Mariners Win Another Series

Sunday the Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays at T-Mobile Park 3-1. Marco Gonzales had a good day going seven innings giving up only three hits along with the one run. He did walk two batters however struck out five on 99 pitches. His lone run came in the sixth inning when the Mariners were leading 2-0 going into it.

The Mariners scored in the third inning on a solo home run by Dylan Moore his sixth of the season. They scored another run in the fourth inning and the final run in the seventh inning.

In all the Mariners had four hits in the game scoring three runs on them was a good sign. Besides Moore’s home run Kyle Seager hit a double to drive in a run and Omar Narvaez had a sacrifice fly. JP Crawford and Austin Nola had the other two hits in which led to Mariner scores.

The win was Marco Gonzales 14^th of the season surpassing his 13 wins of last year. Matt Magill had the save his fourth since taking the closer role and the second in the series against the Jays. The Mariners now have won four series in a row all 2-1 series.

The Mariners now take on the New Yankees Monday night thru Wednesday afternoon. They will then go on the road to Texas facing the Rangers for four games followed by two against the Cubs in Wrigley Field then back to Texas four games against the Houston Astros. Hopefully, they will do better this time as they were swept in Houston at the beginning of August in three games which included a no-hitter.

The Mariners will start with an opener on Monday against the Yankees followed by Yusei Kikuchi on Tuesday after missing his last start in the rotation. In his last game, he went the distance throwing a shutout. It wouldn’t be an easy task against the Yankees.

Justus Sheffield will make his second start after being promoted from Arkansas. He will be facing ex-Mariners James Paxton who he was traded for in the off-season on Wednesday afternoon. For the Mariners to take another series at home they will need to keep the Yankees from hitting home runs which isn’t an easy task.

Felix Hernandez is expected to make another start  on Thursday in the first game in Texas.

The Mariners top draft picks in 2017 and 2018 Evan White and Logan Gilbert continues to perform well at double-A Arkansas. White has had multiple-hits in his last three games along with playing fantastic defense at first base. Also, he has shown more power at the plate this year with 16 home runs.

Gilbert continues well going up levels in the Mariner farm system for his first season in professional ball. Arkansas is his third stop after starting at low-level A West Virginia followed by high-level A Modesto.  He has an ERA of 2.17 with Arkansas in eight starts. The way he is pitching he should find his way into the Mariners starting rotation sometime in 2020.

So as the Mariners close out this series against the Yankees we hope for continued success this month and in September when we should see some of the Mariner prospects in uniform. Go M’s.