WASHINGTON — The circumstances weren’t ideal. The decision-making that went into the timing of it left them a little peeved. The repercussions likely won’t be felt so much on Thursday when they play the Rangers in Texas, but probably on Friday or Saturday because that’s how lack of sleep works.
Of course, winning makes everything a little easier to endure.
So despite the unwanted inconvenience of Wednesday’s split doubleheader and later-than-wanted travel to Dallas-Fort Worth, the Mariners leave the nation’s capital having swept the Nationals in the two-game series with businesslike execution.
After rolling to a 6-4 victory that only got close in the final inning of the opener, the Mariners completed the sweep with a 2-1 win in the sparsely attended nightcap at Nationals Park.
Their win streak has reached double digits at 10 games. It’s just the fourth time in franchise history that a Mariners team has put together a 10-game winning streak. The last time it happened was in 2002 (April 8-17). The other two previous times were a 10-game streak in 1996 (Sept. 12-21) and a 15-game winning streak in 2001 (May 23-June 8).
Since Sunday, June 19, when a lackluster 4-0 loss capped a dreadful 3-8 homestand, dropping them 29-39 on the season and leaving fans clamoring for somebody, anybody to lose their job, the Mariners have gone 18-3 to improve to 47-42. The last time they were five games over .500 was on April 26 when Logan Gilbert beat the Rays to improve the Mariners’ record to 11-6.
Even with as well as they’ve been playing since then and just how brutally awful the Nationals are this season — think 2010 Mariners — sweeping the doubleheader wasn’t given even after winning the opening game.
With George Kirby optioned to Tacoma in a roster move to control his pitching workload, the Mariners went with a bullpen start, featuring Erik Swanson as the opener, in the nightcap. The mere mention of bullpen starts and openers will give even the most optimistic Mariners fan twitches and spasms from those failed outings in years past.
But five relievers — right-hander Erik Swanson pitching two scoreless innings as the “opener,” veteran lefty Tommy Milone followed with 3 1/3 shutout innings as the “bulk” reliever and Matt Brash and Diego Castillo combined to hold the Nationals without a run for 2 2/3.
Seattle took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth. The Mariners called on right-hander Paul Sewald, who got the save in the opening game, to close out the nightcap. After giving a mammoth solo homer to Juan Soto, Sewald was able to work the rest of the inning without allow a run to notch his second save of the day and 12th on the season.
He is the first Mariners reliever to record two saves in one day since Mike Schooler did it on May 6, 1989.
The Mariners offense was provided by two players they’d love to have play up to their past levels — Jesse Winker and Adam Frazier. Both had solid days at the plate in both games. Winker smashed a solo homer in the sixth inning to break a 0-0 tie and Frazier added a sac fly later in the inning to provide the offense.
