The Seattle Mariners haven’t had the season they’d hoped for, floundering just below .500 with ground to make up in the playoff race.
But don’t disrespect the defending American League West champions.
Julio Rodriguez hit a three-run homer after the previous batter was walked intentionally, and reliever Gabe Speier hit Detroit’s Gleyber Torres with a pitch — causing the benches to clear — after Cal Raleigh was plunked in host Seattle’s 4-2 victory Wednesday night.
The teams will play the rubber match in the three-game series Thursday afternoon in Seattle.
Bryan Woo pitched seven scoreless innings as the Mariners snapped Detroit’s four-game winning streak and moved past the Tigers in the AL’s wild-card chase.
Woo was effectively wild, hitting three batters with pitches.
Perhaps that’s what caused the Tigers to nail Raleigh in the stomach in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With two outs in the top of the next inning, Speier threw two inside pitches to Torres, the latter hitting him on the left thigh.
Torres had some words with catcher Raleigh as both benches cleared, with relievers running in from the bullpens.
No punches were thrown. The umpires huddled and decided to eject Speier. That enraged Mariners manager Dan Wilson, who argued the call and also was tossed.
“It’s always frustrating when our guy is the guy that gets thrown out and their guy hit somebody and there’s no consequences,” Wilson said. “It was a situation where they felt one way, and I didn’t.”
Not surprisingly, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch felt otherwise.
“From my seat, it just looked like they took two shots at (Torres) so I don’t know intent. They’re going to have to answer the question. I think the back-to-back pitches in a weird spot created a lot of emotion,” he said. “We all end up on the field … umpires deemed it intentional enough to throw him out. I know it came after Cal got smoked, which is what makes it a little uncomfortable, I think, for me.”
Dillon Dingler greeted reliever Eduard Bazardo with a two-run shot to straightaway center field to pull the Tigers within 3-2.
Seattle’s Colt Emerson led off the bottom of the inning with a homer to right for the final run.
That came after Rodriguez’s three-run shot in the bottom of the sixth broke a scoreless tie.
After Tyler Holton retired the first two batters in the bottom of the inning, the Tigers brought in righty Brenan Hanifee (0-1). Randy Arozarena greeted him with a double to left field and Dominic Canzone intentionally was walked. Rodriguez made Detroit pay with an opposite-field shot to right on the next pitch.
Rodriguez claimed the move to walk the previous batter didn’t affect him.
“Honestly, I had no emotion about it,” he said. “Because if I start getting emotional about it, I feel like I play it right into their hands.”
But his reaction spoke otherwise, as he pinwheeled his bat toward the Mariners’ first-base dugout while beginning to circle the bases.
“I tried to stay focused and just try to get my pitch and execute,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like that’s what I did. And once I did that, I definitely let some things out.”
The Tigers are scheduled to send left-hander Framber Valdez (6-7, 4.41 ERA) to the mound in the series finale against Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller (4-5, 2.80).
Valdez defeated the Athletics 8-6 on Saturday in West Sacramento, Calif., giving up two runs on nine hits over seven innings, with two walks and six strikeouts.
He’s 8-4 with a 3.43 ERA in 20 career appearances against the Mariners, with 18 starts. He beat them 7-3 on June 5 in Detroit when he allowed one run on five hits over five innings.
Miller lost three starts in a row before getting a no-decision Friday in a 5-3 defeat to visiting Minnesota, in which he gave up two runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings.
He’s 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in four previous starts against the Tigers. He beat them 4-0 on June 6 in Detroit when he gave up one hit and struck out nine over six innings.
–Field Level Media
