Mariners take series opener against the AL West leading Rangers, 5-3
By Jeffrey Nooney, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Finally, a complete game from start to finish for our Seattle Mariners, as they take game one of this three game series against the Texas Rangers by the score of 5-3. Mariners relief pitcher Carlos Vargas earned his first win of his career by pitching a shutout 8th inning. Seattle starter Bryce Miller did not have his best stuff tonight, but he battled through five innings while giving up just one run (earned) on two hits, walking three and striking out five. “Big Tex” had to labor through 100 pitches in his five innings of work, which finished with a nine-pitch at bat from Rangers infielder Corey Seager that resulted in a flyout to Julio Rodríguez in center field that would end the inning. Mariners reliever Trent Thornton came on in the sixth and gave up a two-run home run to Rangers third baseman Josh Jung to tie this ball game up at three, as he drove in all three runs for Texas in this contest. The Mariners bullpen of Gabe Speier, Carlos Vargas and Andrés Muñoz all threw shutout innings to complete the win as Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh hit the go-ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning with his brand new “Torpedo” bat.
Seattle Mariners relief pitch Andrés Muñoz picked up his fifth save of the season in his teams series opening win over the Texas Rangers on Friday, April 11th, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo for Circling Seattle Sports)
After the game, Bryce Miller spoke with the media and said that he has been feeling soreness since the end of Spring Training. Miller’s velocity was down in this start, as his average fastball speed is 94.5 MPH, but today he sat at 93 MPH or under. Miller’s night started a bit shaky as he walked two and gave up a hit (bunt single), but was able to get out of the jam and strand the bases loaded to get out of the first with no damage done. It took Bryce 30 pitches to get out of the inning, which set the tone for the rest of the night. Miller said that in his last three starts he hasn’t felt great, but also mentioned that this soreness is something that he’s felt and worked through previously. Despite the soreness and his velocity being down, Miller was able to handle this dangerous Texas lineup and only allow the one earned run against in this start.
“Getting through some early season soreness, I think, the velocity is down. If anything, this kind of proves to me that I can get through these lineups without giving up hard contact even without my best stuff. I’m really looking forward to a couple of weeks from now or a month or two from now when I’m feeling really good, and in midseason form and see how that goes.”
Two of the Seattle Mariners three home runs in this game were hit by infielders, as Jorge Polanco (Currently a designated hitter) and Rowdy Tellez hit big blasts to right field in the teams series opening victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday, April 11th, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo for Circling Seattle Sports)
The big story of the night was the power hitting from the Mariners offense. Infielder/designated hitter Jorge Polanco keep his hot-hitting streak alive with a 3-4 performance tonight, as he hit his third home run of the season in the first inning off of Rangers starter Jacob deGrom. In his five games since coming off of the paternity list, Polanco is hitting .438 (7/16) with two home runs, two runs scored, seven runs batted in and an OPS of 1.284. First baseman Rowdy Tellez hit his first home run of the season in the second inning also off of deGrom, which was also just his second hit of the entire season to this point. Tellez was seen yelling “I did it!” when returning to the dugout, obviously excited to get his first home run as a Mariner. Shortstop J.P. Crawford laced a single over into left field just over the leaping glove of Josh Jung, driving in Leo Rivas who had walked and stole second base. Crawford has struggled this season at the plate, so it was nice to see him deliver in a spot where the Mariners needed it most with a simple base hit.
With the game tied at three in the bottom of the 8th inning, Cal Raleigh tattooed his third home run of the season off of the scoreboard in right field to give Seattle the lead, a mark that they wouldn’t relinquish. That blast was Cal’s 96th career home run, which broke the Mariners franchise record for most career home runs held by Mike Zunino (95). Raleigh hit his home run with the new “torpedo bat” which the hitters tried out during batting practice this afternoon. After Cal swung the torpedo bat pregame, he said he needed more time to see if he liked it. He was asked about it during the post game:
“Well, you know how baseball players are. We’re not patient. It felt good, I was just like ‘God, I might as well try it!’ I put a good swing on it. He’s (Texas Rangers reliever Chris Martin) a tough pitcher. He’s had my number in the past. He just left one over the middle.”
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh with his brand new “torpedo bat” prior to his go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning of his teams series opening win over the Texas Rangers on Friday, April 11th, 2025 at T-Mobile Park. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo for Circling Seattle Sports)
With Cal’s success with the torpedo bat, I expect the rest of the Mariners to at least try it out. Outfielder Randy Arozarena was all smiles after batting practice and said that he liked how the torpedo bat felt in his hands. Leo Rivas and Julio Rodríguez did not care for them, and Luke Raley said that it’s not for him because he is used to hitting the call close to the end of his bat. Raley did try the bat in early batting practice today. He took 4-5 swings, then went back to his regular bat.
Quick Mariners baseball notes, from Mariners PR
The Mariners earned a 5-3 win over the Rangers, collecting their first back-to-back wins of the season.
The Mariners are 17-3 in their Nike City Connect uniforms since the start of the 2024 season.
With the go-ahead 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th inning, Cal Raleigh made history, hitting his 96th career home run, snapping the tie with Mike Zunino for the most home runs by a catcher in franchise history.
The homer marked Raleigh’s 9th career game-tying or go-ahead home run in the 7th-inning or later (last: 6/10/24 vs. CWS).
Since the 2022 season, his 9 go-ahead home runs in the 7th inning or later is tied for 3rd most in the American League, trailing Anthony Santander-BAL/TOR (12) and Aaron Judge-NYY (10).
Jorge Polanco got things started with a solo shot to right field, his 3rd home run of the season.
Since he was activated from the Paternity List on April 3, Polanco is batting .438 (7x16) with 2 runs, 2 home runs, 7 RBI and a 1.284 OPS in 5 games.
Polanco became the 11th player in franchise history with 3 games of 3+ hits within the team's first 14 games of a season, and first since Nelson Cruz in 2015...Mariners Manager Dan Wilson also accomplished the feat during the 2002 season.
Rowdy Tellez extended the Mariners early lead with a solo home run…it marked his 1st home run of the season and first since 9/7/24 vs. WSH (w/PIT) and his 2nd hit of the year (last: 3/29 vs. ATH).
With the second homer against deGrom, it marked the first time the Mariners have hit 2+ home runs off deGrom in five career starts.
Randy Arozarena and Leo Rivas each recorded stolen bases, extending the Mariners’ 8-game streak with at least one stolen base
Seattle has 22 stolen bases this season which is the most in the American League and tied for 2nd-most in the Majors, trailing only the Chicago Cubs (25 SB).
Arozarena extends his on-base streak to 9 games (4/1-c).
Starter Bryce Miller allowed 1 run on 2 hits with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts in his 3rd start of the season…he threw 100 pitches (62 strikes)
With his 2nd strikeout of the night (a called strike violation on Leody Taveras), Miller collected his 300th career strikeout
His 303 strikeouts is the 7th most in franchise history through 59 career starts (trailing Erik Hanson: 348, Félix Hernández: 344, Logan Gilbert: 322, George Kirby: 318, Hisashi Iwakuma: 315 and James Paxton: 311).
Miller’s 270 hits allowed through 59 starts is the fewest in franchise history (ahead of teammate Logan Gilbert: 296).
His 3 strikeouts in the 4th inning marked the 15th time in his career that he’s struck out 3 batters in a single inning (last: 8/26/24 vs. TB).
Mariners relievers Trent Thornton, Gabe Spier, Carlos Vargas and Andrés Muñoz combined for 4.0 innings of relief, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and 1 HBP with 3 strikeouts.
Speier entered for an inning of relief, allowing 1 hit with no runs scored and 2 strikeouts, lowering his career ERA to 0.27 in the month of March/April.
Vargas earned his first career victory.
Muñoz is 5-for-5 in save opportunities, currently tied for the most saves in the American League
What’s next?
Following tonight’s exciting victory in the opener, game two of this three game series against the Texas Rangers will see an interesting pitching matchup. Our Seattle Mariners will send Bryan Woo (1-0, 3.75 ERA) to the mound, while the Texas Rangers will send two-time first round pick Kumar Rocker (0-1, 7.88 ERA) to duel against him. Rocker was drafted by the New York Mets with the 10th overall pick way back in the 2021 MLB Draft. He did not sign with Mets because of medicals, so he was eligible to rejoin the 2023 MLB Draft where the Rangers selected him with the third overall pick. After the middle contest of this three-game set in the second series of the homestand, Sunday’s matchup will pit Mariners right handed ace Logan Gilbert (0-1, 2.55 ERA) against veteran starter Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 2.29 ERA). The Mariners will then hit the road to face the Cincinnati Reds, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox for their first real road trip of the 2025 MLB season.
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