Inside The Mariners

Seattle Mariners Close Out Incredible Homestand With 6-3 Win Over Tampa Bay Rays

The Mariners earned their season-best seventh-straight win and swept a second consecutive series Sunday.
Teren Kowatsch|
Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor points to the dugout after hitting a home run against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 10 at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor points to the dugout after hitting a home run against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 10 at T-Mobile Park. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

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Seattle MarinersTampa Bay Rays

SEATTLE — If a team drew up its idea of a perfect homestand, it would look very similar to what the Seattle Mariners accomplished over the last week-and-a-half.

The Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 on Sunday at T-Mobile Park. It was the M's' seventh-consecutive win (a season-high), their third-straight series win, their second consecutive sweep and gave them a 9-1 record on their 10-game homestand. Seattle is 66-53 on the season, a half-game behind the Houston Astros for first place the American League West and owns the top AL Wild Card spot by one game over the Boston Red Sox.

"A great homestand," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview. "Outstanding work. Now it's time to take it on the road and just continue the momentum."

Seattle's win was mostly due to a dominant showing by the offense in the first inning.

In the bottom of the first, designated hitter Cal Raleigh wasted no time getting his team on the board and hit a two-run homer to right field. It was Raleigh's major league-leading 45th home run and gave him 98 RBIs on the season — also the most in the majors.

Raleigh's blast tied National Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench for the second-most single-season home runs by a catcher in MLB history.

Several at-bats later, third baseman Eugenio Suarez bolstered the Mariners' lead to 4-0 through the first inning with a two-RBI single.

All four runs were scored before Rays starting pitcher and 2025 trade acquisition Adrian Houser recorded an out. He threw 24 pitches before registering his first out and finished with 45 pitches in the first inning.

"I just think, first thing that pops out, offense is playing really well. Just putting together really good at-bats," Raleigh said after the game. "Top-to-bottom. Guys are starting at the top, driving in runs in the middle and guys at the bottom are doing the same thing. ... With having a deeper lineup, you're seeing a lot of guys — a lot of consistency in the lineup. Guys are getting (at-bats) off lefties, lefties are hitting lefties, righties are hitting righties. When you're having those consistent ABs, you can be a little more consistent. You're seeing more pitches, it's not so foreign to you. Running out that same kind of lineup every single day is important."

Houser settled in after Seattle's first-inning display and didn't allow a run for the rest of his outing. He finished with four strikeouts, walked three, hit three batters, committed a balk and allowed four earned runs on six hits (one home run). Throughout the rest of his outing, Tampa Bay slowly chipped away at Seattle's lead.

The Rays scored one run apiece in the second, third and fourth innings to cut the Mariners' advantage to 4-3 going into the fifth.

Tampa Bay shortstop Ha-Seong Kim hit an RBI double in the top of the second, left fielder Chandler Simpson scored on a groundout hit by first baseman Yandy Diaz in the third and Kim hit a solo home run in the fourth.

Seattle starter Bryan Woo rebounded in the fifth and sixth innings, struck out three batters and left three Rays runners stranded. He fanned nine, walked one and allowed three earned runs on seven hits (one home run) in six innings. It was his 23rd start of the season (a career-high). He's pitched through the sixth inning in all of them.

"Good week-and-a-half for the boys," Woo said in a postgame interview. "Coming out of the deadline, realizing the special group that we have in this locker room — not just the talent on the field, but also everybody's gelling really well. Obviously it's great. You want to continue to stack wins and be in a position where at the end of September, we're in a good spot and playing our best baseball. As long as we're in it and playing our best baseball at the right time, I think that's what matters most."

First baseman Josh Naylor bought the Mariners some breathing room with a solo homer to right field in the bottom of the seventh. Right fielder Dominic Canzone added the finishing touches to the win and hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth for the eventual final of 6-3.

Reliever Matt Brash entered the game in the ninth and retired the side in order to earn his third save of the season in as many opportunities.

Seattle will have an off-day Monday before a nine-game road trip, starting with a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles. Game 1 is at 3:35 p.m. PT on Tuesday.

George Kirby will start for the Mariners and Dean Kremer will start for the Orioles.

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Teren Kowatsch
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