Mariners Can’t Come Through In The Clutch, Split Series With Royals Behind 3-2 Loss
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Frustrations will be high, with the team itself and specific players on the roster, for fans of the Seattle Mariners following their 3-2 defeat to the Kansas City Royals in the series finale of this four-game set. Right handed starter Logan Evans pitched well for the Mariners, having been called up from AAA Tacoma earlier in the day, delivering five and two thirds innings of shutout baseball against a pesky Royals lineup. All of the scoring for the first six innings of this game came off a Jorge Polanco solo homer in the fourth, but a three-run seventh ultimately saw Kansas City pull out a win tonight to split the series.
Seattle Mariners right handed starting pitcher Logan Evans threw 5.2 scoreless innings in this outing against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, July 3rd, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Eric Hiller for Circling Seattle Sports)
Once the Mariners sent starter Emerson Hancock down to AAA Tacoma after a rough start on July 1st, the second game of this series, it was clear that Seattle was going to call up Logan Evans to take his place in the rotation given what he’d shown during his previous stint this season. Evans picked right back up where he left off in his last start with the Mariners, as he delivered five and two thirds innings of shutout baseball after being recalled from the Rainiers earlier today. A 1-2-3 top of the first set the tone for Logan, who struck out Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr. to kick things off before a weak ground ball to Cole Young at second by Vinnie Pasquantino closed off a nice top of the frame.
From that top of the first inning, the Mariners and Royals danced a bit with Seattle stranding runners in each of the first three frames in the form of a Julio Rodríguez walk in the bottom of the first, Jorge Polanco double and Luke Raley walk in the second, and a J.P. Crawford single in the third.
This series finale hit a potential inflection point in the top of the fourth, as this troublesome Kansas City lineup loaded the bases with three of the first four batters as India walked, Pasquantino was “hit by a pitch (reply review angles looked suspect), and Maikel Garcia singled with one out. Salvador Perez came to the plate with the bags packed and just the one tally in the out column, looking to do more damage as he has hit .271 for his career in 41 games at T-Mobile Park, but the 24-year-old Evans was unflappable as he got the legendary catcher to pop out and Kansas City right fielder John Rave suffered the same fate.
Seattle seemed primed to swing the momentum pendulum fully in their favor following that big escape from a jam and because Mariners designated hitter Jorge Polanco blasted a solo shot to right field, his 12th blast of the season and just his third since the beginning of the month of May. It appeared as though the home team was going to get to Kansas City starter Seth Lugo, as first baseman Luke Raley followed up the Polanco homer with a double, but the next three Seattle batters failed to bring Raley across home plate and they had to settle for the narrow lead of one run.
Jorge Polanco’s solo homer was quickly followed up by a Luke Raley double as the Seattle Mariners tacked on the first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning in their eventual 3-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, July 3rd, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Eric Hiller for Circling Seattle Sports)
“I mean, his pitching was phenomenal, and that’s a really tough lineup to navigate, and he kept us in the game…His strength, is to mix it up, to use all of his pitches, to use both sides of the plate, to go up and down. I mean, he really game plans well. He doesn’t overuse certain pitches so that when he does want him, they’re effective and he locates.”
From there, Evans saw some traffic across his final inning and two thirds of work via another hit by pitch (this time striking Freddy Fermin) and an India single in the fifth before a Salvador Perez double in the sixth with two outs saw Dan Wilson end his night. Reliever Casey Legumina came in to take over for the Mariners, and a John Rave walk in his first batter faced unfortunately foreshadowed the trouble he’d see in the top of the seventh.
For the second time in the game, Seattle left Luke Raley stranded on second base as he singled and advanced to second on a throwing error by India in the bottom of the sixth to turn the card over to the seventh. Legumina came back out to throw a second inning. A Fermin lineout started the frame off right, but things changed swiftly after that as Kyle Isbel and India both walked, albeit with some poor calls from home plate umpire David Arrieta, and Carlos Vargas was brought in to try and put the fire out. Singles by Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino drove in three runs for the Royals, who now had a lead that they’d never relinquish. Kansas City nearly didn’t score that critical third run, as Witt Jr. seemed dead to rights as the throw home on Pasquantino’s single had caught him in time for Raleigh to be able to turn and attempt a tag at the plate. A split second reaction to keep his left hand in the air and out of reach of the tag and instead use his right arm to reach over and tag home was the deciding run in this one.
“He’s extremely talented. We all know that, and you know, he rises to the occasion. That was a big hit, big stolen base that sets up Vinny. They bring the infield in, and that is all of those things that are important. Every little ounce of everything is important in these games are really close.”
Kansas City Royals star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. represented the winning run, evading the tag at home plate from Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh in the visiting teams eventual 3-2 victory on Thursday, July 3rd, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Eric Hiller for Circling Seattle Sports)
The Mariners had individual base runners in the bottom of the seventh and eighth, but never moved past second base. It came down to the bottom of the ninth for Seattle, who had the bottom third of their lineup due to face Kansas City reliever Carlos Estévez. The comeback attempt began with a Dominic Canzone solo home run to center field on a line drive, crushing a slider in the lower outside corner of the zone for his sixth blast of the season. Miles Mastrobuoni, pinch hitting for Ben Williamson, poked a single to right field that just escaped the glove of a sliding Rave, to keep the momentum moving along in Seattle’s favor just as Raley’s double did after Polanco’s homer earlier on the night. J.P. Crawford went opposite field for a single on a fastball at the top of the zone to put runners on first and second with just one out against the Royals closer, before Estévez fired a fastball that went wildly over Fermin behind the plate and instead hit the netting protecting the fans in the diamond club.
With one out and the two faces of their franchise coming to the plate, the Mariners had the tying and winning run aboard plus in scoring position. In so many situations besides this one, there should have been a feeling of optimism that Seattle was going to get it done and complete the comeback in walk off fashion. But given the struggles of Julio offensively this year and perhaps a return to Earth for Raleigh this year, the Mariners saw their efforts fall short. Rodríguez battled back from being down 0-2 in the count but ultimately struck out looking on a pitch inside that clipped the zone. Raleigh was unable to put a slider lingering in the heart of the plate in play, sending it to the seats in the not so fun way, and instead beat a slider at the bottom of the plate into the ground for an easy third out to end the game.
Seattle Mariners right fielder Dominic Canzone hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in the teams eventual 3-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, July 3rd, 2025. (Photos by Eric Hiller for Circling Seattle Sports)
Quick Mariners notes, from Mariners PR
38,030 was the announced paid attendance at T-Mobile Park for this series finale between the visiting Kansas City Royals and our Seattle Mariners.
“Sockeye” the Salmon won tonight’s Mariners “Salmon Run,” giving the in-game event a third different winner in as many days.
2025 Salmon Run standings, so far
King: 17 wins
Silver: 14 wins
Sockeye: 12 wins
Humpy: 0 wins
The Green Muckleshoot Casino & Resort boat won tonight’s Mariners “Hydro Challenge”
2025 Hydro Challenge standings, so far
Green boat: 15 wins
Yellow boat: 15 wins
Red boat: 13 wins
The Mariners lose 3-2 to the Kansas City Royals to split the 4-game series 2-2.
Despite the loss, the Mariners hold a series record of 15-10-3 this season.
Mariners starter Logan Evans threw 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits with 3 strikeouts and 1 walk…he threw 95 pitches (56 strikes) in his 8th start of the season.
Evans became the 10th pitcher in franchise history to record 5.0+ innings in each of their first 8+ career games and is the first Mariners pitcher to so since Mike Montgomery did it in 9 straight starts from June 2-July 17, 2015.
It is the 2nd time this season Evans has thrown 5.0+ scoreless innings, and is his 7th start this season with 2-or-less walks.
In his first 4 home starts of his career, Evans is 2-0 with a 2.28 ERA (6 ER, 23.2 IP) with 13 strikeouts and 7 walks and a 0.89 WHIP.
Jorge Polanco went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, and his 11th home run of the season with a solo shot in the 5th inning.
It is his 5th game with 3+ hits this season, and 2nd time recording a double and a home run in the same game this season.
Polanco recorded 2 doubles and 1 home run for just the 2nd time in his career (also: 9/6/21 at CLE, 3 doubles, 1 HR).
Dominic Canzone went 1-4 with a solo home run in the 9th inning, his 6th home run of the season, and the 20th of his career.
Julio Rodríguez collected 1 walk, recorded his 14th stolen base of the season, and his 100th career stolen base in the 1st inning, becoming the 10th player in franchise history with 100+ stolen bases.
Rodríguez also became the 3rd fastest player in history to 100 career stolen bases (515 G), trailing only Julio Cruz (269 G) and Ichiro Suzuki (372 G).
J.P. Crawford went 2-for-5, extending a 5-game hitting streak (6/29-c), and recording his 3rd multi-hit game of the season.
Over his last 29 games (5/30-c), he is batting .333 (42x126) with 13 runs, 6 doubles, 2 home runs, 11 RBI, 3 stolen bases, and 16 walks compared to 18 strikeouts.
Luke Raley went 2-for-3 with a single, a double, and 1 walk, hitting his 6th double with his 6th multi-hit game of the season.
Miles Mastrobuoni recorded a pinch-hit single in the 9th inning, the 4th time this season he has hit safely in a pinch-hit plate appearance.
Ben Williamson went 1-for-3 and extended his 5-game hitting streak (6/27-c) with a single in the 7th inning.
The Mariners bullpen (Casey Legumina, Carlos Vargas, Eduard Bazardo and Trent Thornton) combined for 3.1 innings of relief, allowing 3 runs on 2 hits with 2 strikeouts with 4 walks.
In 3 appearances against the Royals in the series, Bazardo threw 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just 1 hit with 3 strikeouts.
Odds and ends from the day at the ballpark
Crew chief Andy Fletcher could be seen talking to Mariners manager Dan Wilson a few times early into the ballgame, and Wilson said postgame that it was just about some “upcoming rules” that may be enforced and not anything related to the game itself.
Mariners right handed starter Bryce Miller (15-day injured list) is apparently set to throw a bullpen on Saturday.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s frustrating defeat to the Kansas City Royals to split a four-game home set, our Seattle Mariners are back in action with a day game tomorrow on Friday, July 4th. They will begin a three-game weekend set against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a holiday start time of 1:10PM PDT that will be broadcast live on ROOT Sports Northwest and go live over the radio airwaves on Seattle Sports (710 AM). On the mound, the Pirates will have left handed pitcher Bailey Falter set to battle against right handed pitcher Bryan Woo, as Woo was originally scheduled to pitch in tonight’s contest but the rest of the rotation was pushed back for an extra day of rest and Evans got the nod instead. The first 10,000 fans into the ballpark will receive a “Patriotic” Mariners themed trucker hat to celebrate the July 4th holiday.
The Pirates come into this series having won six straight games, three-game sweeps of the Mets and Cardinals, a turnaround from losing six of the previous nine before that. Pittsburgh has largely struggled this season, sitting 14.5 games behind the Cubs for the National League Central division lead and nine games behind the last wild card spot, but their recent strong form (Winning those last six games and holding an 8-2 record in their last ten) obviously means they won’t come into T-Mobile Park and just lay down. The Mariners have seemingly fallen back into being largely “mid” dating back to mid-June besides a sweep of the Cleveland Guardians and a wacky series in against the Cubs in Chicago. They have now split two four-game series in the past two weeks and just can’t make up any ground on a Houston Astros team that seemingly functions without it’s stars atop the American League West division. The Mariners should be in a place to buy at the deadline, but it’s not going to be an easy stretch to get to that point. A tough month of July features series against the Yankees, Tigers, Astros, and Brewers before deadline day on the 31st of the month. Seattle must get more production from its stars and find some semblance of form.
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