Seattle Mariners Offense Continues to Roll Against St. Louis Cardinals
The Seattle Mariners are heating up at the right time of the year.
The Mariners won their third straight game with a 6-1 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday. Seattle had 11 base hits on Friday. It was the third-straight game the Mariners has had double-digit hits — the first time they've accomplished that feat all season.
"I think all together, as a group, we simplified a bunch of stuff," Seattle shortstop JP Crawford said in a postgame interview Friday. "It felt like everybody went into every at-bat just relaxed and calm and ready to do damage. We all have a plan and these last couple games the plan has been simple. And I think everybody's bought into that. ... I think collectively over these last couple months we were going in with a plan that was way too complicated. And these last couple weeks we simplified everything. Just getting back to trusting yourself, trusting your hands and 'see ball, hit ball' type of mentality."
The win improved the Mariners to 72-70 and kept them 4.5 games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West.
The two teams struggled to break through offensively despite getting several runners on base through the first half of the game.
Randy Arozarena broke the drought with an RBI sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth that scored Victor Robles and put Seattle up 1-0.
Dylan Moore continued to tally runs for the Mariners one inning with a two-run homer to left field.
Jordan Walker gave St. Louis its only run of the game with a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the seventh that cut Seattle's lead to 3-1.
It looked like it was going to be another one-run game in a road trip that's been filled with them for the Mariners. But Seattle finally built some distance in the top of the ninth inning.
Cal Raleigh hit a two-RBI double and and Luke Raley followed with an RBI single to give the Mariners the eventual final of 6-1.
Seattle has bounced back after a rough first half of their 10-game road trip. Unfortunately for the Mariners, they were unable to gain any ground on Houston in the AL West.
But the Mariners looked to have finally adapted to the coaching of Edgar Martinez and managerial style of Dan Wilson. There's 20 games left in the season and there's no time better than now for Seattle to get on a roll.
Logan Gilbert will get the start for the Mariners in Game 2 of the series against the Cardinals at 4:15 p.m. PT on Saturday.
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