Seattle Mariners Dominate Chicago White Sox With Monster First Inning
The Seattle Mariners off-the-field moves this week sparked some excitement among the team's fan base. They traded for Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena on Thursday and right-handed reliever Yimi Garcia on Friday and both of them are expected to report to the team on Saturday.
On Friday against the Chicago White Sox, the Mariners finally put together an on-field performance that had the same level of excitement as their off-field ones.
Seattle blew out the Chicago White Sox 10-0 on Friday behind a monster first inning that included eight scores and three-straight home runs. The win improved the Mariners to 54-51 on the season.
"A complete game," Mariners manager Scott Servais said in a postgame interview Friday. "Great game for our offense tonight. We had been struggling in the worst way. And Vosler — huge hit there in the first inning then everything started to flow with two outs and the home runs late in that inning. Really happy for our guys to jump out the way we did today."
The Mariners this season have struggled with the bases loaded. Before Friday they had walked away with the bases loaded and no runs from it in seven of their last eight games.
On Friday with the bases loaded and two outs — Jason Vosler put Seattle on the scoreboard with a two-RBI single. Mitch Garver followed with an RBI double. 3-0 Mariners.
Jason Vossler and Mitch Garver got the party started in the first 👊 pic.twitter.com/uBct8XHueK
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 27, 2024
And then the home run party started. Josh Rojas hit a three-run homer to right-center, Dylan Moore hit a solo shot to left-center and Victor Robles rounded things out with a one-run bomb to left field.
By the time the first inning was over — Chicago starter Drew Thorpe was pulled and the Mariners were up 8-0 and already went through the order.
You get a home run! You get a home run! You get a home run! pic.twitter.com/hVm2wxSNxU
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 27, 2024
Jorge Polanco rounded out the scoring with a two-run home run to left-center field in the top of the fourth.
Polo's turn! #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/h2ZHcLUYBb
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 27, 2024
It was the first time this season Seattle hit consecutive home runs, it was the team's highest-scoring first-inning since July 30, 2003, against the Detroit Tigers and it was the first time since June 21, 2022 that the Mariners hit three consecutive home runs, according to Mariners PR.
Every single player in the starting lineup except for one recorded a base hit for Seattle.
The offense wasn't the only bit of Mariners history made on Saturday.
George Kirby, who preserved the shutout, recorded his ninth consecutive quality start on Friday. He threw seven innings and struck out seven batters. He walked one and let up six hits. He's the first Seattle pitcher to record nine consecutive quality starts since James Paxton did it from June 27-Aug. 10, 2017, according to Mariners PR.
Seattle could not have dreamed up a better start to the road trip. Off the heels of two solid trades — they put a dominant offensive showcase and (most importantly) put up runs with runners in scoring position.
The bad news is the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 on Friday and preserved their 1.0 game lead in the American League West.
But Seattle has two top-flight players arriving tomorrow and is coming off its best single-inning showing of the season. And lowly White Sox are just the team to go against and keep that momentum going.
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MARINERS ACQUIRE AROZARENA: The Seattle Mariners reportedly agreed to a deal to acquire outfielder Randy Arozarena from the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night, according to multiple reports. CLICK HERE
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