If you had “a tidy 2-0 victory in Kauffman Stadium” on your mind tonight, no you didn’t. The amount of nonsense in AL Central road games over the past few seasons has been enough for a lifetime, but no greater shenanigans have taken place than here. There was the 11-spot in 2022, its little sibling in 2024, and despite ultimately winning three out of four games, I think plenty of ink has been spilled about that August 2023 series. Mix in a feeble righty-heavy lineup and a scuffling Logan Gilbert? Yeah, no one would blame you if you grabbed the clicker.
Tonight the Mariners transcended the ghosts of Kauffman.
The bats had an early chance in the first, with Julio Rodríguez continuing to lay waste to the Royals by ripping a one-out double down the left field line and Randy Arozarena working a walk to put two runners on. Alas, notably left-handed Royals starter Noah Cameron got the last laugh against Rob Refsnyder and Patrick Wisdom, dispatching them both on swings and misses over a combined ten pitches. Spark joy, that does not. Logan Gilbert thankfully came out of the gate strong, setting down Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. with a pair of leadoff strikeouts. Vinnie Pasquantino showed off a nice piece of hitting by slapping an up and a away fastball into left field, but after a harmless flyout from Salvador Pérez, the Royals were turned away.
That’s just kind of how the next several innings went. Logan picked up another duo of Ks from Carter Jensen and Isaac Collins that sandwiched a nice grab by Julio in center off the bat of Jac Caglianone. At long last scaling back the cutter (just nine out of 94 pitches thrown!), Gilbert’s slider and splitter were his primary offspeed offerings. The split kept any hard contact at arm’s length, and strong fastball command kept the Royals’ bats regular off balance. A one-out walk to nine-hole hitter Kyle Isbel was the only blemish through his first five frames, but things may have turned out different had J.P. Crawford not turned back the clock a tad in the fourth.
Gilbert wobbled a bit in the sixth, sneaking a knock from Garcia in between a popout from Isbel and an initially scary flyout from Witt, but an errant pickoff throw where his cleat got caught in the mound let Garcia scoot into second. Vinnie Pasquantino battled for seven pitches – the last four of which were splitters down – and came out victorious with a walk, ending a visibly frustrated Gilbert’s night. Walter may have been cranky, but after his last start against the Padres spiraled quickly, it was a reassuring sight to see that he’s still there. Eduard Bazardo was on to face Salvy, and took a minute to settle in, going into a full count before a harmless forceout at third.
Conversely, Cameron threw his four-seam just fifteen times in his six-inning start, leaning heavily on his changeup and curveballs to dice through Seattle’s hitters, setting a season-high in strikeouts in the fourth. The Mariners also did themselves no favors in the sequencing department. Julio spanked a 113 MPH ground ball into left for a two-out base hit in the third, but Randy went fishing on 2-2 curve. Mitch Garver checked in with a leadoff single in the fifth, only to be almost immediately erased by a Víctor Robles double play. But hey, Colt Emerson notched his second Major League hit, pulling a hard ground ball through the right side. J.P. Crawford and unable to get him in, though, sending a flyball to center for the third out, and after six, the 0-0 score felt quite earned.
The one silver lining on the offensive side was that the bats had worked Cameron for 96 pitches, forcing the Royals to turn to their struggling bullpen. Righty Nick Mears took over duties for the seventh, and promptly walked Cole Young. Garver stepped to the plate for the third time tonight, taking an easy high fastball before getting a middle-high sinker that didn’t sink. Two pitches prior, Angie on the broadcast opined that it was “do your job” time for the lineup.
The M’s never added on, and they never looked back. Bazardo was sent back onto the mound and threw a hellacious seventh inning, striking out the side in order – including a pair of his patented called third strikes. Matt Brash handled eighth duties, working around hits from Michael Massey and Garcia and some hard contact to stave off a late Kansas City threat. Andrés Muñoz, as is typical, was in to seal the deal. Three batters – and for the first time in his career, zero fastballs – later, and the Mariners had done the unthinkable: win a low-scoring, low-stress game in Kansas City. George Kirby squares off against notably right-handed Stephen Kolek tomorrow at 1:10pm Pacific time. Maybe the ghosts of Kauffman will show us something cool.
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