Mariners notes: Seattle collects first series win, but misses out on sweep in Cleveland

The Mariners won their first series of the season Sunday afternoon in Cleveland, but missed their first sweep.

After picking up two wins in their first two road games of the season, Seattle didn’t trail in the finale against the Guardians until Jose Ramirez beat out the throw on a grounder in the 12th, sliding past home for the winning run in a 7-6 victory.

A win would have given the Mariners an even record 10 games into this 2023 season.

Instead, they move on to Chicago still below .500 after dropping a second extra-innings loss to Cleveland — exactly one week after the Guardians ended the season-opening series between the two clubs with a 10-inning victory at T-Mobile Park.

“We played very well in this series, just not quite enough to take the sweep,” Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters in Cleveland postgame Sunday. “And it’s hard to sweep. It’s hard to sweep on the road. You’re down to needing one more out, and you’ve got to give them credit, they found a way to hang in there and get it done.”

Cal Raleigh gave the Mariners an early lead in the first with a two-run home run — his first of the season — and Tommy La Stella drove in a third run for Seattle in the ninth to push the lead to 3-1.

George Kirby tossed six quality frames for Seattle in his second start of the season, allowing one run on five hits with six strikeouts.

The Guardians were down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, but Will Brennan’s two-run double off Mariners reliever Matt Brash tied the game.

Cleveland’s bullpen worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th, but so did the Mariners’.

Mariners left fielder Jarred Kelenic then doubled to the wall with one out in the 11th to score Raleigh from second, and Kolten Wong added another run two batters later with a sacrifice fly.

But, the Guardians responded, scoring two runs on a double from Andres Gimenez and a single from Brennan.

Teoscar Hernandez gave the Mariners the lead once more on a two-out single to left in the 12th to make it 6-5.

Cleveland finally scored the game’s decisive runs minutes later, tying the score on a Josh Naylor groundout before Josh Bell’s infield grounder scratched across the winning run.

“Our guys are very resilient, we hung in there, we found ways to come back in the extra innings to score runs, we just couldn’t shut them down,” Servais said.

The Mariners won a pair of close contests against Cleveland earlier in the weekend.

Seattle trailed Friday’s road opener 3-0 entering the fifth, but scored the game’s next five runs to complete a 5-3 comeback victory.

J.P. Crawford collected two RBI doubles in the game, Ty France a RBI single and Julio Rodriguez a two-run home run. Five Mariners relievers combined for five scoreless frames.

Saturday, they built a three-run lead in the first two innings — on two RBI singles from Eugenio Suarez and another from Kelenic — and held off Cleveland late, picking up a 3-2 win.

The two wins early in the series gave the Mariners a boost after they dropped five of their first seven in their season-opening homestand.

After losing three consecutive games over the weekend to close out their opening series against the Guardians in Seattle, the Mariners dropped a fourth straight contest — for the first time since they were swept in four games by Boston in late May last season — before getting back in the win column.

A pair of RBI singles from Luis Rengifo, and two-run home runs from both Shohei Ohtani and Taylor Ward helped lift the Angels to a victory over Seattle in the first meeting between the two American League West rivals Monday, and handed the Mariners yet another early loss.

Seattle unloaded a season-high 11 runs in response Tuesday night, finally snapping the four-game skid.

Mariners newcomers Hernandez and AJ Pollock each launched a pair of home runs in the decisive victory.

Hernandez, who Seattle traded for in November, ended a 1-for-18 start when he crushed a 419-foot home run to center in the fourth. He connected again in the fifth on a 426-foot three-run homer.

Pollock, who signed with the Mariners in January, was 0-for-8 to open the spring before hitting back-to-back two-run homers in the fifth and seventh.

“Really happy for Teoscar and AJ, both of those guys,” Servais said postgame that night. “You come to a new ball club you want to get off to a good start or a quick start and it doesn’t happen, but it shows you the kind of ability they have.”

Mariners ace Luis Castillo tossed another brilliant outing in his second start of the season, striking out six in 5 2/3 scoreless frames to earn his first win of 2022.

But, Los Angeles won again in the series finale the following afternoon behind a quality performance from Ohtani and an early two-run home run by top prospect Logan O’Hoppe that gave the Angels a lead they never lost in the second inning.

The Mariners hit the road for the first time this spring with a 2-5 record, and continue their trip to the Midwest still trying to break .500 early on.

ROSTER MOVES

Seattle announced a handful of roster moves Sunday morning, including placing reliever Andres Munoz, who has played a pivotal role late in games the past two seasons, on the 15-day injured list with a right deltoid strain.

“He just hasn’t felt great,” Servais told reporters in Cleveland pregame Sunday. “Kind of the back of his shoulder has just been a little sore.”

Munoz was key to the Mariners’ success in late innings last season, posting a 2.49 ERA across 65 innings in 64 appearances, and led all Seattle relievers with 96 strikeouts.

The 24-year-old right-hander has appeared in four games for Seattle this spring, and has not given up a run through 3 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and striking out three while walking one.

He also picked up the club’s first save of the season in the Mariners’ Opening Day win over the Guardians earlier this month.

“You see the velocity’s there, but just the crispness to his pitches and how he’s doing it, it hasn’t been easy for him,” Servais said. “And we’re playing the long game here. We know for us to be really good throughout the course of the season we need him, so I think the decision just giving him a couple weeks downtime now is the right thing to do.”

The Mariners added a pair of relievers in right-handers Justin Topa and JB Bukauskas from Triple-A Tacoma in corresponding moves.

Topa, who Seattle added via trade with Milwaukee in January, appeared in parts of three big league seasons with the Brewers from 2020-22.

Bukauskas, a former first-round pick by the Astros in 2017, was claimed off waivers by Seattle in January from the Diamondbacks.

Both relievers pitched in Sunday’s finale in Cleveland. Topa worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th, walking two and striking out one. Bukauskas allowed a pair of runs (one earned) on two hits while walking two and striking out one in the 11th, also working out of a bases-loaded jam with the score still tied.

Right-hander Matt Festa, who has allowed four runs on three hits while walking six and striking out five in three relief appearances for Seattle this spring, was optioned to Tacoma on Sunday.

First baseman Even White, a Gold Glove Award winner with the Mariners in 2020, was recalled and placed on the 60-day IL with a left adductor strain.

The 26-year-old last appeared in a big league game for Seattle in 2021, and has a career .165/.235/.308 slash line with 10 doubles, 10 home runs, 35 RBI, 24 walks and 115 strikeouts in 84 career games with the Mariners.

White, who has spent much of the past two seasons dealing with injury, played in two games for Tacoma this spring, hitting 1-for-7 with one RBI, a stolen base, walk and three strikeouts.

SHORT HOPS

▪ Castillo is one of seven qualified starters in the majors who have yet to give up an earned run through two starts.

The 24-year-old right-hander is 1-0 with a perfect 0.00 ERA in two Seattle wins over Cleveland this spring, allowing only three hits while striking out 12 and walking two across his 11 2/3 innings pitched.

▪ Suarez has an active seven-game hitting streak and is among the top 25 qualified players in the majors in batting average, hitting a team-best 15-for-42 (.357) with three doubles and seven RBI through the first 10 games of the season.

France also has an active seven-game hitting streak, and is 14-for-43 (.326) with five doubles, one home run and six RBI through 10 games.

ON DECK

The Mariners (4-6) continue their road trip with a three-game series in Chicago beginning Monday. Castillo is set to oppose Cubs left-hander Drew Smyly in the series opener at 4:40 p.m.

The club then returns to Seattle to open a nine-game homestand Friday, and will play three-game series against the Rockies, Brewers and Cardinals.