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They had to jump through a ton of hoops to get there, but the Mariners have their first series win of 2025 after stunning the Astros Wednesday afternoon. On top of the 7-6 walk-off victory that saw Seattle climb back from a 5-0 deficit, the club also won in dramatic fashion in the series opener on Monday, blowing a 2-0 lead before ratting off two late-game runs to defeat Houston by a score of 4-3.

With two comeback wins and a frustrating 2-1 loss sandwiched in between, there were plenty of studs and duds over the course of the three-game set. Here were the three best and worst performances that stood out the most.

3 UP

Randy Arozarena

Following a rough three games down in San Francisco that at least personally ended on a strong note, Arozarena was having a fairly nondescript series against the Astros. But when you drive in five runs and almost singlehandedly will your team back from down 5-0 to win, you’re going to make this list. Arozarena and Jorge Polanco are having an early-season battle for the made-up title of “Clutchest Mariner,” and while both had game-winning plate appearances in this series, Arozarena’s heroics held a bit more weight. His grand-slam in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s jaw-dropping win not only made the comeback possible, but it also saved the Mariners from yet another blown opportunity with runners in scoring position after Mitch Garver flew out to shallow left field and Cal Raleigh struck out. When his next turn in the order came up an inning later, he refused to let a laboring Bryan Abreu off the hook in a bases-loaded jam, watching ball four flail well shy of the top of the strike zone for a walk-off walk and his fifth RBI of the contest. In all, Arozarena went 4-for-11 with a double, the grand-slam, and walked more (three times) than he struck out (two times) after entering the series with a 32.6 percent strikeout rate.

Logan Gilbert

Gilbert was the forgotten star of Monday’s 4-3 win due to the madness that ensued following his exit in the sixth inning, but he was spectacular once again. Over 5.2 innings pitched, the 27-year old righty only surrendered one hit — a solo home run to Jose Altuve in one of his final matchups of the night — and just three hard-hit balls in total while striking out seven and walking two. His famous splitter was at its very best, inducing a whopping nine whiffs on 15 swings and registering an absurd minimum spin rate of 477 rotations per minute. So far this season, Gilbert has looked like he’s found yet another gear.

Ryan Bliss

While Bliss suffered what will likely be a season-ending torn bicep during his first at-bat in Tuesday’s 2-1 loss, he put together a strong series up to — and, admirably, even beyond — that point. On top of playing stellar defense, the Mariners’ young second baseman had been generating quality contact at the plate with some regularity to begin the year, but fell victim to a bit of bad luck on a few hard-hit balls. In Monday’s series opener, he was finally rewarded for driving the ball with authority, depositing a Hayden Wesneski fastball on the inside corner of the zone into Seattle’s bullpen for a two-run blast. The next day, with a torn bicep, he cranked a double into the left-center field gap off of Framber Valdez and later made an incredible reaction play to keep a ball from leaving the infield after bouncing off of second base and scoring the go-ahead run in extra innings. The fact that will almost certainly be his last appearance of the year is a bitter pill to swallow for both Bliss and the Mariners, but it was an impressive way to go out, to say the least.

Honorable Mentions: The Mariners’ bullpen, Miles Mastrobuoni, Jorge Polanco, Julio Rodríguez

3 DOWN

Cal Raleigh

Going in the opposite direction of Arozarena, Raleigh’s excellent series at the plate down in San Francisco did not carry over against the Astros. He went 1-for-13 with a double and led the team in strikeouts for the series with five, including one with the bases loaded and one out on Wednesday. It’s been an inconsistent start to the year for Raleigh offensively.

Dylan Moore

Moore’s bat has cooled off following a hot start, resulting in a 1-for-9 series with three strikeouts, but the reason he finds himself on here is ultimately because of his defense. While he pulled off a sensational 5-3 double play in extra innings on Tuesday, he committed a pair of errors over the course of the series that gifted the Astros three runs they otherwise should not have scored. That’s not what you want to see from your reigning Gold Glove winner, especially for a team that desperately needs some defensive stability in its infield.

Dominic Canzone

Called up in place of the injured Victor Robles, Canzone saw three at-bats in this series and looked utterly dreadful in each of them. He struck out twice without much of a battle on Tuesday and weakly flew out to left field to end the bottom of the seventh in Wednesday’s game with a runner in scoring position after falling into an 0-2 count. Frankly, he doesn’t look long for this roster.