Mariners Beat Verlander

I am sure most Mariner fans were like me Thursday night hoping that the Mariners would find a way to win the opening game of the four against the Astros in Houston.

Our surprise came early because the Mariners scored right off the bat with Mitch Haniger hitting a home run leading off the game followed a triple by Denard Span, a double by Segura and a single by Nelson Cruz. I read later this is the first time in the history of the major leagues a team hit a cycle in reverse. The score was 3-0 at the end of the first.

It was not only the first time Haniger hit a home run leading off a game it was the first time he hit in the lead-off spot. In the end he had four hits and missed the cycle by not hitting a triple. The same went for Segura and Denard Span missed the cycle by not hitting a double.

In the second inning Span hit a home run with two outs with Haniger on base and was followed by Segura with a solo home run so just like that the Mariners were up 6-0.

Verlander was only able to last the two innings and was replaced by Brad Peacock who went two innings as well however he didn’t give up a run on two hits. The Astros though did score a couple runs in the third inning to make the score 6-2. The Mariners extended the lead to 8-2 in the sixth inning however the Astros scored two runs of their own in the bottom of the same inning to make it 8-4.

The game was nervous I know because James Paxton wasn’t his normal self and he did have some struggle. He left the game in the bottom of the sixth after the Astros scored the two runs. The Astros had the bases loaded and Paxton wasn’t able to strike out the batter. The ball was narrowly caught by second baseman Dee Gordon. Nick Vincent replaced Paxton with two outs. He was able to get the final out in the sixth inning but gave up a run in the seventh inning. He was replaced with runners on base by Alex Colome who with one pitched had a grounder that ended the inning. Colome was able to give up no hits or runs in the eighth inning with the score at the time 8-5.

I was thinking in the seventh inning the bullpen can’t blow this game the Mariners had such a large lead off of Verlander. Edwin Diaz came in the ninth inning picking up his forty-third save however he did give up a solo home run to Tyler White making the final score 8-6. Although I was nervous it was nice to see the team win the first game of the series.

The Mariners will have Mike Leake going for them on Friday night against right hander Gerrit  Cole who has a record of 10-4 with an era of 2.64 and his last outing against the Mariners he nearly pitched a no-hitter. We only hope that the Mariner hitters learned something from that experience.

Whatever happens the rest of this series at least the Mariners were able to win the first game of the series. The Mariners did recall a couple of pitchers from Tacoma in Casey Lawrence and Nick Rumbelow while Chasen Bradford was optioned to Tacoma. I expect one or both of them will be ready on Sunday when Felix Hernandez is scheduled to pitch. Not sure whether Felix will start or not however the Mariners will have them ready to go early in the game if necessary.

I expect this new lineup with Mitch Haniger leading off followed by Denard Span and Jean Segura will happen again on Friday Night since it was such a success. The Mariners do face three right handers in a row until Sunday when Dallas Keuchel goes for the Astros.

We now hope for more success by the Mariners before heading to Oakland to face the A’s on Tuesday when Robinson Cano is expected to be reactivated form his suspension as well.