CLEVELAND — For about three minutes on Sunday afternoon, Julio Rodríguez and the rest of the Mariners waited.
The play prior, Rodríguez had legged out a ball on the infield that resulted in a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning.
But almost immediately after the play ended, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt challenged it, which resulted in Rodríguez and the 34,136 fans in the stands at Progressive Field staring at the 13,000 square-foot video board in right field to figure out if he was safe.
And after that aforementioned three-minute review process, crew chief Mark Wegner announced that the play stood and Rodríguez was safe.
That play ended up being the deciding factor, as the Mariners’ bullpen carried the weight the rest of the way in a 4-2 Seattle win.
“Those two runs are everything,” Wilson said.
Rodríguez’s go-ahead hit was set up by a Dominic Canzone single, a Cole Young walk and a Cal Raleigh intentional walk sandwiched between a fielder’s choice and a groundout.
After working the count full and taking a sweeper on the border of the strike zone, Rodríguez knocked a pitch back up the middle that was fielded by Daniel Schneemann, who turned and fired an 80.3 mph throw to first but wasn’t able to get the speedy Rodríguez.
“It was bang-bang, no question about it. I know they take their time looking at it. The call on the field was safe based on what [the replay] showed,” Wilson said.
At numerous points on Sunday, play had to be stopped due to the noise generated by the speed with which the Thunderbirds were flying overhead as a part of Cleveland’s annual air show.
This time, Rodríguez’s speed was the reason for the stoppage in play.
“We have something like that in Seattle, so it kind of felt like we were at home,” Rodríguez said. “It was a great show too.”
The play scored both J.P. Crawford from third base and Young from second. Young, who is in the 62nd percentile in sprint speed, never stopped running on the play and was getting waved home the entire time by third-base coach Kristopher Negrón.
“Huge play for us,” Wilson said.
In fact, it was such a huge play that Rodríguez didn’t realize exactly what had happened until after the stoppage was over.
“I looked at the scoreboard and said, ‘We scored two runs?’” Rodríguez said. “That was a great heads-up play by [Young].”
Rodríguez, who entered the game in the 92nd percentile in sprint speed, got from home to first in 4.12 seconds, which is his fastest sprint to first this year.
“He can really run,” Wilson said. “It was so big for us right there for him to get down the line and get to first base. He’s done it on both sides.”
Rodríguez also reached a sprint speed of 30.9 feet per second on the play.
“As soon as I hit it I knew I needed to get there,” Rodríguez said. “I felt like I got there first, and once I saw the replay it was really close.”
That play helped make a winner out of Bryce Miller, who put together his best start in what’s been a rough year for the 27-year-old. He went a season-high six innings and allowed two runs on two hits and one walk to go along with three strikeouts. Cleveland’s lone runs against him came on a Schneemann home run.
Seattle’s first runs of the game came on a two-run home run from Randy Arozarena in the fifth inning off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee.
Although this season has been kind of a slog for Miller, the start was a step in the right direction. He’s now gone at least five innings in all three of his starts since he returned from the injured list on Aug. 19, and he was able to get through his six innings on an efficient 72 pitches (47 strikes).
After Miller allowed Schneemann’s home run, he and the rest of the bullpen combined to retire the final 19 Guardians hitters.
With pitching like that, it’s easy to envision a recipe for success for the Mariners in October.
“We haven’t been attacking hitters on the road, so that was a focus tonight,” Miller said. “I think overall we did a good job of that.”
