Mariners Postgame Thoughts and Notes - September 8th, 2026
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - If there was any hope for the Seattle Mariners to use what limited percentage they had of making the postseason this year, those odds grew even slimmer tonight with a blowout defeat at the hands of a division rival, the Texas Rangers. A few players’ performances swung the tide of this game for the Mariners, in positive and negative ways, with many wanting to remember just the historic homer off the bat of Lazaro Montes in the fourth inning before things took a dramatic downhill tumble in the fifth inning.
Seattle Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo 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)
Eduard Bazardo’s post-All-Star break struggle
Throughout the 2025 season and for the first half of this season, right-handed reliever Eduard Bazardo had been a key piece in the Mariners bullpen. As Seattle dealt with injuries to other relievers like Matt Brash and Carlos Vargas, Bazardo was leaned on heavily in different situations but increasingly got more looks in high-leverage situations. He was reliable, and his stuff played well, but he’s unfortunately only remembered for the homer he gave up to George Springer in game seven of the ALCS last October. After a strong first half of the season, all fans may remember Bazardo this year for the ugly second half of the 2026 campaign that he’s had, which was emphasized in this ballgame.
After eating nearly 80 innings last year and pitching in the World Baseball Classic with champion Venezuela, Eduard once again got a strong workload before the midsummer classic for Seattle as he threw 41.1 innings before the break. Since the All-Star break, Bazardo has seen his numbers balloon, going from a 2.40 ERA to a 5.23 ERA. He’s particularly been bitten by the long ball in the second half, including two in tonight’s game during the fifth inning, which saw this game really get pushed out of reach. It’s going to be a thankless job for Bazardo after the job he did last year, but it’s looking unlikely we’ll see him in a prominent role next season (if there is one), if any, depending on what the Mariners do in their bullpen.
“We’re continuing to look at everything and continue to assess where we’re at, and what situations we want to put guys in. Obviously it’s been a tough stretch for [Eduard Ba]zardo, but we’ll continue to look at it and see where we need to make our adjustments, and we’ll be willing to make those adjustments.”
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)
Lazaro Montes makes history
The most enjoyable part of this game for the Mariners and their fans at T-Mobile Park was the titanic blast by Lazaro Montes during the fourth inning. With a Cal Raleigh leadoff double on third and a Cole Young single at first, Montes destroyed a fastball in the heart of the strike zone and sent it 474 feet out to center field. The ball carried over the “J-ROD SQUAD” in right-center field and landed on the concourse, creating some Mariners franchise history in the process. Seattle’s rookie outfielder’s blast, the second of his career at the big league level and first at T-Mobile Park, is the longest in ballpark Statcast history and tied for the longest in MLB this season.
“Nah, nah. I got a couple I think in Dominican Republic, I had like a long, long, long, long, long one, more than 500 feet. Easy. This is not the only one, I need to now get another one.”
After dealing with an unforgiving ballpark (Dickey-Stephens Park) during his time with the AA Arkansas Travelers, it’s clear that Montes has the power to muscle baseballs out at just about any ballpark. Hitting a ball as far as he did tonight, to where he did, is incredibly difficult and rare, and you’d have thought that the blast would be motivating for this team. A rookie, who’s a ton of fun to have in the clubhouse with his unlimited energy, hitting a home run to bring you within a run in a tight game down the stretch? That should 100% be a jolt of life for a dugout that needs it, yet instead it gets lost in an ugly loss to start the series against a team you’re chasing in the divisional and wild card hunt.
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.
Bryce Miller labors through another start
The frustrating summer has continued for Bryce Miller, who looked so rock solid from May into early June after missing the first early chunk of the season. Since his July 9th start in Miami against the Marlins, Bryce has failed to consistently keep the earned runs against total under four per game, doing so just three times in his last ten outings. It’s another odd year for a Seattle starting pitcher this season, after so many of them have shown how good they can be over the last three to four years.
While the run suppression hadn’t quite been there for Bryce, he had at least given you five innings dating back to that start in Miami, where things started to take a turn. Since his road start on August 18th against the Milwaukee Brewers, as we all collectively try to forget that game, Miller has failed to get past the fifth inning in all four outings and couldn’t eclipse the fourth tonight. Miller’s velocity was down on all of his pitches, despite his splitter looking better.
Questions about his health have surfaced in recent weeks, but Miller and general manager Justin Hollander have denied any idea that Bryce is playing through injury, unlike last season when he dealt with bone spurs in his elbow. It’s also fair to wonder if the switch to the bullpen, which didn’t end up happening after Emerson Hancock suffered a groin injury in Toronto, may have messed with Miller, but Bryce stated that he had a normal week leading up to this start.
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).
“I wanted to at least get us through five, ideally. I don’t know. I mean, I felt like today the splitter was the best it’s been all year, consistently shape-wise. It was good. [Corey] Seager jumped the first pitch heater in the first, and then the second [inning] it’s just a lead-off walk, he finds his way to third, and then I give up a broken bat cutter that floats over and scores him. We have a clean third, and then we go out, we get the lead off guy. Then it’s a first pitch floater again, then a walk. I think we probably gave a little too much attention to [Evan] Carter at first instead of focusing on the at bat there, which led to a walk. But yeah, I mean overall it was just too many long at bats. We had a couple quick at bats, but I mean, it felt like everything was five to nine pitches. We had an eight-pitch walk to [Corey] Seager, seven-pitch walk to [Wyatt] Langford, and then multiple full count strikeouts that just took too many pitches from me. It’s frustrating obviously, only getting into the fourth and especially striking out the nine hole there, [Danny] Jansen, and then Joc [Pederson] was 0-2 against me up till then, so I wish I could have could have at least finished that inning, but you know overall I gotta do a better job having having quicker innings, having quicker at bats, and not not having to burn the bullpen. ”
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller 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)
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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