah, you know, the Mariners now have a three and a half game lead over the Astros and the Rangers. How about this? The angels are closer to second plays than anybody is to the Mariners right now in the American League West. That's how quickly things can swing this early in the season. And I guess that's a philosophical question we could answer maybe tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:04:06 Like is it early still? Well, as we all know, big division leads always last. Yeah, I mean, especially late May, early June. Yeah, totally. Yeah. But yeah, no, that's something I've put a lot of stock into right now. It felt like somebody unexpected really needed to step up after the three games that we saw this week so far. and yeah i mean it was almost donovan salonelano last night like it's kind of funny yeah we were close we

Starting point is 00:04:36 were close and so so close yeah it's just one of those things like you know it was poorly played baseball for most of the series and it just felt like man like this is this is this is bad right this is this is this is as bad as a may loss can get which is not that bad but still it's not great i mean it's you're playing one of the worst teams of baseball and it's like yeah the angels just swept the dodgers but it's like you know dodgers and the mares are not the same at all it's a false equivalency here so like it is like yeah like like it like it happens things like this can happen you know you can drop a series to you know any team in the game no matter how good you are but uh yeah that would that would certainly sting losing two a three small club especially after getting shut out last night why can't we just have the very simple adult opinion that like do things like this happen yes is it okay to be annoyed by it to be upset by it also yes like there's nothing wrong with being mad that you just lost a series to the white socks like there's nothing wrong with that okay sure uh because it sucks and and again like we talk about this all the time we expect this to be a race right up until the end of the season uh and

Starting point is 00:05:50 every single win you get matters and so when you play these bad teams you have to win these series and it doesn't it doesn't matter that like oh well you swept the podre so you kind of had a bonus win like no you need to stack wins and so the mariners didn't need this one but they kind of needed it you know they they didn't somebody tweeted this happened i thought it was a really good point it's not a must win but they can't lose you know i was actually just about to say the same thing that's kind of wild yeah yeah so i thought that was a really good way to point to put it so leotie coming up big when the mariner's needs needed them most is huge and that's that's how these teams find a way even when they're not playing good ball somebody steps up unexpectedly and they help you deliver a victory and you know they're 5-1 on the road trip they get four games against the uh the astros and they will not be facing hunter brown this weekend so good uh you know quick turnaround on the vibes uh to see of mr leoti taveris yeah and like the one good thing from last night and there weren't many but the one good thing from last night was like you only had to use

Starting point is 00:06:53 legamina Vargas Spire. Was that who through other than Lawrence? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But Lawrence I feel bad for that guy. I really do. He knows the deal. I know. I know. But that's got to be. Every time he's pitched, he's been fine. Yeah. Well, and that's the other thing too, right? It was like he has done his job every single time out and he just continues to get DFAed.

Starting point is 00:07:17 I mean, yeah. So I just, I feel for the guy. I bet that's been, I bet it's been a really tough year for him just in terms of all the stop and start and the moving around and all that. It comes with the territory, but still. Sure. There was a graphic on last night's ballgame that just like his miles traveling like from Seattle to where he was DFA back to Tacoma, back to Seattle, out to Toronto.

Starting point is 00:07:37 The graphic was that he had gone about 12,000 miles in travel so far this year, which is about halfway around the earth. Yeah. So yeah, he's 37 years old, hanging on for Dear Life to be a professional baseball player. And he's DFA'd again. I assume he clears. You never know, but I would be shocked if this was the last we saw of Casey Lawrence this year.

Starting point is 00:08:00 Oh, yeah. I think he'll make at least one more appearance for the Mariners. And by the way, if he goes to another team and then his later DFA and claimed by the Mariners again and all that, he will be the only person, the only player in baseball history to have four separate sense with the Seattle Mariners. That's wild. That's wild. Casey's chasing some history a little bit here.

Starting point is 00:08:23 They just need one more team to claim him now before they DFA him, and he can go back to Seattle and pitch for them one more time, and history will be made. But yeah, the bullpen, Lawrence eight innings yesterday, and really it was just Spire was the only, like, super high leverage guy. That got burned yesterday, although he didn't throw a lot of pitches, and Matt Brash didn't throw yesterday either. And so it's kind of a weird that he wasn't pitching the eighth today,

Starting point is 00:08:48 but whatever. I mean, yeah, maybe he did get up to throw in the first game. So I don't know, maybe that has something to do with it, but yeah. And then today, though, you only had to use like Amina Vargas and Mooney. So the bullpen, I mean,

Starting point is 00:09:07 first and foremost, you were able to get the game in last night. You didn't have to do a double header and cover 18 innings today. But on top of that, you only had, you had to double use like Amina and Vargas. and then Mooney got used today. He didn't get used last night. Spire got used last night. He didn't get used today.

Starting point is 00:09:23 So you're open. This was a big concern that we had that we talked about on yesterday's show. Actually, not that big of an issue going into Houston. Like you're shaped up pretty well. Yeah, you should have Moonios tomorrow. You should have Spire. You should have rash. Again, assuming that they're all feeling good.

Starting point is 00:09:39 You never know. Sometimes guys just aren't available for various reasons. But you should have all three of those guys. and plus, you know, Snyder and all that. So you should be well positioned to cover any innings that George Kirby, we got that news today, yeah, can't throw. And then you should, by Friday, you should have Vargas and Legamina back as well. So, yeah, your bullpen's in pretty good shape after these last two games.

Starting point is 00:10:05 Really happy that you were able to at least get both of them in, because we talked about what a headache it would be to try and fit one of these two games into the remaining schedule. But yeah, they got them both in, and thankfully the bullpen was pretty darn good again. You know, I know the only run yesterday, but whatever, they gave up one freaking run. And then today, you know, Legamina gets a little bit unlucky. A couple of dinky hits there, and that's the only run that the bullpen gives up today. So, yeah, there were some positives out of this series despite a heap of negatives. but yeah, you're well positioned to go after the Astros now, and that's huge.

Starting point is 00:10:46 So we're going to talk about Logan Evans' start, and I'm also going to tell you one underrated moment in this game, kind of sneaky underrated moment that happened in this game. In just a moment, but first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown Airs podcast is once again brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever check your bank account and wonder, where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it's easy to lose track.

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Starting point is 00:12:14 They have already done their postcast for this game. So if you haven't checked that out, want to hear their opinions on this game as well on top of ours. Go and check that out after you're done with us here. So before we talk about Logan Evans' start today, I wanted to quickly just acknowledge like a kind of a sneaky underrated moment in this game that eventually helped the Mariners win this game. I believe it was in the fifth inning.

Starting point is 00:12:39 The White Sox brought in the lefty, Brandon Icert. And we have seen Dan get aggressive and pinch hitting relatively early in games for the hand in matchups. We've seen that a lot with Rowdy Telles. He allowed Rowdy to actually face the lefty in that situation. Now, Rowdy ended up striking out and that at bat looking. But that allowed him to stay in the game. And then next turn through the lineup, he hits the lead off double to set up the two-run home run for Tavares. single air

Starting point is 00:13:12 whatever yeah i mean you got on second base you got on second base yeah like there was a righty on the mound and so yeah you had rap did they officially uh call that a single error they did initially i don't know if they've changed it they did yeah they did you know it's it's so hard to know nowadays like what's going to be an error and what's not official score stuck at their jobs can we just say that it's really not that hard of a job they're just kind of like letting everything go so you just you never know but yeah single error just to clarify there for for rowdy but he gets on second base to to kick off that inning and then

Starting point is 00:13:47 boom a threat pitches later speed caused the left builder to misplay that ball right and then uh yeah boom couple pitches later leotie hits the uh the game winning uh to run home run uh and uh there you there you have it yeah the uh the change up on the outside corner from vassal and uh tveris gets to it drives it was really nice to see so yeah um let's talk about logan evans He started this game. He gave up one, two, three, four, five, six, seven hard hit balls and six innings pitched, four runes with six hits, seven strikeouts and a walk. Three home runs.

Starting point is 00:14:24 That's kind of the big one here. Did have 15 whiffs. Two of the home runs, that's on him. He made mistakes there and paid for it. The big one, though, to Lenin Soso that tied things up at 3-3, that's kind of more of just like tip your hat to Lillene Sosa on that one, because that's a chance. change up and on the hands. That's off the plate. I mean, nine times out of the 10. The hitter is going to take that pitch or he's going to hit that knuckles. I have no idea how he was able to

Starting point is 00:14:50 turn on that ball and also hit it 101 miles per hour out of the park. Yeah, that's a pitch nobody should ever swing at. Like it wasn't a good pitch in that like, oh, it was just off the corner and like, no, it almost hit him. And somehow, so they were definitely playing with more of the racket balls today, the tennis balls today than they were the cue balls they were using on Monday night, but, uh, yeah. Yeah, that was, I mean, sucks. Uh, but also just like, I mean, you could just kind of have to shrug at that and be like, what am I supposed to do?

Starting point is 00:15:23 Mm-hmm. So, yeah, but I don't know. He also threw it. He also got into a lot of three ball counts. Like he fell behind a lot of guys, uh, in this game. So it, the box score, I don't think tells the whole story. I mean, we talk about the two-run Homer being the, the, the lucky Homer or whatever you call it. He got into a lot of deep counts in this game. And so a lot of three ball counts fell behind

Starting point is 00:15:46 three one at one point to like four out of five hitters. So there were stretches where he just had no idea where the ball was going. But is my, I think maybe we chalked that up more to his stuff was the best we've seen. Just raw stuff wise, the best we've seen it so far. The sweeper was was filthy today. Yeah, had a couple of really good ones against Robert. I'm clearly wanting to get him swinging I mean Louis Robert Did you see the quote that Louise Robert had the other day About how like

Starting point is 00:16:18 He wouldn't trade for himself right now either Yeah the way he's playing he doesn't think anyone's going to take a chance on him Yeah I was like I mean he's not wrong No I think that's some good accountability to have on his part so But yeah like Luis Robert basically is what like the Julio is overpaid people think Julio Rodriguez is Yeah yeah And that's really what it is when you watch him.

Starting point is 00:16:44 But yeah, no, I mean, he had six whiffs on. He had a 55% whiff rate on the sweeper today. And actually a 42% whiff rate on the cutter. As well as, you know, 43% on the changeup. It's pretty darn good. Yeah. Really didn't throw many fastballs. He threw 90 pitches, only 24 of them fastballs.

Starting point is 00:17:04 And, yeah, I mean, he had 16 strikes on those pitches. average exit velo on the sinker the two seamer 97.5. So yeah, the fastballs weren't very good today. He did hang a couple of sweepers. And the one change up that was, you know, obliterated really shouldn't have been like a defied logic. But so overall, I think he was fine. But I think that just sitting here saying like, oh, he just got unlucky. I think that's disingenuous to how he pitch.

Starting point is 00:17:37 Like overall, I think he was fine today. He was pretty good. but he definitely made some mistakes that he didn't get away with. He made more mistakes that he did get away with. And so I think at the end of the day, just kind of putting it all together, I think the box score tells a fairly accurate story. Like he didn't pitch well enough to get like a quality start, but he wasn't awful.

Starting point is 00:17:59 You know, so it's just one of those things where it's like the box score kind can say sometimes what you wanted to say or not say what you're trying to make it say. The day, I feel like it told a fairly accurate story. of Logan Evans day. So kind of a weird one for him. I think the end result is what it should have been. But certainly there was a little bit of luck on the two-run homer that somebody hit that pitch like out of the ballpark by a mile.

Starting point is 00:18:24 So some weirdness balanced out by some luck. I think we call it and say like, yeah, I think based on what I saw today, like stuff-wise, yes, he was very good. Command control-wise, he got what he deserved on the box score. And that's just how it works sometimes. so but at least he was able to go six like i'll give him that he was able to go six and we saw some really good stuff with the sweeper in the cutter today as well so yeah so earlier on you almost called uh leoti taveris leonis martin yeah and there's obviously been some comparisons

Starting point is 00:18:57 made between the two sure former rangers outfielders now mariners all feel that you know both have a walk off home run against the whites well yeah so so so i was so i was so So that's what I was going to mention. Ben-Reneering, are a good friend, just pointed out. Well, not just. It was about an hour ago, but I just saw the tweet.

Starting point is 00:19:17 That, yeah, Leonis Martin, hit a walk-off home run against the White Sox a while back. One of two in, what was that? 2016? 2017?

Starting point is 00:19:27 2016. It was the same year that he hit, it was the same year that he hit the walk-off against, what was it, Ryan Madsen. Yeah, which was all.

Starting point is 00:19:35 Four change-ups in a row. Yeah. That's one of my favorite walk-offs of Mary. history by the way. Yeah, I remember Leonis, he like swung violently at the first two changeups and just whiffed badly. And then I don't remember

Starting point is 00:19:49 who it was. Maybe it was Scott. Like he looked in the dugout and he just went or something like that. And then the next pitch there was another change up and he just went down and got it. I think Buehner was on the call that night as well. So yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was on the call that that night. Yeah, but it was off of Ryan

Starting point is 00:20:04 Madsen, yeah. Yeah, and then this one was is this, uh, who is this The left for the White Sox. Yeah, and it was an 02 count and he drives that ball over the right field. Anyway, the reason that I point this out, game winning home run against the White Sox to make it six to five Mariners.

Starting point is 00:20:21 So there you go. Another connection between Leonei Tavaris and Leonez Martín. You're listening to the Locktime Marrars podcast. So let's wrap things up here talking a little bit more about the bullpen. Carlos Vargas and Andres Monios held it down today.

Starting point is 00:20:38 Vargas with a really nice, efficient Nine pitch inning. I got to strike out. He's been really, really good lately, right? Yeah. I think the only mistake I remember pretty recently. And again,

Starting point is 00:20:50 he hasn't been perfect, but like the big mistake I remember recently is just the Aaron Judge Homer, which, oh, he gave up a home run to Aaron Judge. Yeah, it's Aaron Judge. Who hasn't? Like, it's one of those type of things.

Starting point is 00:21:02 But like, yeah, I think you and I have somehow given up home runs, Aaron Judge as well. Yeah, somehow. I'd strike him out. never seen a fastball this slow baby but uh that's right yeah i mean it would be like a johnny perida is that the same for the a is against otani it would just be one of those situations right yeah exactly i'd buzz the tower first pitch though just to set up of course yeah yeah yeah yeah of course

Starting point is 00:21:26 um yeah you know i tweeted this like imagine like just two calendar months ago if we said not only is carlos vargas going to make this team he's going to pitching high leverage spots in two months. And he's actually going to be pretty freaking good at it. Imagine if somebody told you that two months ago. You would have laughed at them. I would have laughed at them. We all would have laughed at them.

Starting point is 00:21:52 And here we are. Dude's been pretty consistently good. Again, he's had a couple of hiccups. He's not perfect. He's not, you know, he's not Munoz.

Starting point is 00:22:01 He's not brash. But like, he's been really good. And it's... He's doing his job. More often than not. That's all you can really ask. And he's really, he's earned it along the way because remember his first appearance, it's just mop-up duty and just eating innings and then slowly mid-leverage and then all of a sudden, boom, high leverage.

Starting point is 00:22:17 And then he just did his job over and over again. And so, you know, a lot of people said like, oh, he made the team because Jerry's just trying to salvage anything out of the E. E. E. Eugenio Suarez trade. Like, oh, look, I didn't lose that trade. It's like, he knows, guys. They know that they didn't make a good trade there. So give them credit for at the very least, like sticking to their guns on this guy and being like, no, we, we, think this guy can get big league hitters out. We think he can pitch in these type of situations. And, you know, it's, it's taken a full year before they, they trusted him enough to try it.

Starting point is 00:22:48 And the fact that he was out of options is that way into their decision to carry him? Yeah, probably. But it's worked. And he's been really good. So he deserves credit for that. Hey, we got a little bit of Mariners adjacent news. Gene Seguera has officially retired baseball.

Starting point is 00:23:06 I mean, the league pretty much retired him, but like. And that happened like three years ago? Nope. Robert Murray just, just tweeted it. His agency, CAA baseball, announced that he retired on Instagram today. Interesting dude. Yeah, very interesting dude.

Starting point is 00:23:24 I love to watch him. I love watching him play. It was just apparently not. We didn't have to deal them in the clubhouse every day. Yeah, not a great fit behind closed doors apparently. So, yeah. No, he also unfortunately lost his son, his infant son. early in his career and so yeah been a turbulent career for jean sigura but a good one nonetheless

Starting point is 00:23:44 yeah yeah so took my hat to to jean one of the best care of his life yep yeah both trading him and trading him away the jean sagura saga worked out amazingly for the mariners at the end of the day but uh yeah uh good for him he had a he had a very nice career yeah but uh yeah to to get back to what we're talking about like he said vargas really good lately uh it's been awesome to see and Mooney does what he's been doing all year. Yeah, I mean, like, this is like as bad as it gets for Moorios right now, and you're still like, yeah, let one guy on, never got past second or never got to second. Like, yeah. The two hard hit balls, by the way, a fly out to right field, 99 with a 49 degree launch angle.

Starting point is 00:24:25 Yeah. I expect a bad at 10. Yeah. And then the other one, a negative one degree launch angle. Yeah, 96 mile an hour ground ball. I expected batting on that 380. So, yeah. All right.

Starting point is 00:24:38 So that's going to do it for our show tomorrow. We'll talk about George Kirby and our expectations for how that might go and get you set for the Astro series. That will be our last show of the week. No show on Friday. I'm going to be out of town for the weekend. For Colby Pat, note, I'm Tiding Gazzalas. Be sure give us a follow on Twitter at L.O underscore Merrers. You can follow me at Tiding Gonzalez and Colby at C-Pat 11.

Starting point is 00:25:00 That's CPAT 1-1. We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLB Colby in the show at Lockdown Merrers. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok at Lockdown Marrows. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Leody Taveras' Perfectly Timed First Seattle Mariners Home Run Seals Series Win

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