SEATTLE -- The Mariners thrust themselves back into a tie for first place atop the American League West on Thursday night with a thrilling, 7-6 walk-off victory over the Angels in the 12th inning, marking their sixth win in a row.
And for the second straight game, they did so on the shoulders of a September callup, as rookie Harry Ford piggybacked off infielder Leo Rivas’ Wednesday home-run heroics in the 13th inning.
It’s the first time in franchise history that the Mariners have won back-to-back games of at least 12 innings.
Ford punched a sacrifice fly on the first pitch he saw to right field, then Jorge Polanco aggressively raced home to beat the throw, after beginning the frame with a game-tying double into the left-field corner that scored automatic runner Josh Naylor.
“Better to just do it first pitch than wait,” said Ford, who hadn’t taken any practice swings since the fourth or fifth inning. “But I was just looking for something to hit. That was it. It was right there.”
Coupled with Houston’s loss earlier in the day at Toronto, the Mariners and Astros have pulled even in the AL West standings at 79-68. Both teams are also accounting for the third and final AL Wild Card spot, with hard-charging Texas just two games back. Set to face off next weekend from Sept. 19-21 in Houston, the tiebreaker for the division will be settled with the season series tied at 5-5.
Seattle has now won 17 of its past 20 games at T-Mobile Park, dating back to the Trade Deadline. And this is the latest in the season that the club has had at least a share of first place since their historic 2001 season.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson, obviously, was the catcher for that team.
“That’s what we're playing for,” Wilson said. “And that's what this time of year is all about. We have a lot of work to do. We’ve still got a lot of games left. But it does feel like we're moving in the right direction.”
Ford, the Mariners’ No. 4 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 39 overall, has been in The Show for 11 days since rosters expanded. But he’s played sparingly -- a by-design effort to give him valuable clubhouse experience in a playoff push and Wilson a third catcher, but one he’d only use in emergency situations.
And Thursday presented precisely that.
Ford was pinch-hitting in the pitcher’s spot, after the Mariners lost the designated hitter in the top of the frame when Polanco moved from DH to second base, after Mitch Garver pinch-hit in the 11th for Cole Young, their last available infielder on the bench.
Essentially, Wilson had gone for the win an inning prior -- knowing that Ford was there as a safety net, even if he had just three career plate appearances to that point. And while Ford did register his first career RBI on Thursday, he’s still seeking his first career hit.
“I learn every day, watching and and just being around them,” Ford said. “It's really cool seeing just how differently we play when we're trying to win something, trying to make a push. So I think it's been really valuable watching Cal [Raleigh] every day catch and learn a lot from him.”
Ford might be new to the big leagues, but he’s no stranger to the big stage. The 21-year-old was among the headlining acts in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, when he starred for Team Great Britain. And he’s long been one of the most recognizable players in Seattle’s pipeline, as the club’s first-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft.
It’s not just Ford and Rivas who the Mariners have leaned on mightily during this homestand, but also, a slew of unheralded relievers such as Luke Jackson, another September callup, and José Castillo, a waiver claim who joined the team last Thursday.
Each of those two surrendered an unearned run -- letting the automatic runner come around -- in the 11th and 12th innings, respectively. But they limited the damage from there, not allowing the add-ons that have become so costly in the automatic runner era (since 2020). Overall, the Mariners’ bullpen has a 0.00 ERA in 22 2/3 innings this homestand.
The only players who weren’t used on Thursday were relievers Caleb Ferguson and Emerson Hancock, who pitched valuable innings Wednesday.
“I think we use just about everybody tonight,” Wilson said. “This was a top-to-bottom team win.”
While a tie for first place is huge for an organization that is mostly unfamiliar to this territory this late in the season, there’s still so much left for the Mariners to accomplish -- with a huge series in Houston looming next weekend, perhaps the most monumental regular-season matchup in the franchise’s recent memory.