Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - MARINERS POSTCAST: Seattle Mariners SECURE SWEEP vs St. Louis Cardinals

Starting point is 00:00:01 Break out the brooms. It is a Mariners sweep in St. Louis against the Cardinals. Man, Rob Reff Snyder, a pinch hit. Go ahead, home run in the ninth inning. Emerson Hancock does it again. You get a great performance from your bullpen. Let's talk about it on the Mariners Postcast. This is the Mariners Postcast. Your instant game reaction for the Seattle Mariners. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. every day.

Starting point is 00:00:39 Welcome to the Mariners Postcast, Anderson Hurst here with you guys on Locked-on, Mariners. Thank you so much for tuning in to what I believe to be the best post-game show right after a Mariners game. But I'm pretty biased because I'm the one who hosts it, of course. So welcome, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in. After a Mariners sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals, they move to 14 and 15 on the season. The battle towards 500 continues.

Starting point is 00:01:06 but I'm not super worried about the record at this point in the year. They win this one three to two over the Cardinals in three completely different games, right? On Friday, you get a dominant start from George Kirby, and then, you know, the bats weren't great, but you still find ways to score runs. Yesterday was just a whole weird game within itself that we normally don't see. And then today you get a good start from Emerson Hancock, a little shaky in the first couple of innings, but definitely dialed it back in. Good to see him kind of figure things out with what I believe to be was like a hang nail, kind of what they were showing. Who knows?

Starting point is 00:01:48 But that can matter a lot. For those who've had those before, I'm someone who suffers with those a lot myself. So whenever you get one, especially as someone who relies on a grip so much, it makes everything so much harder for a pitcher, especially when you're trying to spin that. sweeper a little bit. But you know what? It doesn't matter. You're still, you still get the win. Three, two over the Cardinals. I mean, just a huge series, guys. We needed this one. You know, the Mariners kind of scuffled in their last homestand going on the road could have meant one or two things. You can kind of continue the offensive struggles a little bit. Or you can kind of break out and, you know, kind of zone things in. You're away from your

Starting point is 00:02:31 families for whatever reason. You're just just focused on baseball. sometimes road trips like these kind of get your season going a little bit. And that's kind of what it seems like the Mariners are doing at this point in time. Just a great series win against the Cardinals team that while a lot of people didn't believe that they would be, you know, a contending team for the most part of this year, they started off pretty well. And then I think they've kind of come back down to Earth a little bit. But everyone's trying to kind of jockey for positioning here in the early portion of the Major League

Starting point is 00:03:02 Baseball season. and the Mariners take advantage, man. They do. And let's start with the start. Emerson Hancock, again, he battles a little bit today. It seemed like this was his start to me, where if this was the 2025 version of Emerson, Hancock, he would have struggled a little bit.

Starting point is 00:03:22 In terms of, you know, get a couple walks. It seemed like every time that he needed to make a pitch last year, I'm talking about, that he wasn't able to make it, and he would just have that one big inning. He didn't end up having that today. And it's great to see him battle back, you know, make pitches and kind of adjust your game plan based off of what feels good.

Starting point is 00:03:44 You could tell the sweeper just wasn't working today. So focus on that cutter, which is a great kind of substitute for that a little bit. And then focusing on the two seamer inside to right-handed hitters. And he just does such a good job. He has great rapport with Cal Raleigh on, you know, what works in certain situations. And I love to see him go another six strong innings today.

Starting point is 00:04:09 Does get seven hits against them. Like I said, this is one of those outings where I feel like if it was 2025 Emerson Hancock, those seven hits would have come with men on base every single time and he would have blown up. But because he, you know, wasn't walking a ton, he just gets the two earn runs against him, just two walks, just four Ks. But again, we've talked about it before. this is a scrappy St. Louis lineup that, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:33 doesn't really walk a ton, but they don't strike out a ton either. They're going to put the ball in play. And he does give up the two solo shots. But that's all that the Cardinals get. And once again, the bullpen, even after that first game on Friday, where you use all of your leverage arms. And then yesterday, when Brian Wu only goes three innings, I thought this was one of those games where you kind of,

Starting point is 00:04:55 the bullpen could be iffy. But you do get two thirds of an inning out of spire. And then once he gets the walk, Bizarro comes in for an inning in a third. Man, Bizarro, look good. He might be my unsung hero. I'll let you guys kind of talk about that one in the chat. And then Ferreira gets the save after going two innings yesterday.

Starting point is 00:05:13 He gets the save today in a clean ninth inning. Good to see him start to kind of climb out of it a little bit. Not that I ever thought he was pitching poorly. We've talked about this before. He was getting such bad luck with ground balls and soft contact. it would end up as hits or errors and stuff like that. Good to see that, you know, the results are starting to mirror the actual pitching performance of what I believe to be a good one from Jose Ferreier.

Starting point is 00:05:41 So good to see the bullpen kind of pick it up. Good pitching performance all the way around today. Let's get to the big one. Rob Reff Snyder, man. I mean, you get a couple home runs. You get the Cal Raleigh home run. Good to see. He seems like he's figuring things out a little bit.

Starting point is 00:05:59 bit. And we'll talk about Cal on the later portion of the show. Then another Cole Young clutch hit. Connor Joe gets on base ahead of him. Good for him. Who had a decent day to day. And then, of course, the ninth inning. And for whatever reason, you know, there's going to be people that complain about platoons and should Luke Rayleigh be batting versus left-ended pitching? Oh, guys, there's a reason Rob Reff Snyder was on this team. This is for this exact situation, right you you have a a good leverage what i believe to be basically the st louis version of jose freyer and jojo romero um and you know you're going for the win that put refsnyder in there he showed yesterday that he can hit righties too so even if you come you know in extra innings and have to hit him

Starting point is 00:06:44 again it's totally fine rob ruff sniner versus righties is a much better proposition than luke rle versus lefties it's just the way it is so and he shows why he's had such a long career i think 34 or 35 years old. And he's had such a long career, but this has been his role in his entire career. And I know everyone when they hear platoons, they get a little upset and like, ah, you know,

Starting point is 00:07:07 you should have guys that can hit both lefties and righties, give him a chance, all that stuff. But some guys just aren't good at it. And also some guys that, you know, have shown in their career to be more successful versus one-sided pitching. And then you bring them in to only be that, can struggle a little bit.

Starting point is 00:07:26 A good example of that, I believe, was someone like A.J. Pollock when the Mariners brought him in. Because he was used to being a semi-every-day player. You know, you have the rhythm of the game. You're facing righties. You're facing lefties. Of course, he had more success versus lefties. But then as soon as they tried to make him an only versus lefties guy,

Starting point is 00:07:45 you have so much more irregular playing time. You don't get into a rhythm. Rob Ruff Schneider has basically been that type of guy for his entire career. So he's used to this type of, you know, sit a couple days and then come in as a pinch hitter or late in a game. But you could tell he is so comfortable in those spots. And I'm glad that they continue to go with that at this point in time. There's better moments and worse moments to do it. That was a good moment to do it.

Starting point is 00:08:09 Ninth inning tie game. Let him let a rip against the left-handed hitter. So I think they're going to continue to do what they do with platoons. Ideally, you only have maybe one. spot for it, either your DH or a corner outfield or something like that. The Mariners tend to do it a little bit more often than I like, but it's still an important piece of the game and something to have. And Rob Reff-Snyder proved how valuable it is today.

Starting point is 00:08:37 And yesterday you look at Connor Joe's at bat as well, same kind of thing. And there you go. So yeah, well, yesterday, like I pointed out, it was Connor Joe, it was Leo Rivas and Will Wilson and today it was Rob Reff-Snyder. So, and you do have big games. You know, you have the Cal Raleigh home run today. You have the Julio Rodriguez home run yesterday. Your big guys are starting to get it going a little bit, but it is funny how the big

Starting point is 00:09:01 moments are from the bottom of the roster guys. And that's just kind of what good teams have. You look across the league, the really, really good teams have these kind of 25th, 26 guy on the roster making contributions at important times. So let's talk about, you know, the offense. as a whole and then we'll do our unsung hero. Coming up next after a Mariners win on the Mariners' postcast, we'll be right back. If you've got a sweet tooth like I do, you know how tough it is to find that perfect treat

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Starting point is 00:12:14 You get a clutch hit from Cole Young to tie the game. And then you get the pinch hit. Go ahead. run home run in the ninth inning from rob refs Snyder just a a big moment for him in his mariner's career he loves to pick those moments man i believe he has three hits as a mariner and two of them have come on home runs so that's pretty good efficiency if you uh if you ask me so good to see him kind of get it going a little bit and i don't mind his defense in right field too that could be an option moving forward let's let's talk about the rest of the offense of course the pinched

Starting point is 00:12:45 home run was great um randy rosemary rosa rana tough day uh a couple bad strikeouts three bad strikeouts, to be exact. Luke Rayleigh doesn't get a ton. Canzone does get the hit. Connor Joe gets the hit and scores the run as well on the Cole Young at bat. Cole Young, once again, man, I think he may have a shout for Unsung Hero as well. Two hits, including the RBI. What was that in the seventh inning to tie the game at two at that point?

Starting point is 00:13:12 Right after Nathan Church hits the Homer to take the lead, Cole Young gets it right back. and I think one of the higher leverage spots in the game. So good to see, you know. And he had another instance where, you know, he could have gotten a double as well that, you know, he tried to stretch a little bit in the third inning. Maybe it was the second inning. I can't exactly remember. But unlikely and not my first choice to try and stretch that because the Mariners up until that point,

Starting point is 00:13:46 hadn't really gotten a lot of traffic on the base paths, and I think there was two outs. So it just wasn't the time to try and stretch it into a double. I know he almost gets under the tag or around the tag as he jumps over it, but then he slips off the bag and they tag him. But it's just he'll learn. I'm not super upset about the aggressive base running. I'm always been an advocate for lots of steals and trying to stretch singles into doubles.

Starting point is 00:14:11 It puts pressure on the defense. And then if you get that reputation, they're always going to be looking for that. and then you could have some mistakes as well. But there are times to do it, and I don't think that one was the time to do it. He'll learn. But it's more than anything else, what I'm mentioning is that it represents that he actually had a really good day at the plate.

Starting point is 00:14:27 So, again, just good to see him continue to be an everyday player against both sides of the plate, and his defense looks outstanding as well. I love kind of the early part of the year when everyone was enamored with the second base defense. I think they were just comparing it to Jorge Polanco from last year and noticing that, hey, this guy can actually have some range. He does have great range. The arm was what concerned me a little bit.

Starting point is 00:14:52 He does kind of have a weird throwing motion. I've noticed a big uptick on that recently, and he made a couple good plays today. So good to see Cole Young, you know, get things going there and get the tying hit. But my unsung hero will go to Edward Bizarro. Man, again, I mentioned this yesterday with Ferrer going two innings. When your starter only goes three, like I said yesterday,

Starting point is 00:15:14 it's so important that your bullpen picks up the slack, so it speak. And there wasn't slack necessarily to pick up. But because of what had happened earlier in the series, with the just three, you had to cover six innings yesterday. And then all of your leverage guys go on Friday. So a lot of guys were down today. You needed Spire, Bizarro, and Ferreira to do their thing. Even Ferreira, I was surprised he wasn't even available.

Starting point is 00:15:41 He did pitch yesterday, didn't pitch on Friday. but he did go two innings yesterday. Bizarro, man. Coming in to kind of clean it up for Gabe Spire after he gives up the walk and then getting through another whole inning after that on just 12 pitches, four outs. That is efficiency. I'm actually a little surprised he didn't go out there for the ninth because he could have.

Starting point is 00:16:03 And it probably was hindsight 2020. Not 2020 because it worked out. But hindsight a little bit probably would have been a little bit of the smarter decision to go with Bizarro, considering Ferreira was used for two innings yesterday and almost 40 pitches. But it doesn't matter because Ferreier comes in, one, two, three in the ninth inning looks great. And the bullpen, I think, was one of the biggest reasons in this series that you do what you do because all three of the games were close.

Starting point is 00:16:32 All three of the games are one-run games, I believe. So every single pitch that the bullpen threw was, I don't want to say high leverage, but at least medium leverage. and you're finding that a lot of these guys are kind of stepping up a little bit. So it's great to see that, you know, the bullpen's doing its job. And I believe that is one of the areas where the Mariners got a lot better in 2026 compared to 2025. Now, I realize you really just added Jose Ferrer. But I think in his peak, he was basically the nationals closer last year.

Starting point is 00:17:03 So in his peak, he'll get up to the point where he's one of those guys you can trust in that situation. And today proved it in the ninth inning came in coming, came in for the season. save. So having another one of those guys to just kind of rotate through instead of having to go spire, Bizarro, Brasch, Munoz every single time, I think is huge. And most teams don't have five deep, high leverage guys in the bullpen. So if you can get to that point with Ferrer, then I think it's going to be a weapon for the Mariners, especially if they're starting pitching kind of keeps rolling as well. And you can kind of very much play the odds a little bit in terms of getting guides some rest. But that's this one. The

Starting point is 00:17:41 Mariners play tomorrow. And guys, it's just this whole series was, I think, a good turning point for this Mariner baseball team because kind of, like I said before, after going and coming out of the homestands and kind of really struggling, still not really knowing where you're going to go. You do get the win on the Wednesday against the athletics so you can kind of feel good going into the road trip. It feels like they had a little, I don't know, say, coming.

Starting point is 00:18:11 to Jesus, so to speak. But it does feel like they were like, all right, let's get things going a little bit. And having kind of a road trip can sometimes do that. So we got tomorrow against the Twins, another Midwest game, 440 first pitch, Luis Castillo versus Connor prelip. So I think a good opportunity for Castillo to bounce back. I've said that a couple times before, but I'm going to keep saying it. And, you know, hopefully the Mariners can continue this winning streak because I think that's four a row now and that's six of the last eight. So that's a good, good spot for Seattle to be in, especially if they're starting to find their stride a little bit offensively, which they have. We'll talk to you guys after the game tomorrow. Have a good one. Go Mariners.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - MARINERS POSTCAST: Seattle Mariners SECURE SWEEP vs St. Louis Cardinals

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