Mariners embrace new team approach and each other, walk it off 5-4

The City Connects strike again!

A quick glance of tonight’s pitching matchup would show what manager Dan Wilson described pregame as “an old veteran versus a young veteran.” Perhaps a symbolic representation of the nearing yet uncertain end of this 2024 Mariners season, many of the team’s most promising results have come out of learning from the old and embracing the new. With long term changes to the team including new signings and contract extensions, as well as the notable recent changes of manager, hitting coach, and overall team philosophy, this team still has much to learn from past performances but has appeared to embrace the new aspects of the club and slowly head towards an upward trajectory.

Tonight’s game began predictably as a battle between two strong pitching performances from Max Scherzer and Logan Gilbert, with each team trying to find base runners any way they could. The Mariners struck first in the bottom of the second inning with a sacrifice fly from Josh Rojas to bring home Jorge Polanco, who had reached base on a single.

The Rangers wasted no time catching up, however, as center fielder Leody Taveras smashed a two-run home run on an elevated 2-2 fastball to give Texas a 2-1 lead in the top of the third.

If there were any inclinations of fans starting to get anxious, Julio brought life right back into every inch of the stadium with an almost exact carbon copy of his home run from last night, and arguably an even more emphatic bat flip. The game was tied at 2-2 after the bottom of the third.

Both Scherzer and Gilbert continued to battle until the top of the fifth, when Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien launched another two-run homer to put Texas ahead 4-2. In the bottom of the fifth, with Cal Raleigh on first from a walk, Luke “Nuke” Raley struck again, hitting a two-run homer to dead center to tie the game at 4-4.

Another huge team effort from the bullpen included lights out innings from Troy Taylor, Collin Snider, and Andrés Muñoz to set the Mariners up for a Saturday night walk-off special.

And special, it was. Victor Robles started the inning off with a screaming double to the corner of the left field wall, and a mid-at-bat intentional walk to Julio Rodriguez and walk to Cal loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

With the 33,000+ crowd on its feet ready to erupt, the confidence in this offense really started to feel like it was returning. If the batter in front of you doesn’t do it, the next guy will. Every batter, with the tremendous help of the great Edgar Martinez and his new hitting approaches, is finding ways to get on base.

There is beauty in the anticipation of something great. The moments when you hold on to the edge of your seat with a combination of fear and hope. In this instance, on this night, Randy Arozarena wanted and needed this walk-off single just as much as the fans did. As he put the ball through the infield and ran to embrace his teammates in celebration with his arms wide open, the deafening cheers and unmatched energy were combined with a huge sigh of relief.

A relief in knowing that the team had learned from their failures in past game situations, learned from all of the ups and down of the season so far, and embraced the new chapter that they are trying to write. A few months ago, tonight would’ve ended differently. That nervous combination of fear and hope would’ve likely turned quickly into heartbreak. But on this Saturday night, the Mariners 2024 season lives to see another day.