Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - M's Win a Wild One in Fenway

Episode Date: April 23, 2021

Generally when a team records only three base hits, they don't win. And they generally don't score seven runs. But that's what the Mariners did on Thursday, taking advantage of several bases on balls issued by Red Sox pitching, and also a key error in the 8th inning. D.C. talks about this strange game, and also sets you up for the upcoming three weekend games in Boston. There was an even more bizarre game on Wednesday between the Twins and Athletics in Oakland. D.C. speaks about the end of that game, then offers an update on the rest of the American League. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Locked-on Mariners, me and my best friend get jobs working on an assembly line in a candy factory which devolves into slapstick chaos. Welcome to Lockdown Mariners, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey Martin, and ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this. Well, it's another mid-morning special here on this show. It might actually be an afternoon special, considering how late to start I'm doing. getting. But in any case, we got a Mariners wind to talk about. A strange one at

that, today on Lockedon Mariners, part of the Locked on Podcast Network or T-L-O-P-N for short or T-Lopin for shorter. Brought to you by the locker room. Please remember to download, rate, and follow this program on whichever

podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or any program here on Tlopin. Like I said, a strange game yesterday. Mariners collected all of three base hits, but cashed in for seven runs. Yeah, they did draw seven bases on balls, four of which scored.

Yeah, four of the seven Mariner walks scored, which is why they were able to get away with so few hits. Five runs in total had gotten on base via methods other than a hit. Four walks and the free runner in the 10th. All three Mariner hits produced RBI, and there was also an error that scored a run. Just Undone got the start for the Mariners and was kind of pitching in trouble most of the day, but damage control was impressive. He threw 100 pitches in only five innings, and he gave up six hits and only one walk, which is kind of a reversal, pardon me, of the kind of game that we got used to him pitching last year,

where he would walk a ton of hitters but not give up very much. many base hits. Again, six hits yesterday, including a second inning solo home run off the bat of Raphael Devers. Two runs scored off of him. Both of them were earned, the solo home run to Devers, which I mentioned, and also a Hunter Renfro RBI single in the fourth to score Devers, who had led off that inning with the single. Marwan Gonzalez was later hit by a pitch that inning, adding yet another base runner to Justin Dunn's day. So not a great. So not a great start from done, but not a particularly poor one either. Bullpen did its job. They pitched five innings, gave up one run, walked only one hitter, and gave up two hits. The one walk was

given up by Will Vest. Casey Sadler gave up both Red Sox hits as he pitched the seventh inning, a lead-off triple to Kike Hernandez, who later scored on a wild pitch, and Zander Bogartz later hit a single with two outs but was stranded at first base. Mariners' first got on the board in the sixth inning. After two outs, J.P. Crawford drew a walk and Mitch Hanigar drew a walk. J.P. Crawford, again, getting on base from the ninth spot in the order to turn over the lineup for Mitch Hanager, who also reaches base. So that brings up the number two hitter, Ty Frant back in the lineup, with two runners on, and he scores both of them on a two-run double. That tied the game at two at that point, and then an inning and a half later, Casey says,

Sadler Wild pitches home another run. Mariners tied up the game once again in the eighth inning. Luis Torrens led off the inning with a walk, was pinched run for by the very speedy Sam Haggertie, and then Jose Marmalahejos pinch hitting for Dylan Moore walked on four pitches. J.P. Crawford came up and tried to sacrifice both runners along. Not a bad strategy, and it wound up working tremendously in the Mariners favor. Pitcher Adam Ottivino, field of the ball, but he tried to get Haggerty at third base rather than make the safe throw to first. And he threw the ball away, no less, allowing Telegram Sam to deliver the tying run, and also allowing Crawford to reach third.

To reemphasize, that error tied the game. And there would be no more runs scored in regulation, so it obviously wound up being a huge error. Without that error, the Mariners do not win this ball game, since it would have ended with the Red Sox winning in the Regulation 9 innings. So thank you, Adam Ottavino. This game certainly was not saved by zero. Anyways, the next two guys make out, Manninger flies out,

and Typhrains grounds into a double play to end that particular inning. And again, no more runs scored in regulation. And then things got really fun in the 10th inning. Evan White started the inning at second base, so the mayors have some speed aboard. They don't have to pinch run for somebody with more speed. They couldn't have done that anyway because they had already emptied their bench. So they're kind of lucky that Evan White started off.

Taylor Trommel was the lead-off hitter, and Scott Service put the sacrifice play on once again, and Tramel laid down an absolutely beautiful sacrifice bunt right in front of the plate to advance Evan White to third base. That brought up Telegram Sam Haggurdy, who had pinch run earlier in the game. And he laced a double into left field, just past left field or Franchi Cordero,

to easily score Evan White and put the Mariners ahead four to three. Tom Murphy flew out, then J.P. Crawford walked once again to turn the lineup over back to the top of the lineup, and Mitch Hanninger with two runners on. And he hit kind of a long pop-up to right-center field, just kept going and going. I thought it was going to be caught for an out.

It snuck into the Red Sox bullpen for a three-run home run and a seven-to-three Mariners lead. Ty France then walked on four pitches. Kyle Seeger struck out to end the inning, but my goodness, what a fun 10th inning. Four runs scored on two hits. The free runners scored. There was a great sacrifice bunt. There was a walk from the number nine hitter.

I kind of hate to keep harping on this point. But having J.P. Crawford to the number nine spot has, when he picked it up, that's kind of when the Mariners turned things around. That might have been a key for them offensively because Manninger is hitting with more runners on base, as is Ty France. And them at the top of the lineup have been a great one-two combination. It also helps that Darwin's and Hernandez, who pitched the ninth inning for the 10th inning, rather, for the Red Sox seemingly could not throw a strike. but we'll take it for sure. 7 to 3 and a fun 9th inning. Anthony Mosevic came in to pitch the bottom of the 10th of the Mariners

and induced three consecutive groundouts to set the Red Sox down in short order, although they had a long ways to climb back in this one. Even without that stupid free-runner rule, the Mariners would have won this easily in extra innings considering how Mosevic pitched in the 10th inning. You take away that free runner and it's still a 6-3 final. Montero, who pitched the 9th.5.

Ninth inning for the Mariners. Raphael Montero picks up the win. He pitched a one-two-three-three-ninth inning and struck out one-hitter. Atavino earns a blown save and Darwin's and Hernandez is tagged for the loss for the Red Sox. Nick Povetta, the Red Sox starter, with six innings, gave up only one hit, two runs, three walks, and four strikeouts, 86 pitches for him. So he might have been able to go one more inning, but he also was not having the best game. So I, I'm I probably would have pulled him at that time as well, even though 86 pitches is not a whole lot. Mariners have three more games with the Red Sox coming up.

We'll preview those games in B Block. But right now, this is ordinarily where the trivia corner would be, but in an effort to get the show published as soon as possible, since I'm getting such a late start, I couldn't think of one right off the top of my head. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time writing one. So we are going to go right into the ad for the locker room.

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I will be joining the app as soon as it's available for Android devices. It's only available for Apple phones at this time, and no way in hell I'm ever buying an Apple product. But I'll be sure to let you know when I am on there once it's available for Android. Go to the free locker room app now currently available on all iOS devices, as I said. Be sure to create a profile, link your Twitter if you've got one,

and join the MLB group for the latest updates. I'm sure that you'll find a ton of incredible rooms around your favorite teams and leagues. I'm looking forward to joining, and I'll be sure to let you know once the locked-on Mariners' room is live. Download the locker room app today. Locker room, changing the way we talk about sports. A conclusion to the trivia corner, which we did not have, so I'll just say, coming up, can the Mariners use that great 10th inning as momentum to take some more games against the Red Sox? I don't know, I'm not clairvoyant.

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April 29th through May 1st. No more draft beer jokes on this particular episode. Not going to promise about Monday, however, since, well, just because anyways, the Mariners took the first of four games versus the Boston Red Sox yesterday in pretty exciting fashion and pretty odd fashion at that. again, seven hits on three hits. That doesn't happen every day. Let's put it that way.

In any case, starting for the Mariners tonight or this afternoon, Pacific time, 4.10 p.m. Pacific time and 7.10 p.m. Eastern time. You say Kikachi will get the start for the Mariners versus Martin Perez. Perez so far this season has started three games, has pitched to a 5-9-3 earned run average, and his whip is 1.537. He's walking a few too many hitters, 3.3 per nine innings. Let's see, that's going to be five walks in 13 and 2 thirds innings.

He's given up a lot of hits, though, 16 hits in 13 and 2 thirds innings. That's 10.5 per nine innings. Not a great number. This is his 10th year in Major League Baseball. He's 30 years old, pitched a long time with the Texas Rangers, one season with the twins. this is his second season with the Red Sox. None of his starts so far this season have gone particularly well.

His first start, three runs and five innings. His second start, two runs and five innings, so a little better. Four hits in that one and three walks. And his last start, four runs and three and two-thirds. Seven hits given up, but no walk. So he has given up a lot of hits. Hopefully the Mariners can take advantage of that. Kikichi's been pretty good so far this season.

The first two starts were very good. Last start, not so much, but it wasn't terrible either. So hopefully, this next start for Kikachi will be akin to his first two. Typhranes was back in the lineup yesterday after sitting out most of the last game against the Dodgers after being hit in the forearm with a 98-mile-an-hour-two-seemed fastball the day before. He pinched hit later on in the next game and then played one inning of defense at second base. did sit out most of that game. Obviously he was ready to go yesterday as he had a pretty good game.

Saturday will be a morning game. It'll be at 10 a.m. 10 a.m. P.m., that doesn't make any sense. 10 a.m. Pacific. That's where I got screwed up. This says 10 a.m. P.T., which is Pacific time. Why am I rambling on about this? The 10 o'clock start in the morning Seattle and Spokane time. And it'll be Chris Flexen versus Nathan Avaldi. Avaldi will be making his fifth start of the season.

and he has a 304 ERA and a pretty low whip of 10, pardon me, 1.056. His starts this season have all been pretty decent. Five and two-thirds is his first start with one run given up, seven runs and one run given up in his next start. He did walk three in that game, however, which is a little bit more than you'd like to see, but he hasn't walked a better sense. In his third start, five innings, two runs,

and his last start, six in the third innings, and four runs. That wasn't as good as his other starts. However, you know, the results have been there so far in his four starts, and the Mariners might have a rough time with him because he's also historically been a pretty good pitcher. Although in 2019, he did have a 599 earned run average and a whip of 1.581. Last season and nine starts, 372 ERA, 1.2-0 whip. A lot of home runs, 1 and a half home runs per nine, not many. walks 1.3 per 9

and a fair number of strikeouts, a little bit above average for this era, at 9.7 strikeouts per 9.9. 9.5 hits per 9 inning as well, though, so they might be able to get to him in that regard. Flexen started off the season very, very well

and then did not do so well in his second start and kind of bounced back in his last start. Actually, he didn't kind of bounce back in his last start. He really bounced back in his last start. He was opposing Zach Grink in that game where Grinky utterly dominated the Mariners, and any other pitcher was just going to look like a clown

compared to Grinky that day, even though Flexen did very, very well in his six innings. Even though he gave up 10 hits, nine of them were singles, and they were pretty much as scattered as they could have been over those six innings, and the Astros really never strung any hits together, except once where they got three in an inning

and cashed in their only run of the day, and they were all singles. So I still think that was a very, very good start for Chris Flexen. And the series wraps up on Sunday. Again, a 10 a.m. Pacific time start. Did not screw it up this time, yay. Nick Margiviches will get the start for the Mariners. He had to leave his last start early with arm fatigue.

And there was some question on whether or not he'd be able to make his next start. Obviously, he is going to be able to make his next start. And he will be facing Eduardo Rodriguez, who will be making his fourth start of the season. First start of the season, he went five innings, gave up three hits, no walks on four hits. So, you know, kind of a mixed bag there. Five innings in his next start as well,

one run given up, one walk, and five hits. And then in his last start, he went six innings, gave up two runs and one walk and three hits and six strikeouts. So his numbers so far of the season look pretty good in the limited sample size that we have, 338 earned run average, very low whip of 0.875. So you can look at this two ways. A, he's just not allowing any base runners this season, or B, he's due to have a bad game.

That's the theory I'm going to go with because I'm choosing to be optimistic. Hardly any walks this season per nine innings. He's walked, let's see. Two batters in 16 innings that works out to 1.1 walks per nine. Marco Gonzalez was better than that last season. I shouldn't say that because last season was so weird. And he's given up the home run, however, this year. 2.3 home runs per nine innings, four home runs in those 16 innings.

That is way above, pardon me, his career average. So that's an anomaly. And his strikeouts per nine innings so far this season are pretty close to his career totals. 18 strikeouts in 16 innings, 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings. So Mariners might have a rough time with that pitching matchup as well. On Sunday, we shall see in Rodriguez's last full season, which was 2019. He did not pitch at all last season. He started 34 games, pitched 203 in a third innings to a 381 earned run average,

a whip of 1.328 and placed 6th in the Syung Award voting. This guy can pitch. He's 28 years old. And again, Mayerers might have a rough time, but again, he's had three good starts so far. maybe the fourth one will not be so good. Anyways, again, I'm choosing to be optimistic. If you have a question or a comment, send it into Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com,

and we'll address it on the air in a future mailbag segment. The one question I've gotten so far for the next email go-around happens to be a very good question, and it might take up the entire segment because it's going to take some thought. And I actually might also have a guest on to answer with me so we can get another point of view on it. Questions and comments on any subject are welcome and encouraged,

It does not have to be about baseball. In fact, I prefer those questions a lot of the time. Ask baseball questions as well, obviously, since this is a baseball show. And again, Locked-on Manors at gmail.com is the place to send those emails. Coming up, what the hell happened at the Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday? Did Samantha Stevens come back from the dead and impose her witchcrafty magic on that place? It's as good a theory as any. But first, this word from Blue Nile.

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That's A-U-D-A-C-Y. There was a very bizarre game that took place at the Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday with the Twins and the Athletics. We're going to talk about that game, or at least the end of that game to start off, and then with the time remaining, kind of go over the rest of the American League at large and see how teams are doing as April winds down,

maybe go into the National League also if there's time. I don't know if there's going to be. However, on Wednesday, April 21st, 2021, Year of Our Lord, the Oakland A's and Minnesota Twins met at the Oakland Coliseum, and this game, ladies and gentlemen, was a shootout. Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, it was 10 to 9 twins lead. Let's go over that ninth inning.

Alex Colomé, former mariner Alex Colomay, came in from the twins bullpen to pitch. He was signed by the twins as a free. agent to be their closer. He has not exactly had a very good season. Defending a one-run lead, mind you, to try to win the game, he hits Ramon Luriano with a pitch as the first hitter. Jed Lurie lines out.

So there's Ramon Luriano on first base and one out. Matt Olson hits a ground ball single to send Ramon Luriano to the third. Matt Chapman then hits a sack fly to tie the game at 10 to 10. So another blown save for Colomay. I'll find it exactly how many he has here in just a second. And then during the next at-bat, Matt Olson is picked off second base. That ends the inning, but the game is tied. Now here's where it gets hairy.

Josh Donaldson was supposed to start the inning as the free runner at second base for the twins, but he's pinched run for. Travis Blankenhorn comes in off the bench to pinch run for Donaldson, who had a good game up to that point and is a good defense. of third baseman, but has no speed. So when you're trying to score one run, I don't have a problem with this strategy, although it's been talked about over the last couple of days. Mitch Garver let off the inning, and he was pinch hitting for Nelson Cruz,

and he did the worst thing that you could do. He struck out. You have to at least make contact to move that runner over. He didn't do that. Byron Buxton then came up with that free runner on second base, and he actually launched the first pitch that he saw for a home run. So Mitch Garver's strikeout wound up being sort of ancillary, still the wrong strategy. If you're going to pinch run somebody with speed, then you've got to be all in in playing small ball.

And, you know, Garver's striking out. I still have a problem with that, even though the run wound up scoring on a home run. Byron Buxton, by the way, my choice so far for American League MVP. He plays a great center field, and my goodness has his bat just come a lot. live this year. Anyways, the Twinswood wind up scoring those two runs only in that inning. And then in the bottom of the inning, Blankenhorn stayed in the game to play second base. And starting second baseman, Luis Arias went from second to third. Matt Chapman is the free runner for the athletics at second base.

Colomé still pitching, by the way. Interesting move. He does retire the first two guys rather quickly. Stephen Piscotti flew out. At least he made contact. But then Sean Murphy struck out on a foul tip, sort of. It was actually a ball in the dirt that Murphy swung over, and the umpire ruled it, ruled it a foul tip. Murphy and A's manager Bob Melvin both argued that the ball was not caught after the foul tip. Whatever the ruling was, it was supposed to be a strikeout.

Murphy missed the ball in the dirt. So it was a legitimate strikeout, but just not the way the umpire called it. So there's some bizarreness there as well. Seth Brown then walked to put runners at first and second, and Elvis Andrews then walked to load the bases. Mark Kana then hit a ground ball right to Travis Blankenhorn. He wound up booting the ball to score Matt Chapman, the free runner. It's now 12 to 11.

Twins still have the lead. Ramon Laureano then came up, who was hit by a pitch to begin the previous inning to kind of set off this chase. reactions, so to speak. He grounded right to Luis Arias, who had been playing third for just this inning. He fielded it cleanly, very routine ground ball, and his throw's not even close to the first baseman, kind of towards the right field side of first base, up the line. Two runs score, and the game is over with Oakland winning 13 to 12. They score three runs in the 10th inning

without a base hit. Two walks and And two errors are the difference in the game. It also didn't help that Colomé couldn't throw a strike. If Colomay would have done his job, honestly, in the ninth inning, none of this would have happened. But Colomay is just having an awful season as the Twins Closer. Coming into today, he's pitched seven games and has an ERA of 5, 6, 3. That's five earned runs in eight innings, but he's given up 11 runs overall. He's given up a lot of unearned runs, including all.

three runs that scored in yesterday's 10th inning. He's given up 11 hits as well. That's 12.4 hits per nine innings way too much. He's given up, let's see, just a one home run in eight innings. He's walked only two, but he's still been somewhat wild, and the strike zone's been kind of eluding him, and he's been wild within the strike zone leading to those being, he's been hit very, very hard. And in his seven games, he has recorded two saves, but he's recorded three blown saves. So this is one reason why the twins are not doing as well as people thought that they would is because they don't have that anchor in the back end of the bullpen to really solidify things.

They thought Colomé was going to be the one to do it. He had a very good abbreviated season last year and also a very good 2019 with the Chicago White Sox. Has not worked out this year, however, which really came into play yesterday. He gave up four runs yesterday. Only one of them was earned because of all those errors. This was a team effort to lose this game by the twins. But again, if Colomay would have done his job in the ninth, none of that bizarreness would have happened.

And Buxton certainly tried to do his part to end the game. Buxton, again, is having an outstanding season. Not somebody you hear a whole lot about because he's been injured most of his career. But this kid can, he might play the best center field in the American League, first of all of Major League Baseball. And his bat, as I said, has come alive this year. Right now he's slashing 432,

479, 97. That slugging percentage leaves the American League. His home run, he has six home runs which is tied for the American League league and six doubles and 11 runs batted in. An OPS of 1456. Obviously those numbers are not going to be

sustainable throughout the course of the entire season, but he is off to such a hot start that coupled with his just outstanding defense. And he can run too. He runs the bases very well. He's got a stolen base. He stole 29 bases in 2017, which is the only season where he played more than 100 games. And he played 140 games that year.

That was his age 23 season. This is his age 27 season. This might be a breakout season for this kid. I hope it is because he has the talent. He just hasn't been healthy enough to, put it on display. Hopefully this is the year that he can do that. We now do not have time to go over the National League since I rambled so much, and we barely have enough time to go over the American League. So I will just very quickly go over some of the records. The Mariners have, or they're tied

for the top record in the American League. And they shared that top 12 and 7 record with the Oakland Athletics. So they're obviously tied for the league in the West. Oakland, who started off just so badly. They started off 1 and 6, but they've won, pardon me, their last 11 games in succession, including Wednesday's Bazaar game in Minnesota. They were off yesterday. Los Angeles. Los Angeles Angels are 9 and 8. They're the only other team in the West. That's above 500. They're 9 and 8. Texas is 9 and 10, and they're in fourth place. They are ahead of the Houston Astros who are in last place. A beautiful sight to see Houston in last place. They're kind of had the opposite thing going on from Oakland. They started off very well and then have just

been in a tailspin winning only two of their last 10 games. They're 8 and 10. Boston is atop the American League East at 12 and 8. Had they won yesterday, they would have had sole possession of the best record in the American League. Maird has had something to say about that. Thank you very much. So they have the second best record, half game behind Oakland and Seattle for that distinction. one and a half games ahead of the second place Tampa Bay Rays in the East, who were 10 and 9. In third place, there's a tie for third between Baltimore and Toronto at 8 and 10, and the Yankees are last.

They're 7 and 11, and off to the worst start in many, many years. Their first 15 games, they were 10 and 5, pardon me, 5 and 10, which was the worst start since 1997, and they wound up having a very, very good 1997, ladies and gentlemen, so things can turn around for them. However, their starting pitching has not been good. Their defense has just stunk so far this year, and that's kind of what's been dragging them down.

The leader in the Central is a team that was not, nobody expected them to do much. It's Kansas City at 10 and 7. I know I'm kind of rushing through this because I'm already over my time. Chicago was second at 9 and 9, even 500. They were kind of the favorites to win this thing, I think. Cleveland is 8 and 9. They were expected to make some noise.

Detroit is 7 and 12, kind of where everybody thought they would be. Minnesota is last at 6 and 11. They started off pretty well also, but also have been in a tailspent kind of like the Astros have. And a loss like that on Wednesday can kind of set them farther into a downward spiral. Those are the types of demoralizing victories that can have an effect on a team for a long time. Speaking about the Astros and the Twins, there's kind of an old saying, You cannot win the division in April, but you can lose it.

And Houston, the New York Yankees, and Minnesota might be en route to doing that, although I don't think so. Not New York and not Minnesota. They're too good. I do think the twins are a little overrated, but I don't think they're bad. I still think they're good, and I think they'll climb out of the cellar here pretty shortly and at least make it competitive. Where Houston, you know, I kind of thought that their time would head past. They don't have Garrett Cole sitting at the top of the rotation anymore.

They haven't got George Springer roaming center field anymore. They're missing some key pieces from what they had in the past. And Altuve had such a horrible year last year. I don't know if he's going to be back to his MVP form or not. Remember, the Astros were just slightly below 500 last year. And I kind of thought that they'd be just over 500 and out of the playoffs. But, you know, if they're going to continue to lose like that, I think every baseball fan outside of Houston's going to be happy about that.

And I think that's got to be all for today, ladies and gentlemen, because, yeah, as I see my time here, I'm over my time, so I got to wrap it up. Monday we'll be talking about the final three games of the Red Sox series, and here with me to do that will be James Evans, grimace, and a doorknob. Please remember to download rate and follow Locked on Mariners. Look us up on any podcasting app that happens to spring into your brainhead. Leave a raging and review if your podcasting app of choice so allows. Thank you very much for listening today, ladies and gentlemen. Hopefully the Mariners can pick up at least a couple of games against the Red Sox. This weekend we'll be talking about all three games again on Monday.

Please join us then. This is Joey Martin for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.