Home Run Trifecta Powers Mariners To 7-4 Victory over Rays, Series Win
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - A night already made special by the pregame ceremony to retire the number 51 for Iconic outfielder Ichiro Suzuki saw an excellent cap as the Seattle Mariners sent a sellout crowd home happy with a 7-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, securing a series victory over their American League East foes. With the result, the Mariners are 8-1 since the MLB trade deadline and are now just a half game behind the Houston Astros for the top spot in the American League West with 44 games left to play on the 2025 campaign. On a night where Suzuki told this years Mariner ballclub to “seize the moment” during his speech, this Seattle team seemed to do just that as they picked up their starting pitcher Logan Evans after surrendering the first run of the game and never looked back, keeping the winning streak rolling to six and taking advantage of a Houston loss on the same night.
“All the guys were on the top step and they were paying attention. They were listening, I love that. Ichi[ro] addressed the team directly, and it was just a great moment. They’re familiar with him, they see him on a day-to-day basis, so seeing him in a little different light is interesting, but I thought they were locked in. Again, you couldn’t have a better ceremony and I thought it was awesome.”
“Before the game in my head, I was like, we got to get this done for Ich[ro], it’s a very special night. We definitely got to go out with a bang and to be able to go like that, everybody with the energy in the beginning of the game, it was unmatched. Cal’s home run too, it was definitely an awesome night, and I’m very happy that we’re able to close it out with a win”
The game began in familiar fashion for our Mariners, as they’d have to play from behind to begin this middle contest of a three-game weekend series against the Rays. Seattle starter Logan Evans left a 95MPH sinker over the heart of the plate, and Tampa Bay designated hitter Brandon Lowe took it the opposite way for a solo home run that just barely snuck over the left field wall in front of “Edgars Cantina.” Evans did well to ensure that the situation didn’t snowball, getting Josh Lowe to ground out and Home Run Derby runner up Junior Caminero to pop out, ending the top of the frame.
Seattle did not trail for long, as the Mariners lineup answered back within their first three batters. Leadoff man Randy Arozarena drew a six-pitch walk against Rays starter Joe Boyle and advanced to second on a wild pitch. In a fitting tribute to his hero, catch partner, and friend Ichiro, Julio Rodríguez punished a 99MPH fastball in the direct center of the strike zone by depositing it in the “JROD Squad” in straightaway center field, giving Seattle a lead and igniting the packed crowd at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle Mariners centerfielder Julio Rodríguez gave his team a lead in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run home run to score Randy Arozarena, hit to the “JROD Squad” out in center field. (Photos by Liv Lyons for Circling Seattle Sports)
The momentum pendulum favored the Mariners in the early going, as Seattle tacked on a four spot in the third inning to enlarge their lead to five runs. Nine-hole hitter Cole Young got things started against the hard throwing Boyle, drawing a walk on four pitches before a Randy Arozarena single put two runners on for American League MVP candidate, Cal Raleigh. After his dramatic, go-ahead home run last night, it appears that Raleigh is starting to find a good space of hitting once again as he hammered a three-run homer for the second game in a row. Raleigh got his barrel on a 99.6MPH four-seam fastball, the fastest pitch he’s homered on in his career, sending it out as a gift to his friends in the Mariners bullpen where bullpen catcher Fleming Báez caught the ball with his hat.
“He smoked the ball that way the other night into the wall, he has power to all parts of the ballpark. With that velo, he just stayed on so well and drove that ball over the bullpen, that’s just really good hitting. When you can drive a ball the other way, like that, you got to do a lot of things right with your swing. That was just a great at bat, a great swing, and a great result for us.”
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh hit his 44th home run of the season, a three-run bomb to the Mariners bullpen, in the third inning to score Cole Young and Randy Arozarena. (Photos by Liv Lyons for Circling Seattle Sports)
Julio Rodríguez decided that he wanted in on the fun that Raleigh’s homer created inside of the ballpark and in a second gesture to his friend Ichiro, Seattle’s centerfielder pounced on a 91.8MPH slider in the heart of the plate on a low line drive that just cleared the left field wall slightly to the side of Edgars Cantina just 51 seconds after Raleigh’s blast. The solo shot with a launch angle of just 18 degrees continued the party in the ballpark and gave young Mariners starter Logan Evans a quality cushion to rely on.
Seattle Mariners centerfielder Julio Rodríguez helped his team hit back-to-back home runs, following up Cal Raleigh’s three-run homer in the bottom of the third with a line drive solo shot to left field. (Photos by Liv Lyons for Circling Seattle Sports)
The ballgame seemed to calm down for the next two frames, as Evans found his groove a bit as he faced just one batter over the minimum in the fourth and fifth innings combined while the Seattle offense got close to adding on to their lead but ultimately left three runners on the basepaths. It was the sixth inning, the final frame on the night for Logan Evans, that saw Tampa Bay creep back into things.
“It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. I got to say congratulations to him prior to going out in the first inning, and he just wished me luck. I was like, ‘that’s Ichiro right there,’ and this is his night. I wanted to honor him and honor, obviously, the whole organization, the city. As I was walking off there in the sixth inning, I just kind of remember looking up and telling myself, wow, this is really cool being able to throw on this night and seeing all the fans just get on their feet.”
Rays leadoff man and first baseman Yandy Díaz drew a walk to get the inning started, before a Josh Lowe single to right field set up runners on the corners for the powerful Junior Caminero. Mariners manager Dan Wilson called to the bullpen for left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson, who had not allowed a run coming into this game, and Caminero took advantage of a mistake that he made. An 0-2 fastball at 93.7MPH sat at the top rail, allowing the Rays third baseman to barrel it up and send it 419 feet to straightaway center field. The three-run blast made things at T-Mobile Park a lot more tense, and created pressure on the Seattle lineup to add on.
The Mariners were able to tack on another run in an unconventional way, courtesy of a walk, a single, and a wild pitch. Second baseman Cole Young drew one of his four walks on the night after a J.P. Crawford pop out, on the 17th pitch of his plate appearance, before he advanced to third base on a Randy Arozarena single. Tampa Bay reliever Mason Englert threw a wild pitch past catcher Nick Fortes and to the brickwork behind home plate, allowing Young to jog him without a care in the world and push Seattle’s lead up to three-runs.
After the three-run punch from the Rays and one-run jab response by the Mariners, the game went quiet again for the next two frames. For Seattle, Josh Naylor was left stranded on second base after his second double of the night in the seventh while Young and Raleigh were left on in the eighth after they both drew walks. For Tampa Bay, Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier made light work of the opposing lineup, combining for two innings facing the minimum.
Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz came into the game for Seattle in the ninth, looking to put the finishing touches on a great night for the organization and record his 27th save of the 2025 season. Muñoz’s outing didn’t start out well, giving up a leadoff single to Junior Caminero on a 97.3MPH fastball slightly inside on the inner part of the strike zone, but the Mexican reliever was able to work around that initial mistake and another he’d make prior to the final out. He got speedy Chandler Simpson to strike out swinging and Nick Fortes to fly out harmlessly to center field before a questionable six-pitch walk to Ha-Seong Kim, putting runners on first and second for Tristan Peters, who made his MLB debut earlier in this series. Peters was unable to handle Muñoz, striking out on three pitches, and the Mariners secured another series victory.
“It really hit me a lot, because there’s going to be a lot of moments that we’re going to have to seize if we want to get to where we want to get. I really took that to heart, because I feel like every player knows how much weight his words carry, because of what he does every day. He’s still here, showing up for us every day. It really hit me. I feel like just a lot of the guys also probably felt the same way. Just coming from such a special person, it definitely means a lot to all of us.”
“Another one tomorrow, we got to come back to the ballpark ready to play and prepare for that one. It’s good, I think our guys are gaining confidence and working well together. Come back to the ballpark tomorrow again and prepare the way they do, get ready to play, play hard for nine and that’s what these guys do every single day. Then the results are usually pretty good.”
Quick Mariners notes, from Mariners PR
45,249 was the announced paid attendance at T-Mobile Park for game two of three between the visiting Tampa Bay Rays and our Seattle Mariners.
Series attendance through two games: 85,029
Game one: 39,780
Game two: 45,249
“King” the Salmon won tonight’s Mariners “Salmon Run,”
2025 standings, so far
King: 24
Sockeye: 19
Silver: 18
Humpy: 0 wins
The Red “Oh Boy Oberto” beef jerky boat won tonight’s Mariners “Hydro Challenge,” getting on the right ramp to propel itself past the Green Muckleshoot Casino & Resort boat and the Yellow Mariners Team Store boat.
2025 standings, so far
Red boat: 20 wins
Green boat: 20 wins
Yellow boat: 20 wins
The Mariners 50/50 raffle ended at $191,023, which is the largest jackpot ever at T-Mobile Park.
It surpassed the total of $129,465 at the 2023 All-Star game.
The Mariners have won a season-high tying 6 games, improving to 8-1 on the current 10-game homestand. Dating back to June 13, Seattle owns a 32-19 (.627) record, T-3rd best record in MLB during that span.
Mariners centerfielder Julio Rodríguez is tied for the most home runs in MLB since July 11th with 12, alongside Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber.
At 22 years, 11 days, Seattle second baseman Cole Young is the youngest player in Mariners history to record 4+ walks in a game.
He was one walk shy of tying the franchise record of 5 (done 4x, last: Edgar Martinez, 6/24/04 at TEX).
Young is the youngest player (22 years old) in Mariners history with 4+ walks in a game, supplanting Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. (4 BB on May 29, 1993 at 23 years, 189 days old).
What’s next?
Following tonight’s 7-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays to secure the series victory through the first two games, our Seattle Mariners will wrap up this weekend set against their American League East foe and their ten-game homestand. That series and homestand finale has a first pitch time of 1:10PM PDT as the Mariners will wrap up the celebrations to honor Ichiro Suzuki with his “Hall of Fame Plaque” day, as the first 20,000 fans into T-Mobile Park will receive a replica of Ichiro's Cooperstown plaque. The only other event at the ballpark for this game is “Japanese Heritage Day,” which is long since sold out as Seattle continues the festivities for the iconic Ichiro and the Japanese community here in the Emerald City and across the Pacific Northwest. For fans who purchased a ticket with the special offer, you’ll head home with a Mariners-themed Japanese Heritage Jersey and $5 of every ticket sold will benefit the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington.
The pitching matchup for this contest features Rays right-handed starter Adrian Houser, an Oklahoma native who was seen wearing an Oklahoma City Thunder jersey ahead of the first game of the series, against Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo. Houser has been solid all season long for Tampa Bay, posting a 2.54 ERA on the season while he’s been even better recently with a 2.06 ERA over the last seven games for the Rays. It’ll be a great pitching battle as Seattle seeks a three-game sweep, as they’ll have their best pitcher on the mound in Woo as he looks to improve upon his 3.02 season ERA and 2.82 ERA over his last seven games. This game will be broadcast live on ROOT Sports Northwest and go over the radio airwaves on Seattle Sports (710 AM) in the local market.
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