If there’s any question what the Mariners are trying to accomplish this season, look no further than Sunday’s 2-1, 10-inning victory over the Angels, as four rookies made the key contributions in a taut victory at Angel Stadium.
Justin Dunn threw six scoreless innings of one-hit ball, Kyle Lewis launched his eighth home run of the season, Tim Lopes drove in the winning run in the 10th and Rule 5 Draft pickup Yohan Ramirez notched his first career save.
The Mariners are just 14-22 on the season, but they have a young nucleus that is growing together and learning at the big league level and providing a peek at an interesting future. Here’s how the youngsters stepped up Sunday:
Dunn does it again
The rookie right-hander allowed just one hit and was able to work around four walks in an outstanding 96-pitch outing, as he lowered his ERA to 4.33 ERA in six starts. The 24-year-old has thrown 12 scoreless innings with just two hits allowed over his past two outings, having held Texas to one hit over six frames in his previous start as well.
“I’m really fired up about what Justin Dunn was able to do,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “He carried over his last outing and really took control of this game.”
Dunn said this performance was even more meaningful, as he and all his teammates again wore a No. 42 jersey in an extension of Jackie Robinson weekend, particularly in the wake of actor Chadwick Boseman’s death on Friday.
“That meant everything to me,” said Dunn, one of seven Black players on Seattle’s current 28-man roster. “To honor him and then Chadwick Boseman, who did an amazing job playing Jackie in '42,' and 'Black Panther' is one of my favorite movies. He’s my inner spirit animal, I guess you could say. So to go out there and do that for them was huge for me.”
Lewis keeps on rolling
Lewis has been sterling all season and he continued to make his case for the American League Rookie of the Year Award with a 408-foot solo shot to the opposite field in the seventh that gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
Lewis went 1-for-3 with a walk and is hitting .339 with 21 RBIs.
“He wasn’t real happy with the way he’s been swinging the bat the last couple days,” Servais said. “He made a comment to me before the game, ‘I’ve got one in me today, Skip.’ And he did have one in him today. It was a big one. Hits and runs were hard to come by, and we needed every one we got and his was the biggest, obviously.”
Lopes ropes the game-winner
After pitching an inning of relief in Saturday’s lopsided 16-3 loss, Lopes came through with a pinch-hit single to score Lewis from second for the go-ahead run leading off the 10th under MLB’s 2020 extra-innings format.
The 26-year-old utility man fell behind hard-throwing reliever José Quijada 0-2, then he battled through an eight-pitch at-bat before driving a changeup into left field. Lewis hesitated coming around third, but he was sent home by third-base coach Manny Acta when left fielder Brian Goodwin didn’t charge the ball as it dropped in front of him.
Lopes drew a lot of light-hearted ribbing from teammates for his mound style the night before, when he threw all looping 47-52 mph pitches while giving up a pair of runs in the eighth in order to help out the bullpen. He said getting the game-winning hit was better.
“It was definitely a different feeling,” Lopes said with a smile. “I was hoping Skip would let me close out the game today, but he didn’t.”
Yohan does slam the door
Servais did give the save opportunity to Ramirez, a live-armed 25-year-old who has nasty stuff -- but also a history of control issues -- and is just learning to harness both his pitches and emotions.
The rookie entered with the obligatory runner on second in the 10th, but he proceeded to strike out Luis Rengifo and Shohei Ohtani, then he intentionally walked Mike Trout before getting Anthony Rendon to fly out to end the game.
Servais said Ramirez was actually calmer ithan he’d been in less-tense situations in earlier appearances.
“It’s exciting for a young guy like Yohan to be in that spot,” Servais said. “That’s what we’re looking for as we move forward in the second half, creating opportunities for young players to experience those kind of things. Today will go a long ways for him. I’m super happy for that kid. He’s so emotional and loves being out there and being part of this team, so to see him take advantage of the opportunity today was awesome.”