DETROIT — One of the best intangibles to develop in baseball is a short memory.
Commit a crucial error? Tomorrow’s a new day.
Give up a grand slam? There’s always the next start.
Slump at the plate? Plenty more ABs on the way.
This can be applied to a team mindset, too. Take Seattle, for example. Fresh off three shutout wins against Pittsburgh to close out the home portion of the first half, the Mariners were flying high when they landed in New York on Monday, hoping to enter the All-Star break on an upswing.
The Yankees pulled the rug out from under them, though. New York not only swept the three-game series but also landed a getaway gut punch by breaking up Bryan Woo’s no-hitter in the eighth inning on Wednesday. Seattle’s bullpen blew a five-run lead, the game went into extras and the flight to Detroit after the ensuing off-day didn’t land until 2 a.m. local time.
It made sense to think that the funk might have followed the Mariners from the Bronx to Comerica Park, home of the team with the best record in the Majors and the reigning Cy Young Award winner.
But Seattle has honed its collective short memory, and so far this weekend, there have been no excuses.
There hasn’t been a need for them.
After Luis Castillo outpitched Tarik Skubal and Cal Raleigh broke another home run record on Friday night, the offense and pitching were on full display Saturday, too, during a 15-7 win that allowed the Mariners to claim an important series victory.
Julio Rodríguez, Luke Raley and Randy Arozarena hit towering home runs, starter George Kirby was dominant outside of a three-run homer in the fifth and Seattle benefited from another big inning at Comerica Park while dealing Detroit just its fourth home series loss of 16 this season.
It was also the second lopsided defeat the club had served the Tigers in as many days. The Mariners have scored 27 runs through the first two games of this series, their most in a two-game span since May 29-30, 2012, when they scored 31 against the Rangers.
The key to it all? Consistency.
“I can’t give enough credit to those guys in that clubhouse to bounce back,” manager Dan Wilson said Friday. “… That’s what this game is all about. You have to be able to go on and come back the next day. And these guys prove that over and over and over again.
“… We’ve pushed [the Yankees series] aside, we’ve moved on, and this one feels really good because of it.”
While Wilson applauded his club’s ability to flush the bad, a one-hour, 35-minute weather delay did nothing to slow Seattle’s momentum.
Kirby was especially sharp early, holding the Tigers to a single run in his first four innings. By the time he allowed the home run to Riley Greene in the fifth, Kirby’s teammates had built a 7-1 lead behind RBI singles from Dominic Canzone, J.P. Crawford and Rodríguez, a sacrifice fly from Raleigh and a three-run homer from Raley that highlighted the Mariners’ five-run fifth.
Rodríguez added his 13th home run of the season in the sixth, a Statcast-projected 427-foot shot to left field. He doubled in the eighth to finish a triple shy of the cycle. Two batters later, Arozarena crushed his 16th homer, a two-run shot that traveled 431 feet.
Ben Williamson hit a pair of RBI singles during a 3-for-5 showing, and Crawford added a bases-clearing double during a four-run ninth that capped Seattle’s scoring.
The power of the short-memory mentality extends beyond simple feel-good vibes: Seattle’s longest losing streak this season is just five games, and it happened just once, from June 3-7. After an up-and-down season, the Mariners might no longer lead the American League West, but they’ve still got a firm hold on the No. 2 spot and are hanging close enough to feel good about the second half.
“These last few days have been incredible,” said Kirby, who moved to 4-4 on the season with the win. “I feel like every ball [the Mariners’ offense] put in play got through a hole, or was hard-hit or in the gap or a home run. They have really been seeing the ball well these last couple of days, so if we can keep it up tomorrow. It’s always good when you can get a lot of run support. And also, the defense was great behind me today, too.”
