Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Seattle Mariners Keep Season Hopes ALIVE With Series Win Over Houston Astros

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Mariners may have just pulled off their biggest series win of the year, and it came against the Houston Astros. Let's talk about it. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Oh, Hoy, sailors. I am Colby Patnode.

Starting point is 00:00:25 Welcome to Locked-on Mariners. It is August 16th, and the Mariners have taken two of three from the Houston Astros. thanks in large part to their role players. They were able to rebound after a disastrous loss on Friday night and take the next two, despite not playing that great of baseball today. We'll tell you all about how this impacts the Mariners and the standings and where they go from here. But today we're going to start with Brian Wu,

Starting point is 00:00:53 who was looking to build off of his most recent success on the road. It has been a difficult season for Brian Wu on the road. But he did throw five quality innings against the Yankees. And today when the Mariners needed him, he answered the bell. He looked pretty good in this one, six innings, three hits, two runs, both of them earned, one walk, five strikeouts. Did give up a couple solo home runs. And he only threw 75 pitches. Trainers came out to talk to him in the sixth inning.

Starting point is 00:01:24 He stayed in the game. He finished the inning. But the Mariners didn't put him back out there. So that is something to keep an eye on. That is something that we'll have to monitor going forward. I'm not sure if that was just a arrest thing, if they just wanted to be cautious, or if he really was trying to pitch through something in that last inning. The Velo and stuff was down pretty noticeably in that inning.

Starting point is 00:01:47 It was down almost a full mile an hour. So we'll see how it goes. But Brian Wu back-to-back quality starts on the road, not technically in New York, but whatever. Very good starts for Brian Wu in these last two games or in these last two starts. And a nice night, a nice bounce back night for the bullpen in this one as well as the bullpen actually pitched pretty well in this series, all things considered. Minos, who had a bit of a hiccup on Friday, although part of the hiccup from Munoz came on two very well-placed pitches that just so happened to get hit at the wrong place and disaster ensued. So Munoz actually didn't throw the ball all that terribly with the exception of one pitch in this series. but that's how it goes.

Starting point is 00:02:32 You know, that's the, that's the breaks that you've gotten so far. But in this one, Bizarro went out there. He pitched a scoreless inning. Did give up a hit, but he also got a strikeout. Gabe Spire gave up a couple hits, got the first two guys he faced. Unfortunately, couldn't finish that ending off. But Sir Anthony Dominguez comes in and gets his biggest out as a mariner after tripping and falling on a pop-up that should have been caught on the first pitch to Altova.

Starting point is 00:02:56 He comes back with the bases loaded in a three-two game. and gets a big strike out of Dalton Varsha on a filthy splitter. And Munoz comes out. He does walk, I believe it was Lamont Wade. He walks Lamont Wade. But other than that, scoreless inning gets to save two strikeouts. Absolutely filthy changeup to Taylor Tremel to end the game. I also had a really nasty slider to Yonnier-Diaz for the second strikeout.

Starting point is 00:03:24 So Munoz bounces back in a big way from his hiccup on Friday. and the Mariners do just enough offensively to win this game. They had plenty of opportunities. They drew seven walks. They were also hit by a pitch. They had eight hits. They had two home runs. They had three doubles.

Starting point is 00:03:47 And they were only able to score three runs. Just not enough quality at bats at the right time. And again, it's not like they swung and missed and struck out a lot. with runners on base, they only struck out eight times in this game. So the offense looking okay over the last, well, we'll call it five games. I know they only scored the one against Max Fried, but that's Max Fried. And the quality of those at-bats were very good. They dropped seven in game one.

Starting point is 00:04:18 They dropped 10 in game two. And tonight, they just couldn't quite get that big hit they were looking for at the right time. But again, they had eight walks of hip-by. pitch, you know, eight hits, two homers, three doubles. Like, that is a recipe for scoring five, six, seven runs in a game, unfortunately, only able to get three. They did a nice job off of Hunter Brown in this one to really make him work. He wriggled off the hook in the fourth inning.

Starting point is 00:04:44 A pitch that probably should have been challenged by Brennan Donovan, but so it goes in the game of baseball. But the Mariners do win two out of three here. They should have swept. they were the better team for these three games. I think the Astros maybe outplayed the Mariners for one and a half innings of this entire series. And unfortunately, that was enough for them to salvage a game. So the Mariners don't get the sweep, but they do get a nice series win here to kind of keep them alive in the ALS.

Starting point is 00:05:18 They are four games back. Now, they had just pulled off that win on Friday. They would be two games back and we would be having a completely different conversation. But again, so it goes. Welcome to baseball, particularly the 2026 Seattle Mariners. The Mariners in this game, in a series, I should say, got major contributions from some unlikely sources. Victor Robles had himself an immaculate series. He had triples in both of his starts in this series.

Starting point is 00:05:51 He had big hits. He got on base. He bunted. He played some pretty good defense. But kind of the star of the series ended up being Brock Rotten, who had two massive, two massive RBI doubles in his first two games. And today he comes out, he gets another hit. He walks twice.

Starting point is 00:06:08 He gets on base three times in this game. He's been solid at shortstop. He's just, he's provided a spark. There is no question about it. And this series kind of was the Victor Robles and Brock Rodden series for the Mariners. Unfortunately, Victor may have hurt his. shoulder that he has had constant troubles with. Over the last few years, he was not able to play today.

Starting point is 00:06:33 It's also worth noting the Mariners did not have Taylor Ward at all in this series. He did not appear in a single game. Sounds like the Mariners are messing around with that IL stint thing again, and they just don't want to put a guy on the IL, despite the fact they have the perfect call-up sitting in Tacoma right now, ready to go. We'll probably get into that a little later on. But yeah, the Mariners got good contributions from Dominic, end zone today. Randy had a very nice series. Julio was just stinging the baseball today.

Starting point is 00:07:03 Didn't get paid off a couple of times, but he continues to look like he's locked back in. Josh Naylor continues to be very, he's been very good now for about a month. The power just not quite there. Cal Raleigh hit the cheapest home run. You're going to see a major league baseball. But you know what? When you're hitting a buck 58, the only words he heard were home run. And he hit one in this game. So it truly was a good. series. It was a fun series. The Mariners played well for a majority of it.

Starting point is 00:07:34 There were a couple of instances. The Mariners ran into two outs, trying to steal bases. Both of them were pretty dumb attempts. Josh Neller gets thrown out at third with one out, Cal Raleigh at the plate. And of course, like two pitches later, Cal Homers. So there's a run off the board right there. And then Randy got thrown out trying to steal with a struggling Hunter Brown on the mound and Dom Canzone at the plate. Dom then hit a single with two outs to score the run from third anyways,

Starting point is 00:08:02 but it could have been runners on first and third with one out against Hunter Brown, who was really struggling early in this game. And at that point, who knows where things go. So they left a couple of runs on the table. They had the kind of the butchered play in the eighth where Sir Anthony Dominguez falls over trying to run down a pop-up and it lands in between everybody. but they were able to pitch around that. So overall, again, the Mariners played pretty solid baseball in this one.

Starting point is 00:08:33 They were able to come away with two out of three, which they absolutely had to do. They kind of really needed that sweep. But again, this is just kind of the way things go for this ball club, at least. But everybody who participated in this series had a moment. They chipped in somewhere along the line. And they pitched pretty well with the, exception of extra innings on Friday. And even then, again, I maintain that the Mariners with normal BAPIP luck on Friday,

Starting point is 00:09:03 probably win that game five to two in regulation. Like it's, uh, the, the Astros had a five run second inning in which I believe only one ball was classified as a hard hit ball. Like that's just insane luck. And then they had a couple of really nice, nice two out, two strike hits in extras to extend that game before Christian Walker walked it off. So yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:25 The Mariners, I think they actually play pretty well. And I think they have been playing sneakily better baseball as of late. They got swept by Tampa, three competitive games. They just couldn't really hit in those games. They had opportunities, but they couldn't get that big hit. They had a couple of balls that looked like they were going to get that big hit, but Tampa's defense is just insane. Maybe the Mariners can learn something from that this offseason.

Starting point is 00:09:51 But they played okay there. They should have taken two out of three from New York. Unfortunately, Bryce Miller just blew up at the wrong time. And honestly, they should have swept the Astros. Unfortunately, George Kirby had the hiccup inning, which wasn't 100% his fault. And Munoz had the hiccup inning, which again, also not 100% his fault. So there's a very real world where the Mariners have won five out of six at this point. And they're really kind of off to the races now.

Starting point is 00:10:15 Unfortunately, that's just not the reality that we live in. But overall, the Mariners starting to play good baseball. They had a good win tonight. But there are a couple things we need to keep an eye. going forward into this next week. And we will talk about those coming up. But first, a word from Amazon. This back to school season spent less on your kids with Amazon.

Starting point is 00:10:39 We all know how crazy the back to school shopping experience can be. It starts with a few items on the list. Then suddenly you're shopping for supplies and clothes and lunch gear and tech and about 10 other things you didn't see coming. It adds up fast. Like when your kids spends days planning the perfect first day of school outfit because they want to make a great first impression. You end up putting almost as much thought into it as they do. At least the first day photos are worth it. Or how about when it's 9 p.m., the night before school starts and

Starting point is 00:11:07 somebody suddenly remembers they need folders and notebooks and markers and apparently 12 other things nobody mentioned until now? Nothing gets the heart rate up quite like emergency school shopping. And I'm convinced that Primes delivered tomorrow before 7 a.m. feature was created exclusively for parents in this specific moment. So remember, with Amazon's low back to school prices, just spend less on your kids because every dollar you don't spend on them is a dollar you haven't spent on them. Shop back to school at Amazon and spend less on your kids. So the Mariners are getting an off day on the road as they will use their off day to

Starting point is 00:11:50 travel to Milwaukee to face the Brewers, the best team record-wise, in baseball. And we're not 100% sure who's going to join them. We don't quite know. Victor Robles, again, not able to play today because he dove for a ball in Saturday night's game and he hurt his right shoulder. It's the same shoulder he had, he missed most of last year with it. I believe it was the right one. Could be whatever.

Starting point is 00:12:15 Either way. A shoulder issue for Victor. Not great. Taylor Ward hasn't been able to play. for the last four games with what they're calling a thigh issue. Not great. Those are obviously, you know, two outfielders. And right now the Mariners kind of only have three,

Starting point is 00:12:32 especially since Brock Rodden is going to be their primary shortstop. At least that's what it appears to be. Rivas didn't play at all in the series. Brock Rodden got every at bat and he played every inning at shortstop. And again, he performed well. So I imagine they'll keep rolling with that. So they really only have the three outfielders. They had a short bench today.

Starting point is 00:12:53 They only had Parada and Rivas available to them today. So there might be some IL stents coming. We just don't know yet for sure. If Victor Robles were to go on the IL, which I think is a possibility here, we probably won't know this until Tuesday. But if that were to be the case, I think Nolan Jones is probably the way they go. The Mariners could probably use some left-handed thump off of their bench anyways. as things stand right now.

Starting point is 00:13:21 And Robles is the backup centerfielder. And Jones has been playing centerfield in Tacoma, which makes me feel like that's probably the reason why. So I think Nolan Jones might be the call-up if Victor does need to go on the IL. As for Taylor Ward, it's a bit more complicated, but not really if Ward needs to go on the IL. Michael Oroyo is the correct call.

Starting point is 00:13:47 Without question, Michael Oroyo is the correct call. He's been hitting down in Tacoma. He plays in the corner outfield. He can play some second base, too, if you need him to. There's a little bit of versatility there. And he is proven that he is ready for Major League, for the challenge of Major League pitching. And, you know, I don't know how he'll perform. I think he's less likely to kind of implode like Cole Emerson did.

Starting point is 00:14:14 I think the contact is really good right now, and it's consistent. and how much defense are you losing really? I don't know. Right now you have an opening in either right field or DH, especially of wards going on the IL. So if the defense is so terrible for Oroyo, then you can just deach him. And that'll be fine.

Starting point is 00:14:35 And he doesn't have to play every single day. He should play most days. But, you know, if you need to, you know, you want to give Cal a DH day for some reason. I don't know why you just want to take him out of the lineup. But if you want to do that, then Arroyo can just, be on the bench and he can be a late game, you know, pinch hitter for you. There are plenty of opportunities to get a Royal enough playing time to justify it,

Starting point is 00:14:55 especially if Ward is on the I.O. So we'll see where the Mariners want to go with those two players. Also, as I mentioned earlier in the show, probably should keep an eye on Brian Wu and the verbiage that's used around him over the next couple days. As I'm recording this, I have not seen an update on Wu. So maybe I missed the mark here. and we've got an update on Wu that I haven't seen yet. But for now, keep an eye on that, leaving after 75 pitches after the trainer comes out to talk to you.

Starting point is 00:15:27 Certainly, eyebrow raising. And at that point, I think it's pretty obvious who the move would be for Wu. Right. It would be Kate Anderson time. So we shall see. We shall see. Yeah, right now, Brian Wu, just got an update a little bit of shoulder soreness kate anderson time uh but uh yeah

Starting point is 00:15:57 lu also said he wasn't concerned about it but it's a shoulder fatigue or whatever even if you think he could benefit from a couple weeks you have kate anderson down in in you know arkansas give woo a couple weeks and like kate come up make a couple starts for you so yeah uh so again we'll see about woo Yeah, obviously it's going to be another five days before he makes a start before they'll have to make a move on him. But keeping on that shoulder soreness, nothing to mess around with. And then Ward, obviously, with his thigh and Robles with his shoulder. There could be a handful of new player.

Starting point is 00:16:37 Well, not quite a handful, but there could be a couple new guys joining this clubhouse in Milwaukee. May or may not be a bad thing. We saw Brock Rodden come up and provide a spark, certainly. to this ball club and sometimes some new blood in the middle of a playoff race can really kind of get guys going and get them locked in a little bit. And it also happens that Arroyo is a pretty good player who can probably help you in some areas, especially offensively. And Nolan Jones is something you don't really have right now,

Starting point is 00:17:08 which is left-handed thunder off the bench. He's pretty much Luke greatly, if we're being honest. Same idea. So, yeah, we'll see how all those things go. But anyways, guys, Ty and I are traveling tomorrow. So I wanted to get you an episode, at least something from us for tomorrow. We should be back to a normal schedule on Tuesday. Just a heads up.

Starting point is 00:17:31 I won't be recording from the normal studio until Friday. But the schedule should be back to normal on Tuesday as Ty has been making his rounds in the States. But anyways, the Mariners take two out of three. They are four games back of the division. they are two and a half games back of the wild card with let's see how many teams in front of them that's really the tricky part there how many teams are in front of the mariners in the wild card standings that would be let's see one two three four five six teams ahead of the mariners they're two and a half back so they got some work to do but baltimore currently holds that last

Starting point is 00:18:13 spot, the last wild card spot, at 61 and 63. You are 59 and 66. So we'll see how it goes. The next, let's see, the next one is it, 12 games, probably going to determine how realistic it is. But you go to Milwaukee, best team in baseball. Then you come back home, no off day on your travel. You come back home and you play the Cubs.

Starting point is 00:18:41 and then you play the Phillies. Then you go back out on the road to play Toronto, who's one of the hotter teams in the American League right now and also competing for that last playoff spot. And then Boston, who's cooled off a little bit, but has been the best team of baseball basically since June 1st. Then if you can get through those four series, those five series, I should say,

Starting point is 00:19:05 in decent shape, you will have a shot to get back into this thing because September is, very favorable at the very least. So we'll see. Again, the Marison won three out of four. They go play Milwaukee. They get swept by Milwaukee. All this is just out the window.

Starting point is 00:19:22 It doesn't matter. They can find a way to win two out of three against Milwaukee. And as things stand right now, they would not face Mizorowski. Keep that in mind. But if they can find a way to somehow win two out of three against the best team in baseball, then I think we have to start having a real conversation. Not that they're definitely in it at that point, but at that point, they will have one, what, five out of eight against three pretty good teams, and they hopefully would have continued

Starting point is 00:19:47 to hit a little bit and played a little bit better defense. So we'll see how it goes. But anyways, Mariners keep their division hopes alive. They get a little bit of help in the wild card standings, four back of the division, two and a half back of the wild card. And the American League is just terrible. So they have a chance. Thank you for making locked on your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:20:11 for your second listen, find the all-night locked-on MLB game night. Every game, every night until a World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale. Find MLB game night on Lockdown MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast. That's going to do it for us here at Lockdown Mariners. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. And we'll be back on Tuesday. Peace.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Seattle Mariners Keep Season Hopes ALIVE With Series Win Over Houston Astros

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.