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# Mariners Fall Short in Two-Out Scoring Fest, Lose 4-3 to Guardians
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-mariners-fall-short-two-out-scoring-fest-loss-guardians/
- Published: 2025-08-31T04:30:49.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:18:32.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Analysis, Logan Gilbert, Randy Arozarena, Jorge Polanco, Julio Rodriguez, Josh Naylor, Caleb Ferguson, Mariners

[Embed from Getty Images](http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2232373124?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)

The Seattle Mariners’ (72-64) one-run defeat on Saturday night to the Cleveland Guardians (68-66) featured offense that was few and far between for the visitors, securing a seventh straight road loss.

Outside of Randy Arozarena’s leadoff double, the Mariners didn’t have a runner reach second base except when three players rounded the pillows after a home run was hit. The Guardians hit a homer as well — a two-run shot — but manufactured two runs outside of the long ball as the blasts by Jorge Polanco and Julio Rodríguez were the only sources of scoring for Seattle in a streak-extending 4-3 loss to Cleveland.

### Gavin Williams Wins Pitchers’ Duel

It was predictable before the game that runs in this contest would be at a premium. The Mariners’ Logan Gilbert is one of the better starters in baseball, and the Guardians’ Gavin Williams has been putting it together for several months now, seemingly performing to his potential as a prospect. Since the end of May, Williams has posted a 2.79 ERA and a .189 batting average against with a no-hit bid taken into the ninth inning in that span. He stayed on a roll against Seattle, going seven innings and allowing just four hits, a walk, and striking out eight aside from the Polanco homer. 

The Mariners simply couldn’t spark a rally against the 26-year old right-hander, who moved to 9-5 on the season. He was essentially a two-pitch pitcher on the outing, working back-foot curveballs to lefties and fastballs up in the zone. William’s curveball registered a 38 percent whiff rate on 13 swings. He hung his fair share of offerings, but Seattle didn’t make him pay as he cruised through seven frames without much traffic. 

Gilbert gave his team a quality start, allowing the same number of baserunners (five) as Williams. Through six innings of work, he gave up three earned runs on three hits and two walks while punching out six. Overall, Gilbert’s slider, four-seamer, and splitter all returned whiff rates north of 30 percent, but his mistakes – particularly on his breaking balls – were magnified. He took the loss, moving his record to 4-6 on the year.

### Two-Out Magic For Both Sides

In the fourth inning, José Ramírez chopped a slow swinging bunt down the third baseline against a shifted infield with one out. During the next at-bat against Kyle Manzardo, Gilbert spiked a slider that Raleigh had no chance at, scooting Ramírez to second. He advanced to third when Manzardo grounded out to second. On a 1-2 pitch against Bo Naylor, Gilbert opted for his splitter but left it up, even though it was away. Naylor poked it into center field to plate the game’s first run.

In the sixth, the former Guardian and brother of Bo, Josh Naylor, threatened to tie the game. After Rodríguez lined a clean single up the middle with two outs, Josh Naylor drove a fastball into the left-center field gap. The left fielder, Steven Kwan, was playing him a good distance off the line defensively, and closed in on the ball, diving full extension and laying out to make the catch to rob Naylor of extra bases and an RBI.

In the bottom half of the frame, Ramírez worked a walk with two away to extend the inning to Manzardo. Gilbert’s first offering to him was a fastball that was technically a strike, but the righty missed his spot, causing Raleigh to drop he pitch that ran in as he reached for it, so it was called a ball. The next delivery wound up in the sweet spot for southpaw hitters — a slider that was down and in – that Manzardo crushed 109.2 mph off his bat down the right field line and over the wall to push the score to 3-0.

Polanco’s solo shot in the seventh was the only run of the game to not come with two outs. The Mariners’ designated hitter barreled a first-pitch four-seamer on the inner half from Williams off the façade of the second deck in right field. The ball left Polanco’s bat at 104.6 mph and traveled 388 feet.

But the Guardians got the run right back in the bottom half on another two-out rally. Caleb Ferguson was the first to relieve Gilbert out of the Seattle bullpen, and he initially got off to a smooth start, inducing groundouts from David Fry and Angel Martínez to begin the inning. But Nolan Jones hit a sharp single through the six hole, and Brayan Rocchio walked to set the table for Kwan. On a 3-2 sinker that was left middle-middle, he knocked it back up the box to score Cleveland’s fourth run. Rodríguez threw the ball into no-man’s land as Josh Naylor wasn’t in the cutoff spot in the center of the diamond — allowing both runners to advance into scoring position — but Ferguson struck out the next batter, Daniel Schneeman, to escape with no further damage.

Cole Young walked to lead off the eighth against the Guardians’ first bullpen arm, Hunter Gaddis. After he was forced out on an Arozarena groundball to second and Raleigh struck out looking, Rodríguez pulled a fastball that was in and just off the plate over the 19-foot wall in left field. The two-run dinger drew the Mariners back within one.

Guardians’ manager Stephen Vogt then brought in his closer, Cade Smith, to get the next four outs. He would answer the bell, getting Josh Naylor to ground out to end the eighth, before striking out the side in the ninth. Smith sat down Suárez, Polanco, and Luke Raley on 14 pitches to save the victory for Cleveland.

### Around the League and On Deck

The Mariners didn’t lose any ground in the American League West standings after the loss, as the Houston Astros were defeated 4-1 at home by the Los Angeles Angels. So Seattle remains three games back in the division while it clings onto the final AL wild card spot, sitting just two games above the Kansas City Royals and three games over the Guardians.

Bryce Miller will toe the rubber for the Mariners on Sunday and look to right the ship on his season. He’s logged a near 6 ERA through 12 starts in his injury-plagued campaign and will try to help salvage a game in a critical series in terms of AL playoff implications. He will face Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee at 10:40 am PT in the rubber game on August 30.