[jksander]

May 19, 2025: Yu Darvish (5-2, 3.52 ERA, 53.2 IP, 43 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) got the start against Seattle’s George Kirby (3-4, 5.09 ERA, 40.2 IP, 44 K’s, 1.13 WHIP). The Mariners took the lead in the top of the first with a two-out RBI single by Luke Raley, but we tied it up in the bottom of the third with an RBI single by Miguel Vargas. They retook the lead in the top of the fourth with a solo homer by Luke Raley, and in the top of the sixth Raley hit ANOTHER out of right to make it a 3-1 ballgame. Justin Dunn took over in the top of the seventh, still trailing by a pair, and with one out they hit another two-run homer, this time by Ryan Bliss, and this game was officially out of control. But our bats woke up after the stretch ... Caden Grenier walked, Otto Lopez doubled him to third, Meidroth hit a groundball single that held Grenier and Lopez ... and then Mike Tauchman hit a grand slam out of left to tie the score at 5-5! Martin Perez came out to pitch in the top of the eighth, and with one out and men on first and second in the top of the ninth Clevinger came out to throw. Ryan Bliss singled the bases loaded, but Mitch Garver and Randy Arozarena struck out swinging and we came up to hit in the bottom of the inning with a chance to walk it off ... but instead this one went into extra innings. The ghost runner scored at the top of the inning for Seattle, but Luke Raley hit into a 4-6-3 double play to get us up to hit trailing by a run ... and we went down without any fight at all, losing this one 6-5 in ten innings. Clevinger took the loss, falling to 4-2 with a 1.46 ERA, pitching 1.2 innings with two hits, two strikeouts and the unearned run. We outhit them 11-10, led by Lopez (two hits, two runs) and Meidroth (three hits, one run).

May 20, 2025: Noah Syndergaard (2-2, 3.40 ERA, 50.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.15 WHIP) pitched against Logan Gilbert (3-5, 5.19 ERA, 52.0 IP, 50 K’s, 1.37 WHIP) in game two, and in the bottom of the fifth we finally broke the early-game stalemate with a solo homer by Michael A. Taylor to go up 1-0! Syndergaard got us into the stretch still leading by the one run, and Shane Smith took over in the top of the eighth. With the score unchanged, Brandon Eisert came out in the top of the ninth, getting three quick outs to cement the 1-0 shutout victory! Syndergaard improved to 3-2 with a seven inning effort that involved just two hits and four strikeouts, no hits or walks -- his ERA improved accordingly to 2.98 through his first 10 starts. Smith got hold number three, and Eisert saved his 10th game of the season ... pretty solid, considering this was just our 19th win of the year. We outhit them 5-2, led by Taylor’s solo homer.

May 21, 2025: Ryan Weber (2-3, 2.45 ERA, 47.2 IP, 29 K’s, 1.05 WHIP) pitched against Luis Castillo (3-3, 5.26 ERA, 49.2 IP, 49 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) in our third game against the Mariners, and they blew us up early with a three-run homer by Julio Rodriguez in the top of the first. Miguel Vargas got us on the board in the bottom of the first with an RBI single, but they added a run on in the top of the third with an RBI single by Mitch Haniger, and with two outs, the runner on second and Weber already at 68 pitches, Kimbrel took over from there. Justin Dunn took over with one out in the top of the sixth, still trailing by three, and Murfee came out in the seventh, getting us into the stretch without Seattle adding on ... though he did it the hard way, loading the bases and then ending the inning with a pair of strikeouts and a pop-fly to center. Grenier scored off a flyball single by Austin Slater in the bottom of the seventh to get us back within two, and Martin Perez became our fifth pitcher of the night when he took the ball in the eighth. With one out, Julio Rodriguez hit a solo shot out of left, his second homer of the game, and in the ninth Jonathan Cannon came out with one out and runners on second and third, melting down completely as he loaded the bases and gave them three more runs just for fun. Seattle never blinked, and their reward was an 8-2 win as they took the series two games to one. Weber rightfully took the loss, falling to 2-4 with a 3.04 ERA after an eight hit three strikeout four run game through just 2.2 innings ... we were outhit 15-7, led by Slater with a hit, a walk and an RBI.

After this series we’re now 19-31, and after tomorrow’s day off we’ll play three against Texas (35-14) here at home before hitting the road to finish the month. Nobody expects us to be even remotely competitive in this series, as Texas leads the majors with a +82 run differential and a 16-8 record on the road alone, almost as many wins as we have altogether.