HOUSTON – Little has gone according to plan for these Mariners, and even that might be a gross understatement.
This sideways season reached a tipping point Friday night at Daikin Park, in a place where so many games have gone awry in some many unimaginable ways in recent years. The latest was the Astros’ crushing five-run 10th inning in this series opener that could have easily completed the better-luck-next-year obituary begging to be written about this team.
Instead, the Mariners reawakened a sense of imagination over the weekend with two of the season’s most fulfilling victories, capped by a 3-2 nailbiter Sunday over their AL West-leading rivals to take the series and, finally, build something that is starting to look like momentum.
“That was the complete package,” catcher Cal Raleigh said. “That’s what we can be.”
Bryan Woo, in his second straight impressive road start, threw six sharp innings Sunday night before a national television audience, and Raleigh and Randy Arozarena both homered to help the Mariners (59-66) inch within four games of the Astros (63-62) atop the division.
New reliever Seranthony Domínguez struck out Daulton Varsho swinging over a splitter to strand the bases loaded in the eighth inning, and Andrés Muñoz struck out ex-Mariner Taylor Trammell swinging over a 94.8-mph changeup to end it, two days after he coughed up a two-run lead in Friday’s loss.
One good series and two quality wins are, to be sure, merely a small sample. There’s 120-some games of evidence to suggest these Mariners don’t belong in the playoff discussion.
But these guys do feel like they might have turned a corner this weekend, and they haven’t forgotten the late surge – winning 16 of 17 in September – that propelled them to the AL West title a year ago.
“The year hasn’t really gone the way that we thought it (would), either as a team or individually,” Woo said. “And I think it honestly it makes it easier for everybody to just let a lot of the beginning of the year go and buy into, ‘This is what we’ve got’ as a group.
“Everybody’s in it together. Just continue to stick together. Continue to believe. We still have a lot of baseball left. So take advantage of it.”
With a mixture of elation and irritation, Woo let out a primal scream and smacked the side of his glove with his right hand when Raleigh made a catch off a Jose Altuve pop up in foul territory to close out the sixth inning.
Woo had allowed a leadoff homer to No. 9 hitter, Nick Allen, to cut the Mariners’ lead to 3-2 in the sixth. But he managed to retire the top of the Houston lineup – notably, striking out AL MVP favorite Yordan Alvarez – and then stomped into the visitors’ dugout with as much ferocity as ever.
“I feel like that’s when I’m at my best – just get into that zone, a little bit of that alter ego,” Woo said. “Just kind of a take-no-prisoners type of mentality. You’ve got to bring your best when you come here.”
When the Mariners began this nine-game, three-city road trip, Woo had the highest road ERA of any starting pitcher in the majors. He then threw five shutout innings at Yankee Stadium to begin the trip, and followed that Sunday with six strong innings, allowing three hits (two solo homers) with one walk and five strikeouts.
He was feeling some shoulder discomfort during the game, which is why manager Dan Wilson decided to pull him after 75 pitches. But Woo quickly shrugged off any injury concern postgame.
“It’s been a frustrating year for all of us, especially for me. Obviously, a lot of really tough ones on the road,” Woo said. “Just putting it upon myself to come out with some energy and some fire these last two starts and looking myself in the mirror. If we’re going to do it, then I’ve got to step up.”
Arozarena gave the Mariners a first-inning lead with a solo homer, his 18th, off Houston ace Hunter Brown.
Dom Canzone, on his 29th birthday, added a double and a key two-out RBI to make it 2-0 in the third inning, and Raleigh hit his 13th homer when he pulled a sky-high fly ball into the Crawford Boxes, off the top of the 19-foot wall in left field, against left-handed reliever Bennett Sousa, in the sixth.
What pleased Raleigh, as much as anything, was the contributions from all corners of the roster this weekend. He pointed to Victor Robles and Emerson Hancock as heroes in Saturday’s 10-5 victory; Brock Rodden’s steadiness at shortstop in his first MLB games; and Domínguez clutch strikeout Sunday.
“It’s going to take all 26 of us,” Raleigh said. “Each night’s going to be a different guy. And as long as everybody’s bringing that focus and energy and sense of awareness and that edge, I think we’re going to be where we want to be.”
Alvarez and Isaac Paredes had back-to-back two-out singles off Gabe Speier in the eighth, at which point Wilson called on Domínguez.
On Domínguez’s first pitch, Altuve hit a soft popup into the middle of the infield – a 44.7-mph parachute – that landed between the mound and second base as Domínguez stumbled and fell back trying to make the catch.
“Only in Houston would something like that would happen,” Raleigh said. “We always play the craziest games here.”
Domínguez escaped when he got the next batter, Varsho, to swing over a 1-2 splitter below the zone.
Muñoz allowed a one-out single to LaMonte Wade Jr., but struck out Yainer Díaz and Trammell to close out his 100th major-league save (99th with the Mariners).
Working with backup catcher Jhonny Pereda on Friday, Muñoz leaned heavily on his slider; on Sunday night, Raleigh leaned on Muñoz’s fastball, which touched 101.8 mph and averaged 101.1.
“Especially here, that hurts a lot when those (blown saves) happen, because you feel like you let the down the team,” Muñoz said. “But I’ve been through these situations a lot, and I am able to just flush that a little easier. Just go back out there and try to do my best.”