It took one-tenth of the season, but the Seattle Mariners finally showed what they’re capable of doing offensively Monday night.
Jorge Polanco and Mitch Haniger homered as the Mariners defeated Cincinnati 9-3. The three-game interleague series between the teams will continue Tuesday night in Seattle.
Monday marked a season high in runs for the Mariners, whose previous best came in a 6-1 victory in 10 innings at Toronto on April 10.
“Fun game,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said Monday. “That’s what it is supposed to be like. It’s taken us awhile to get there, but we did it tonight. We got a lot of things going offensively, everybody chipping in. Put the bat on the ball, took our walks and hit a couple of homers. We did everything you’re looking for this offense to do, and we finally got it together in a game tonight. So now you got to build on it.”
So what changed?
Servais pointed to pregame meetings, which he said were “different.”
“It’s always good when players talk and players are starting to speak up more,” Servais said. “They understand where we’re at in the season and that we have not performed to our capabilities yet. They said let’s change it, let’s start tonight. And they did.”
The normally reserved Haniger, who returned to the Mariners this spring after spending one season in San Francisco, was one of the players who spoke up.
“You don’t see guys hanging their heads and sulking,” he said. “It’s been like, ‘All right, we’re not doing well, let’s just work hard, improve and keep fighting every night. Since I’ve been here, we haven’t had too many fantastic starts. I was telling the guys in there the best start we’ve ever had when I was here, we were 13-3 in 2019, and that was the worst team I’ve been on. It’s a long season. Don’t worry, you’re gonna have a bad two weeks.”
Polanco hit a three-run homer in the first inning Monday, and Haniger launched a two-run shot in the third, giving Seattle a 5-1 lead. Haniger added an RBI double in Seattle’s three-run seventh.
Mariners outfielder Jonatan Clase, making his major league debut, had a run-scoring single. Clase was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma because Dominic Canzone went on the 10-day injured list with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder.
“Today was like a dream come true,” Clase said through an interpreter. “Once I got into that first at-bat, I just started to relax.”
Reds manager David Bell said he wasn’t surprised the Mariners finally broke out.
“I’ve watched them enough, we’ve scouted them enough to know that this is a really good team,” Bell said. “… They did their job tonight.”
Jeimer Candelario and Jake Fraley went deep for the Reds, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Tuesday’s game is scheduled to feature a pair of hard-throwing right-handers in Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene (0-1, 4.86 ERA) and Seattle’s Logan Gilbert (0-0, 2.66).
Greene, who will make his first appearance against the Mariners, is coming off a 7-2 loss Wednesday to Milwaukee in a game in which he allowed seven runs (six earned) on six hits in six innings, with one walk and nine strikeouts.
Gilbert, who is 1-0 with a 5.06 ERA in one previous outing against the Reds, has made two quality starts this season but has yet to get a decision.
–Field Level Media
