Good, Bad and Ugly: Highlights From 12-Inning Win Over the Texas Rangers

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The Seattle Mariners held off a surge by the Texas Rangers in a 7-6 victory. Here’s what went right and what went wrong. Credit: Erik Drost [/caption]

Exhale.

The Seattle Mariners blew a 5-1 lead, but were able to pull off a 7-6 victory over the Texas Rangers in 12 innings to open the three-game set against the Rangers on Friday.

As we must do, let’s look at the good, bad and ugly from Friday’s victory.

Good/Bad: Logan Gilbert

Yes, you can be both. Gilbert gave up a first-inning homer to Corey Seager, and then settled down quite nicely over his next four-plus innings. He struck out seven in the contest, and he was able to generate an impressive 14 swings-and-misses. From innings two-through-five, Gilbert looked like the staff ace.

But then the sixth inning came. Gilbert gave up three in that inning, and a 5-1 cushion all of a sudden was a 5-4 game. His command seemed to get away from him in that inning, and while there wasn’t a ton of hard contact, he wasn’t fooling the Texas hitter he was for the majority of the game. That makes some sense, obviously, as he was facing the lineup for a third/fourth time, but it’s still disappointing.

There are no long-term concerns whatsoever, but 10 1/3 innings and eight runs over his last two starts are not what anyone would sign up for, including Gilbert.

Good: Getting Runners Into Scoring Position

The Mariners were constantly putting pressure on the Texas pitching staff, including Nathan Eovaldi; a hurler who has been among the best in baseball this year but clearly wasn’t at 100 percent in his first start off the injured list. Every single player in the lineup either drove in a run, scored a run or picked up a hit in a game where Seattle was able to procure 16 hits while drawing five walks. The top of the lineup was particularly good with J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodriguez combining to go 6-for-11 while Cal Raleigh went 1-for-3 with three walks, two of those intentional (they fear you, Big Dumper). You can’t complain about that.

Ugly: Hitting With Runners In Scoring Positions

Well, unless you hit the way the Mariners did with those runners on. Seattle went 4-for-23 with runners in scoring position during Friday’s contest, and that’s not very good. To quote our very good friend Dennis Green: “We let them off the hook.” Seattle hit into a whopping five double plays in the contest, and just couldn’t put together the big inning that should have come with that many opportunities. A seven-run effort is far from bad — even when you consider they played three extra frames — but it’s disappointing considering how much congestion they put on the basepaths.

Bad: Andres Munoz

Well, kinda. It’s “bad’ because Munoz blew his fifth save after the Mariners took a 6-5 lead thanks to a base knock from Donnie Barrels aka Donovan Solano, but it wasn’t really a case of ineffective pitching. The zombie runner from the second moved to third on a fly out, and then scored on a sac fly a batter later. I suppose the complaint here is that you want your closer to miss bats and not allow those chances, but that seems a little selfish, considering how good Munoz has been for the overwhelming majority of 2025. Still, had the Mariners lost this game, this would’ve been more of a talking point.

Good: The Rest of the Bullpen

I’ll include Gabe Speier in this even though he allowed a run that tied the game at 5-5. But that was the only earned run the Seattle relief corps allowed on the night over 6 2/3 innings while striking out seven. Casey Legumina was outstanding over his 1 1/3 innings, Carlos Vargas impressed in his frame, Matt Brash remains literally impossible to score runs against, and Eduard Bazardo was solid in two scoreless innings to finish things up.

The Mariners still need to improve their bullpen and add a second lefty, but I’m gaining more and more confidence in this group. How about you?

Ugly: Dylan Moore’s June

This is getting, well, ugly. Moore went 0-for-3 during Saturday’s proceedings after coming off the bench, and in June, he’s now slashing .036/.100/.036 over 28 at-bats with 17 strikeouts in that timeframe. Yeah, it’s a small sample to be sure, but what was one of the most reliable hitters on the team for the first six weeks has now its worst, and he’s not drawing enough free passes (two in June) to make up for that lack of average and pop.

The Mariners are very unlikely to move on from Moore; his ability to play multiple positions and track record of being solid against left-handers, along with his not-nothing salary, make that a borderline certainty. But it’s just as certain that the Mariners are playing with a short deck right now because Moore has been far more detrimental than an asset as of late. Gotta get going, D-Mo.

Good: Mastro the Maestro

Aka Miles Mastrobuoni. Mastrobuoni came off the bench for Ben Williamson — who also had a solid 2-for-4 game himself — and ended up making two game-saving plays. The first came in the bottom of the 11th when he tracked down a ball that looked like it was going to drop into left field to win the game and made a spectacular grab with two outs to keep the game going. He then stepped up to the plate with two outs in the 12th and lined a single into left field to score Randy Arozarena to give Seattle the 7-6 lead and ultimately the victory.

There’s zero power in Mastrobuoni’s bat, and he’s never going to hit enough to be a regular, but his ability to play several positions and get on base at a solid clip has made him a valuable - and underrated - addition to this Seattle roster.

Getting a win to open this series is huge and guarantees a .500 road trip, and it doesn’t happen without Mastrobuoni.