The Mariners held a team meeting on Saturday night after suffering their second consecutive loss to the Nationals. Manager Scott Servais gave a brief speech during the meeting.
They had to show up and play more effectively.
On Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park, the offense surged to victory, defeating the Nats 9–5, just in time to prevent a series whitewash.
Prior to the season finale, Servais stated, “We just need to go out and compete.” “Compete and find a way to try and put some things together. It has been a struggle with us here in the last couple of days.”
The Mariners got on the board first for the second time in this series. In the second inning, Jorge Polanco grounded into a force out to score Mitch Garver, giving the team a 1-0 lead with runners on first and third.
The Mariners continued to score in their first multihomer performance since a 6-3 victory against the Yankees on Tuesday, in contrast to their one-run efforts on Friday and Saturday.
With a 108.8 mph exit velocity, Julio Rodríguez launched his second solo home run in two days to left-center field to start the fourth inning. After a single batter, Ty France emulated Rodríguez by hitting his sixth home run of the year to left field, which added two more runs to the Mariners’ advantage of 4-0.
“As we all know, [Rodríguez] is a really young, aggressive hitter. When he gets the ball in the zone, he’s going to hit it hard,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.
Seattle fulfilled Servais’s request by providing run support for the starters with those two home runs. Bryan Woo’s ERA increased to 1.66 after he gave up three runs on five hits in six innings. Twenty of his twenty-four first pitches were strikes.
“I thought Bryan was awesome today, really efficient,” Servais remarked. “I think he’s thrown the ball very well in his last four or five outings. He’s got the split going again and the fastball has been a really good one.”
After being placed on the disabled list at the start of the season, Woo was only allowed to pitch 70 pitches (49 strikes) before leaving the game in the eighth. Seattle is still keeping an eye on Woo’s workload.
Thirsty for a sweep, the Nats eventually took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the seventh after scoring five runs in a row. However, Seattle was determined to make a positive homecoming home.
In the eighth inning, with the score tied at one, Rodríguez singled to start the rally. It was his second hit of the game and he drove in J.P. Crawford, who had previously doubled.
“The Crawford at-bat leading off the next inning after they had taken the lead was huge,” Servais stated. “Long at-bat, gets a double and the train starts rolling after that.”
Subsequently, France reached base and singled on a line drive to right field, providing Rodríguez with the necessary RBI.
The Mariners continued in the ninth inning. After a pitch hit Dylan Moore, Josh Rojas entered the game to score, extending the advantage to 7-5. Rodríguez hit a single into right field to add two more runs to his recent hot streak.
In the series finale, they batted together for 10 hits out of 37 pitches and only 6 strikeouts. They combined for 22 strikeouts throughout their two days on Friday and Saturday, going 5-for-32. The crew knew they would put on a show like this on Sunday.
“It’s huge to finish off the road trip on a bit better note,” according to Woo. “Our clubhouse and everyone within it knows that our team is really, really good. It’s not just pitching, our offense is really good. We’ve got a lot of good bats, a lot of good guys. So it’ll come along.”
The Mariners will need to strive to maintain consistency when they begin a seven-game homestand against the Astros on Monday. They have already demonstrated their ability to overcome adversity. Servais stated that they will need to rely on Rodríguez’s potent bat and a steady offensive line to make it to the next off-day on June 3.