Mariners Pitching Struggles Continue in 10-5 Series Opening Defeat to Rangers
By Hayden Press
Seattle, WA - The Seattle Mariners entered their three-game set Tuesday against the Texas Rangers six games back from the AL West leading Houston Astros, and five and a half games behind the AL Central’s Cleveland Guardians in the wild card. In his pregame scrum, Mariners manager Dan Wilson clearly addressed what was at stake: “Starting a big series here. No question about it. Each of these games, we really have to treat one at a time, and go out there each night and win that game. I don’t think we can look too far ahead.”
After Tuesday’s 10-5 loss, with Houston and Cleveland both winning, the Mariners are now seven games and six and a half games back for their respective playoff spots.
Teams that represented the state of Washington in the Little League World Series and NBC Sports lead broadcaster Mike Tirico threw out ceremonial first pitches ahead of the Texas Rangers at Seattle Mariners game on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Bryce Miller entered Tuesday’s start with a 4.01 ERA. Manager Dan Wilson announced in August that Miller would be moved to the pen to make room for top prospect Kade Anderson but was quickly slotted back into the starting rotation when Emerson Hancock was placed on the 15-day IL. This was his first home start since. In it, he went 3.2 innings with six strikeouts and four earned runs.
Despite the disappointing opening to the series, there was one moment above all others which brought joy to the 35,476 fans in attendance. In the 4th inning, with runners on first and third, Lazaro Montes met the eyes of Rangers starter Cal Quantrill, and when he got his pitch, a four-seam fastball right over the heart of the plate, he crushed it.
Montes’ three run, 474ft shot to centerfield tied Fernando Tatis Jr.’s mark for the farthest home run of the MLB season. It also broke the record for the farthest recorded home run in T-Mobile Park in the Statcast Era, which was held by former Mariner catcher Mike Zunino (470ft).
“Right when I hit it, I said, ‘Oh man, this is far,’” Montes told reporters. “I think in the Dominican Republic, I have, like, one of the long, long, long, long, long, more than 500 feet [home runs]. This is not the only one. I need to, now, get another one,” he declared with a confident smile.
Seattle Mariners outfielder Lazaro Montes during the team’s 10-5 defeat against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Another positive for the Mariners is the notable upward trajectory of Cal Raleigh’s batting numbers.
Since August 16th, the star catcher entered Tuesday batting .333 with nine home runs and a 1.309 OPS in 74 plate appearances. Before the game, Dan Wilson was asked about Raleigh’s long-awaited return to form.
“[It’s] a testament to his hard work all season long: his adjustments, the things that he has put forth to try to get it turned around. He has been outstanding here lately.”
Raleigh doubled and scored in the fourth inning but wasn’t able to reach base in any of his three other plate appearances.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh during the team’s 10-5 defeat against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
On Opening Day, FanGraphs projected the Seattle Mariners would end the 2026 regular season with a record of 88-74, good enough for fourth in their MLB wide power rankings. Those same projections put their playoff odds at 80.4%. As of September 8th, 2026, they are 67-78 and their playoff chances according to FanGraphs now stand at 2.6%, with a 2.3% chance to win their division and a 0.2% chance to win the World Series.
Quick notes from Mariners PR
35,476 was the announced paid attendance at T-Mobile Park for this MLB regular season game between the visiting Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners.
Lazaro Montes crushed his first home run at T-Mobile Park to put the Mariners first 3 runs on the board.
His 3-run homer traveled 474 ft., tied for the farthest home run hit in MLB this season, matching a Fernando Tatis Jr.-SD homer hit on July 21 at ATL.
Also marks the farthest home run recorded in T-Mobile Park in the Statcast Era.
Dominic Canzone singled on the first pitch of his at-bat in the first inning for the Mariners first hit of the night and recorded his 24th double in the 8th inning for an RBI…extended his hit streak to 8 games (8/31-c) for the longest such streak of his career, surpassing his 7-game hit streak recorded previously this season on 6/10-6/17.
Over his streak is batting .286 (10x35) with 3 runs, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, and 6 RBI while owning a.342 OBP and a .514 SLG.
Recorded his 26th multi-hit game of the season in tonight’s game…is 2 such games away from doubling his amount of multi-hit games recorded last season (14 G), also his previous career-high.
Brock Rodden knocked his 3rd double of the season…has hit safely in 4 of his last 5 games, going 6-for-11 (.545) over those 5 games since the start of September.
Cal Raleigh recorded a double to lead off the 4th inning and scored a run in tonight’s game…extended his hit streak to 9 games (8/29-c)…is tied for the longest streak of his career (2x, last: 7/20/25-7/29/25).
Is batting .382 (13x34) with 9 runs, 5 doubles, 3 homers, 7 RBI, a .447 OBP and a .794 SLG over his 9-game hit streak.
Has recorded 5 doubles over his last 8 games since Aug. 30…is tied for the most doubles he has recorded over an 8-game span (2x, last: 9/11/21-9/29/21)…his 12 extra-base hits since Aug. 24 are tied for the most XBH he has recorded over a 13-game span (2x, last: 9/12/25-9/26/25)
Cole Young went 2-for-4 and scored a run on a Lazaro Montes homer…has scored a run in 6 of his last 8 games since Aug. 31…his 7 runs scored over the 8-game span are tied for the 2nd most he has recorded over 8 games in his career (3x, last: 6/29-7/8)…marks his 29th multi-hit game of the season.
Randy Arozarena went 1-for-3 with 1 run, 1 walk, and an RBI on a sac fly…has reached base in each of his last 8 games (8/31-c), batting .355 (11x31) with 8 runs, 2 doubles, 2 homers, 8 RBI, and 4 walks for a .447 OBP and a .613 SLG over the stretch.
Has reached base 2+ times in each of his last 5 games (9/3-c), longest streak of the season and longest since he also recorded 5 consecutive such games from June 5-9.
His 60 walks this season are T-2nd most on the team, trailing Raleigh’s 61 BB.
Josh Naylor singled to lead off the 9th inning…has hit safely in 5 of his last 7 games since the start of September.
Bryce Miller tossed 3.2 innings with 2 runs (2 ER) allowed on 4 hits (1 HR) and 3 walks while striking out 6 batters…threw 84 pitches and 52 strikes…his 3.2 innings pitched are the fewest he has recorded in a start this season and is only the 3rd time in his career he has recorded 3.2-or-fewer innings in a start (last: 6/30/23 vs. TB).
Marks his 8th start with 6+ strikeouts this season (last: 7/17 vs. SF).
What’s next?
After another frustrating defeat in this seven-game homestand, the Seattle Mariners will continue their three-game series against the Texas Rangers with the first of two consecutive-day games tomorrow, Wednesday, September 9th. It’ll be a SoDo doubleheader on Wednesday, as the Mariners' day game against the Rangers will take place before the Seattle Seahawks open their 2026 NFL season by hosting the New England Patriots at Lumen Field with a 5:20 PM PDT kickoff.
This game will be the third major league start for Seattle starting pitcher Kade Anderson, as it’ll be a game between two lefty starters, with Texas sending 28-year-old Cody Bradford out on the mound to oppose the Mariners rookie. Making a limited number of starts in 2023 and 2024 before this season for the Rangers, Bradford will make his seventh start of the year tomorrow, since his first back in early August. It’s been a decent year for the lefty born in Aledo, Texas, going five or more innings in three starts while giving up two or fewer earned runs in three of them. His last outing against the Athletics saw him get roughed up for five runs over just four innings, so the Mariners will be looking to repeat what took place against Bradford in that start.
For Anderson, the star prospect is looking to continue getting better with the knowledge of his past two starts at the major league level, having allowed three earned runs or less in both outings but failing to go through the fifth inning last time out at the Blue Jays. Kade has waivered late into his outings, having never gone past 80 pitches during his minor league tenure this year before doing so in both of his starts with Seattle so far. The lefty who seemingly played with hitters in search of a challenge during the latter months of the summer with AA Arkansas has a new obstacle in front of him, and that’s finding his true footing and stuff at the big league level.
Off the field, this will be the second of three chances for fans to take home the Andrés Muñoz Funko POP! Collectible, with the first 10,000 fans through the gates at T-Mobile Park taking home the giveaway item. Additionally, it’s another Mariners Value Game, as tickets start under $12 for Mariners Value Games all season long. Fans can also take advantage of the Mariners Value Menu and Mariners Value Beer options for all 81 home games. For more information, visit Mariners.com/Value. To loop back to the SoDo doubleheader, the Mariners are offering fans a “12s Tailgate Ticket Special,” featuring a Mariners game ticket and a Mariners Dog and Miller High Life or Refillable Soda Combo before cheering on the Hawks in their season opener.
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This is Hayden Press’ first article with Circling Seattle Sports.
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