The Seattle Mariners acknowledge a mother’s work is never done by finishing the job against the Oakland Athletics
Gifts aplenty for all the moms out there as Julio goes deep in Seattle for the first time this season and Seattle slides past Texas for first place in the AL West
A lot of the common narratives around Mother’s Day revolve around how much hard work being a mother really is, how often overlooked that work is, and seeking to free our mother’s from both that work and that oversight of appreciation. For just one day at the minimum, we seek to remedy, giving them less work to do and more appreciation. It is a noble sentiment, if a futile one. For the vast majority of moms even a day off, isn’t. Truthfully, not unlike baseball during the season, only a mom’s season never really ends. And for some, they don’t even get the luxury of a “day off”.
For far too many of the Mariner wins this year, they still felt like work to watch. They have mostly given us the “breakfast in bed, but you’ll still be the one to do the dishes later” version. Today, the Mariners made breakfast and lunch, did all the dishes, folded their own laundry for once and yes they maybe left a few things out of place but at least everything was put away, as they handily beat the Oakland Athletics 8-4 to seal a series win.
Seattle understood the assignment so much today that in honor of so many of the moms that are the rocks in our lives they employed their own Rock to take the ball and get the job done. Luis Castillo did not disappoint. Sometimes things were messy, sometimes he was running behind (in the count), but he got the job done and put those scrappy Oakland kids to bed.
His most efficient inning was the first in which he only needed ten pitches, starting out with an Abraham Toro ground out and Tyler Nevin fly out, then after allowing JJ Bleday to single on a first pitch fastball, bounced back and struck out Brent Rooker looking on three pitches, dotting the top of the zone with a fastball. His only inning where he faced the minimum was in the top of the fourth inning, this time Bleday and Rooker providing the playable contact. Or rather, Bleday provided the playable contact and Rooker made contact at 112.4 off of the bat, and Luis Urías simply made a play that any mom, and Perry Hill, would be proud of.
In the post-game interview Scott acknowledged that Castillo was aware and frustrated with the lack of first pitch strikes. He struggled with that issue all game, but mostly was able to work out of it, not allowing a run until the fifth inning. The damage came in a Max Schuemann at bat with two outs, after Castillo started out by throwing three straight balls. He was able to steal a middle-middle strike with the fastball, but when he threw the exact same pitch in almost the exact same spot, Schuemann did not miss and deposited the ball over the left field wall and put the A’s on the board. The Rock then got Brett Harris to ground out to end the inning, fielding the ball himself, but wasted no time getting back into trouble in the sixth inning.
This time, Castillo was able to get ahead of former Mariner and leadoff hitter Abraham Toro with an 0-2 count, but Toro battled and fouled a few off until he got his pitch, a 1-2 slider at the bottom of the zone that he sent out to right field for a solo shot. The Rock started the inning at 77 pitches, and he would be at 100 pitches exactly when he ended it, facing the most batters of any inning, six. The first out came with the second batter, as Tyler Nevin hit an infield grounder and was initially called safe at first. Dylan Moore and Ty France’s quick throw and brilliant scoop-to-tag would not be denied though, and the Mariners easily won the challenge. Castillo allowed the next two batters in Bleday and Rooker to reach base on singles into left field.
With one out and two runners on in the sixth inning, and two runs allowed all game, Castillo was on the precipice of either a quality start, or a disappointing exit. After the game Luis communicated via translator that the pitching coach talking to him in the sixth mentioned that he knew how frustrated he was to have been pulled in his game in Minnesota, and that this time it was his chance to and “finish your game, it’s your game”. Shea Langeliers was next up to bat, and four pitches and a swinging strike three later, he was out number two. J.D. Davis stepped up, and four pitches and a foul tip strikeout, and the inning was over. La Piedra turned and nailed as solid of a fist up pose as I have ever seen from him, a well deserved one, and during his post game comments let us know “that was for all the moms”. Ending his night with a line of 6.0 IP, two earned runs on seven hits, fourteen whiffs and eight strikeouts, Castillo gave moms that are Mariners fans everywhere reason to be happy.
Seeing a kid pitch in and help get the job done is rewarding, but never so much as when you have been watching those kids struggle. You see them doing everything right, you see them toiling under the emotional weight of failure, and all you can do is help them to be patient and to stay on the path that you know will eventually pay off. Watching some of the would-be key hitters on the Mariners struggle this year has been frustrating in a similar way, especially as they have improved their process but not yet seen the positive results to reflect that. This has perhaps been most true for both Mitch Garver and Julio Rodríguez, two players who were standouts in today’s offensive efforts.
Mitch Garver applying good process is what led to the first run scored of the game, an RBI single to send home Dylan Moore, who had started the game with a single and stole second to put himself in the position to score.
Garver started out that at bat down 0-2 on three pitches, taking the first pitch for a strike then fouling off a changeup and a sinker in the zone, but was able to work it back full sitting on the next three pitches. The patience and the process paid off, and he didn’t let the full-count changeup in the middle of the zone go to waste, lining it into left. After the game he acknowledged the turn-around, “I just missed a couple heaters off the last at-bat but I was happy with the swings I got off on them, so I was pretty confident I was going to get another heater at some point and stayed committed to the plan, maybe made a slight adjustment on where I am on the ball.” He continued, “It’s tough when you’re lining out or hitting the ball hard and they’re catching them, making great plays, but it’s the game. You just gotta keep showing up and putting in work and trying to get better.”
Probably nobody has been feeling that last bit about hitting the ball hard but it not going where you need it more than Julio. But also, perhaps nobody understands the importance of continuing to show up, either. “The game doesn’t owe you anything. I feel like you’ve got to show up every single day and stay positive. Results are going to come, just keep your head down and don’t let distractions or a “bad day” take the fun away from me.” As much as Julio knows the importance of that statement, both from his own experience and the examples of leadership he has had from others in the clubhouse, the seed of that level of confidence and faith is often planted first by the moms of the world. Julio also mentioned how his mom had texted him before the game to say that things might not be going his way but encouraged him to keep working and keep his head up, and not get discouraged, and he acknowledged “I feel like that is something I will always cherish with me. And I was really happy to be able to do that today.”
The “that” he was referring to happened in the bottom of the second inning. Ty France reached first on an error, and Luis Urías worked a full count walk to start the inning. Seby Zavala executed a sac bunt to move the runners up, and Sam Haggerty singled in a run and Dylan Moore skied one to center for a sacrifice to bring the Mariners up to three runs and two outs in the inning, with the one runner in Haggerty still on the bases at first. That brought up Julio, who despite working a 3-2 count in his first at bat, with some good takes and making solid contact on an 88 mph middle-middle sinker, was only rewarded a fly out to center field for his efforts. This time around Julio wasn’t able to get ahead in the count, but when Oakland starting pitcher Alex Wood hung another middle sinker at 88 mph, Julio finished the job and put his first home run in Seattle of the season over the wall in straight-away center field.
Julio, post-game, says he knows how his mom likely reacted in that moment, “She was going crazy at the house, I guarantee, as soon as I hit that ball. I know she was going crazy out there. So I’m really happy to be able to do this on this day.” She wasn’t the only one, Julio. Moms and non-moms alike were more than happy to see Rodríguez finally notch one in the home run column. He would later just barely miss a second home run, hitting a double off the yellow line of the left-center wall in the fifth, and drew a full count walk in the seventh inning to finish with a 2-for-3 night with the walk and no strikeouts.
Moms dig a hard earned success, sure, but also moms dig the long ball. Mitch Garver put one on the board in the first with his RBI single, but he put two on the board in the fifth (and scoring Julio) when he hit his fifth home run of the season. Garver finished with a 2-for-3, one walk and one strikeout line for the night.
With seven runs on the board after the Garver home run, the Mariners would have been able to hold the lead. Still, Seby Zavala didn’t want Julio to have all of the fun with hitting a first home run of the year, and he launched a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to put the Mariners eighth and final run on the board.
Down 8-2, the Athletics stuck to their scrappy ways against Cody Bolton in the eighth inning. Tyler Nevin drew a four pitch walk with one out, JJ Bleday erased and replaced Nevin with a fielder’s choice, and then Brent Rooker hit a towering shot to the second deck in left field to get Oakland up to four runs. The scrappy A’s only showed up against the bullpen in the eighth inning, with Austin Voth working a clean seventh and Andrés Muñoz working a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out (with a little help from a game ending double play, after Lawrence Butler reached on the softest of hit balls that Zavala was able to scoop into fair territory but forgot the scooping into the glove part of that to be able to make the throw to first).
The Mariners simply outplayed the Athletics today, winning the series in the process. They matched their eight hits, and one error, but outscored them twice over. Most strikingly, ironically, was how little they struck out, with only seven all game. The Mariners put all the right things first today. Their moms were first in their hearts, staying true to the process was first in their minds, and with the Rangers having been swept by the Rockies, they are now in sole possession of first place in the American League West.