M's Drop Disappointing Finale to Guardians to Lose Series; Here's How it Happened

The Seattle Mariners started out hot on Thursday but ultimately ended up losing to the Cleveland Guardians by a score of 6-3. With that, the M's dropped the series and now it's on to Miami. Here's a look at what happened.

Brady Farkas | Jun 20, 2024

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo (58) reacts on the mound after surrendering a two-run home run to Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman (2, left) during the fourth inning at T-Mobile Park on May 28. / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

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Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners suffered a tough series loss on Thursday by falling 6-3 to the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Seattle actually had a 2-0 lead in this one after a half inning of play, but the bats went silent after that, and the Guardians just kept on pushing. Seattle is now 44-33 after the loss and dropped the season series to Cleveland four games to two. As we do after every game, here's what you need to know:

The Overwhelming Story

This loss is actually a big deal. Having lost the season series, the M's now have lost the tiebreaker to the Guardians come playoff time. If both teams win the division and have the same record, Cleveland could get the bye into the ALDS whereas the M's would need to play a wild card series. The story of this game was the inability of Luis Castillo to shut the door when necessary. Seattle took a 2-0 lead after one, but Castillo gave up one on in the first right back.

Seattle took a 3-2 lead in the fifth, but Castillo gave up three runs in that inning. "La Piedra" just didn't have the ability to finish things out today.

The Big Plays

Dylan Moore started the game with a two-run homer to make it 2-0 Seattle.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2:10:24 pic.twitter.com/sciqJ2jEOD
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) June 20, 2024

Tied at 2-2 in the fifth, Ryan Bliss gave the M's the lead:

Bliss for the lead 👊 pic.twitter.com/ojAhhdH9Mo
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) June 20, 2024

After a two-out walk in the fifth inning to Steven Kwan, Andres Gimenez gave the Guardians the lead for good.

Our beautiful, wonderful, incredible second baseman.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/3TwSxQcgC8
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) June 20, 2024

Odds and Ends

Will Brennan hit two homers for Cleveland, one off Castilo and one off Trent Thornton... Julio Rodriguez had a single... The M's were down 5-3 in the seventh and had two men on and no one out but JP Crawford flew out and Moore hit into a double play to end the threat... Ryne Stanek worked a scoreless seventh inning... Seattle heads to Miami next to play the Marlins.