The Seattle Mariners’ regular season is slated to end four weeks from Sunday with the finale of a 10-game stretch against the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers that likely will determine the winner of the American League West.
But the Mariners are getting an unexpected taste of late-season intensity this weekend from the host New York Mets.
The Mariners will look to record a hard-earned series win Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game set.
Seattle’s George Kirby (10-8, 3.28 ERA) is scheduled to oppose fellow right-hander Tylor Megill (7-7, 5.29).
J.P. Crawford homered leading off the ninth inning Saturday night for the Mariners, who beat the Mets 8-7 in a back-and-forth contest.
The win was the 14th in the last 17 games for the Mariners (77-58), who took over sole possession of first place in the AL West Saturday by virtue of the Astros’ 5-4 loss to the New York Yankees. Seattle is two games ahead of the Rangers, who fell to the Minnesota Twins 9-7 in 10 innings.
The Mariners never trailed Saturday but had to withstand a pair of comebacks by the Mets (62-74), who have been under .500 every day since June 6 and are eight games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants in the race for the final wild-card spot in the National League.
The Mets tied the game twice Saturday night — first at 3-3 on DJ Stewart’s three-run homer in the fourth and again on Jeff McNeil’s RBI triple in the eighth. New York also overcame an early deficit in Friday’s 2-1 victory.
“The Mets are battling — they’re not giving up,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “They are grinding through it. We had to earn everything we got tonight.”
The Mets collected 13 hits Saturday but were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Outside of McNeil’s game-tying hit, all of New York’s runs were scored via home runs. Mark Vientos homered leading off the sixth, and Francisco Lindor hit a two-run shot in the inning.
The Mets had two hits in the ninth, when Daniel Vogelbach had a leadoff single but was thrown out attempting to extend it into a double. Stewart singled, but pinch runner Tim Locastro was stranded at first after Francisco Alvarez’s game-ending groundout.
“We did a lot of things to get back in that ballgame — real proud,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “(The Mariners are a) team operating on all cylinders over there.”
Kirby, who was scratched from a scheduled start against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday because he was ill, didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start Aug. 23, when he allowed three runs over 5 2/3 innings in the Mariners’ 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Chicago White Sox.
Kirby didn’t factor into the decision in his lone start against the Mets on May 14, 2022, when he gave up three runs (one earned) over four innings in the Mariners’ 5-4 loss.
Megill didn’t factor into the decision last Monday after surrendering one run over six innings in the Mets’ 4-3 loss to the Rangers. He has never opposed the Mariners.
–Field Level Media