WASHINGTON — When the post-Angels brawl suspensions were first announced, and with the knowledge that appeals would probably shave off one game for each player and the Mariners could stagger them with only one player serving them at a time, there were still legitimates causes for concern.
With first baseman Ty France sidelined at the time with an elbow strain, how could a team that struggled to score runs with him in the lineup also weather the absences of either J.P. Crawford or Jesse Winker or Julio Rodriguez for 11 straight games?
Well, thanks to quality starting pitching, timely hitting and unexpected contributions from the rest of the lineup, the Mariners didn’t just survive the 11 games, they flourished losing just once.
With Rodriguez serving his reduced one-game suspension in Wednesday’s opener of a split doubleheader, Seattle got another quality start from right-hander Chris Flexen and homers from Eugenio Suarez, Jesse Winker, Adam Frazier and Cal Raleigh to roll to a 6-4 victory over a Washington Nationals team that seems deserving of its 30-58 record.
It was Seattle’s ninth straight victory — the team’s longest winning streak since 2003.
With Crawford serving his four-game suspension, reduced from five games, during a four-game series vs. the A’s at T-Mobile Park, the Mariners lost just once. They swept the Padres (two games) in San Diego and the Blue Jays at home (four games) with Winker serving his six-game suspension, which was appealed down from seven games.
The 10-1 record during the player suspensions is part of a 17-3 stretch dating back to the awful homestand in mid-June where the Mariners had sunk to 29-39.
“I think I used the phrase, ‘keep our head above water,'” manager Scott Servais recalled. “We did more than that.”
The Mariners went Katie Ledecky on the situation.
“Obviously, we had a lot of guys step up offensively when we were losing big pieces,” Servais said. “I’ve got to give Dylan Moore a ton of credit with what we’ve asked him to do during this stretch. It’s been phenomenal. He’s been at shortstop. He’s been in right field. He’s played center field for Julio. He’s done a great job for us. But it’s a lot of guys chipping in and that’s what it takes.”
Winker believes this team is built to handle outside adversity.
“It don’t matter,” he said. “Like it don’t matter if we’re suspended. We have depth here. It don’t matter who’s playing. We can really play baseball here. We believe in our brand of baseball, so suspensions or whatever that’s going to come our way, we’re ready for it. We believe in each other. We believe in everybody that’s gonna step up throughout the season.”
The Mariners improved to 46-42 and hold the third American League wild card spot. The last time they were four games over .500 was on April 27 at 11-7.
A year ago, they were also 46-42 after their first 88 games.
In another statistical anomaly, it was the first time that four players wearing consecutive jersey numbers — Frazier (26), Winker (27), Suarez (28) and Raleigh (29) hit a homer in the game.
Those homers didn’t come in numerical order.
Suarez crushed a three-run homer off Nats starter Josiah Gray in the first inning for an early lead. Winker, showing a revamped setup, smashed a solo homer to deep right field to start the fourth. Frazier, who isn’t known for his power, pulled a homer into the right field seats later in the inning. Raleigh’s 12th homer of the season — a solo blast to right field — made it 6-1.
Starter Chris Flexen pitched six innings, allowing one run on six hits with two walks and a strikeout.
“They were pretty aggressive today and we identified that,” Flexen said. “I had to stay aggressive with the lead as well and not let anything get out of hand.”
Not particularly overpowering, though he rarely is, Flexen pitched with a lead and made sure Juan Soto, one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball, didn’t beat him.
After issuing him a walk in his first plate appearance, Flexen had to face Soto with runners on first and second and two outs in the third inning.
After a quick mound visit with pitching coach Pete Woodworth, Flexen got a swing and miss on a cutter and then dropped a perfect change-up. Swinging aggressively Soto, hit a ground ball back to the mound to end the inning.
After allowing his only run in the fifth inning on a sac fly from Luis Garcia, Flexen found himself facing Soto again with runners on second and third with two outs. While it seemed like an easy decision to walk Soto immediately, Woodworth again came to the mound to discuss the situation. Flexen fired a changeup and slider in the dirt — neither of them close enough to make Soto want to swing and get himself out. With Flexen down 2-0 in the count, Servais signaled for the intentional walk, which loaded the bases for former Mariner slugger Nelson Cruz.
In years past, such strategy would be considered dangerous or foolish to bring a hitter like Cruz to the plate as the tying run.
Able to win the battle against Father Time these last few seasons, the 42-year-old Cruz, now showing a healthy amount of gray in his once jet-black hair and in his manicured facial hair, is starting to show a little decline. He rolled over on a 1-2 slider, grounding out to J.P. Crawford to end the inning.
“The mentality was get an out in any way,” Flexen said.
Penn Murfee didn’t have as much success against Soto. He served up a three-run homer in the ninth inning that cut the Mariners lead from five runs to two runs. It also forced Servais to use Paul Sewald to get the final out of the inning.
