Cal Raleigh Provides All the Fireworks as Mariners Snap Brewers’ Winning Streak
SEATTLE, Wash. – Sometimes, you only need one guy to cross the plate. Two of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball went head-to-head on Tuesday night with Logan Gilbert and Jacob Misiorowski dueling and just a single run came out of it.
Thankfully for the Seattle Mariners, Cal Raleigh notched home run number 39 in the sixth inning, and that solo shot was all the home team needed to even the series against the Brewers at T-Mobile Park.
It was a truly stellar pitching performance from both starters, but Misiorowski being on a pitch count limit ended up being the difference, as the newfound Milwaukee star left the game in the fourth and left the Brewers needing a lights-out performance from the bullpen. While Milwaukee only allowed one run in the last five innings, that one mistake wound up being too much to overcome, setting up what looks to be a good rubber match tomorrow afternoon.
Gilbert Spins Over Six Scoreless
The Mariners finally got the outing they were looking for from Logan Gilbert. For the first time since Opening Day, he went six or more innings, in fact working into the seventh on less than 90 pitches, as he powered through the Brewers with 10 strikeouts and zero walks.
Gilbert was positively dealing in the first inning, keeping his stuff around the corners and getting a ton of swings and misses. What’s more, both his slider and his splitter were on point, and so the first three Brewers ran into a brick wall despite Gilbert tossing a few too many balls – leading to three straight strikeouts to end the Milwaukee first as soon as it started.
The second again went quickly for Gilbert, as Milwaukee made more contact but came up with three weakly hit balls on six pitches.
There were points when the third looked a bit shaky, as Gilbert threw a couple flat fastballs that luckily weren’t punished, but it was another one-two-three frame for the Mariner starter. However, by this point, the splitters were again a complete crapshoot – sometimes good and sometimes way off.
The fourth was a stronger showing from Gilbert, who worked past falling behind in the count a few times to once again set down three, two of them via strikeouts. He was now on a strong pace of 47 pitches through four innings and hadn’t yielded a single baserunner.
That changed in the fifth, as he hung a 2-2 splitter down the middle to Jackson Chourio, who cracked a single into left. His next splitter came on a 1-2 count to Isaac Collins and landed five feet in front of home plate before bouncing to the backstop. But Gilbert buckled down and got three quick outs to prevent any further damage.
In the sixth, it was more easy work for Gilbert, who got his eighth and ninth strikeouts and ended the inning with 77 pitches. He fanned one more in the seventh before the end of his night.
Uber-specific stat of the day: this game was the fifth time in Mariners history a starter has notched at least 10 strikeouts while giving up no walks, no runs, and two or less hits. The last time that happened was courtesy of Aaron Harang on June 11, 2013.
Seattle Really Can’t Hit Triple Digits
Jacob Misiorowski’s first inning was ridiculous. The Brewers rookie showed off his Howitzer firing darts into the strike zone, consistently hitting 100 miles an hour as he blew the doors off J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodriguez. Cal Raleigh worked a 10-pitch at-bat and got the first ball in play of anyone tonight, but it was a lazy fly ball to right center for out number three.
What we saw from the first few innings is that there are two and a half hitters on the Mariners roster who can hit against 100 miles an hour. Raleigh smacked a fastball from Misiorowski into the gap and – for whatever reason – Arozarena sees Misiorowski really well. He rocketed a double into left center to open the second.
Plus, although Misiorowski got him on the high heat, Crawford has generally good bat-to-ball skills. But the rest of the team had to wait until the velocity started to drop until they had a shot. Polanco, Raley, and Canzone got absolutely rocked in the second.
In the third, Misiorowski was starting to top out at around 98 instead of 100, and that was enough for Cole Young to tap a grounder through the infield and get on – but also enough for Crawford to ground into a double play.
Rodriguez opened the fourth with a single that rocketed into Misiorowski, but the Brewer starter found a second wind and climbed back up almost to triple digits. And then Misiorowski really started mixing his pitches well. In the early innings, he had already blown the M’s away with heater after heater; now, it was heater after slider after heater… you get the picture. Raleigh and Arozarena, who were able to catch up when it was the only thing being thrown, got mowed down. Jorge Polanco didn’t stand a chance of catching up, but he did the one thing he could feasibly do: draw a walk.
With Misiorowski having thrown 64 pitches through 3 2⁄3 innings, Brewers manager Pat Murphy came out to the mound and pulled him from the game in favor of DL Hall. The incoming Brewer middle reliever got a swift out from Raley to end the inning.
Seattle really was lucky Misiorowski was given a pitch count limit of around 55-65 pitches. The guy was completely mowing down everyone he faced. The M’s aren’t a great team against triple digits to begin with, but Misiorowski is a whole different beast. He has a bright MLB career ahead of him.
Cal Raleigh Snaps Tie
The fifth inning went by quickly, as did the first two outs of the sixth. DL Hall was replaced by Nick Means during this time.
And so it was Cal Raleigh who came up in a so far incredibly quiet sixth inning. The M’s were on the verge of going scoreless in 20 straight frames stretching back to Sunday. The first pitch was a ball, the second one called a strike. Means’ next pitch was high over the plate, but his fourth was a wicked slider down and in.
On the ensuing pitch, Means tossed a fastball on the upper outside corner. Raleigh had been struggling against high heat for a while, getting a little too under it for some pop-ups throughout the month.
But not this time. This time, he cracked a fly ball to straightaway right field. Isaac Collins drifted back, swiveling his head twice around as he trotted onto the warning track. For a split second it looked like the ball would fall into Collins’ mitt; instead Collins looked up one last time and the ball drifted five rows into the seats.
It was Cal Raleigh’s 39th home run of the season and his first of the second half. He’s on pace for 63 home runs, which would be an American League record if he got it. And, crucially for today, it put the M’s up 1-0 – a lead that would remain for the rest of the game, all while tying Ken Griffey Jr. for the most home runs by a Mariner in his first five seasons.
Middle Relievers Work Past Trouble
Gilbert opened the seventh with his ninth and final strikeout, but after Christian Yelich punched a single through the left side, Dan Wilson came out of the dugout and brought in Matt Brash. With the starter on 86 pitches, the reasoning here is to keep safe with his recent recovery from injury.
In any case, Brash looked like a little shaky out of the gate. His first pitch to Jackson Chourio was knocked right back into him. This seemed to take Brash out of the zone, as he didn’t realize the ball was two feet from him for about three seconds. By the time he picked up what should have been a double play, it was a tough send for first – and Luke Raley dropped the catch.
Brash didn’t look quite right after that. Injury-wise, he was fine; Wilson and company checked up on him. But mentally, he seemed off. Locked in a tight battle with Collins, a 1-2 count slowly became full as Collins fouled off several pitches. Finally, the Brewers outfielder chopped a grounder to third. Williamson stepped on the bag and fired over to first, but again, Raley dropped the ball.
It got scary again as Brash fell behind Andrew Vaughn with two straight balls, but his next delivery was again sent to Williamson, who easily got the third out of the inning. Credit to Brash, he worked out of some trouble and kept the Brewers scoreless.
The top of the eighth again involved two pitchers. Eduard Bazardo came on to face the bottom third of the order and got two quick outs, but lefty pinch-hitter Tyler Black seemed to throw him off his game and drew a walk.
Gabe Speier came on to face fellow lefty Bryce Turang, who had been whiffing at the plate all game – forming a full third of Gilbert’s strikeout total. Speier blew past him on four pitches to complete the Milwaukee second baseman’s golden sombrero.
Muñoz Finishes Shutout
The Mariners held on to their 1-0 lead going into the top of the ninth. And so it was time for Andrés Muñoz to come in for the save.
But William Contreras began the inning with a six-pitch walk. Blake Perkins came on to pinch-run while Christian Yelich came up to the plate. While Yelich struck out, the third strike fell out of Raleigh’s glove and Perkins dashed to second.
The first pitch to Chourio was a ball and the second a mighty hack and a miss. The next one was a slider low and away. Chourio started to swing but held up, and first base umpire Junior Valentine ruled it a check swing – and the batter walked on the next pitch.
Collins came up to the plate with one out. The tying run stood off second base with the go-ahead run on first. A fastball came in a little over the zone, called strike one. The next was high and outside by an inch. Then a slider hooked around over the back of the plate before Collins fouled another pitch away. After a high heater, Muñoz’ twirled a perfect backdoor slider on the upper edge of the plate for a called strike three.
The hard-throwing closer went up 0-2 on Vaughn on the next at bat. The crowd was on its feet. Two sliders came in, each an inch off the plate as home plate umpire Ryan Blakney held his arm steady.
Vaughn then smacked a ball to the left side. It was an easy play for Ben Williamson, who went the short way to second.
One run to zero, the lowest scoring possible game. Fitting for the Mariners and Brewers.
This was Muñoz’ 22nd save of the season out of 28 save opportunities. He now has a 1.42 ERA and 0.92 WHIP over 38 innings pitched.
Ben Williamson’s Incredible Defense
Williamson continues to impress with the glove during his rookie season. Unlike fellow rookie infielder Cole Young – who has shown promise but also struggles on defense – he has been rock-solid at the hot corner this season.
Simply put, Perry Hill has done it again, folks. Williamson is an absolute stud on the defensive side of the ball. He makes all the plays you expect him to make, he is incredible at diving for the ball, he has a rapid-fire transfer, and a strong arm.
Williamson’s best defensive play today was in the fifth inning on a surprise bunt from Anthony Seigler. The Brewers’ designated hitter laid it down very well – if a little fast – along the third base line. Williamson bolted forward, got to the ball with his glove and still fired to first in time for the out. That’s usually a bang-bang play on the bare-hand, and Williamson did it with a transfer.
And the rookie third baseman had some solid awareness, going for the bag in the top of the seventh after getting a grounder with one out.
Dylan Moore’s Deep Slump
If the average hitter’s slump is the ocean floor, Dylan Moore has gone down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and then burrowed into the bottom a few more miles.
When most big-leaguers go through a cold streak, their timing goes off. But still, for most, they keep making contact on good pitches to hit; it’s just bad contact. For Moore right now, it can be a 92 mile an hour meatball right down the pipe with no movement, and he’ll swing and miss.
In the months of June and July, Moore has gone just 2-46 with a horrendous slash line of .043/.102/.109. This is not big league production. He usually comes in for Luke Raley whenever Luke Raley is facing lefties – but Luke Raley, who can’t hit lefties, has a .180/.249/.534 career slash against them. Even this year, Raley is 1-19 against left-handers with an .053/.182/.053 slash. Awful, but still better than Moore’s production.
Maybe Moore just needs a change of scenery and his bat will wake up in a different MLB organization. But the Mariners simply can’t afford to be giving him regular at-bats in this time.
On Deck
Tonight’s exciting victory brings the M’s to 54-47 and keeps the team five games behind the Astros in the AL West, as Houston also came away with a win tonight against the struggling Diamondbacks. But it separated the M’s from the Boston Red Sox by a game, who are now squarely in the third wild card spot with the Rays on their heels by a half game.
Tomorrow’s rubber match between the Brewers and Mariners will feature Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo going up against Quinn Priester of Milwaukee.
