Mariners win 7th straight to keep pace in AL West race

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Sep 13, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — Their run of unexpected hitting heroes and their win streak continued again Friday night.

Two nights ago it was Leo Rivas with the unlikely walkoff homer to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the bottom of the 13th inning. Less than 24 hours earlier, rookie Harry Ford hit a walkoff sac fly in his fourth MLB plate appearance to beat the Angels in 12 innings.

So who was it this time?

It was back-up catcher Mitch Garver, in the seventh inning, with a home run.

The veteran catcher, who’s had his struggles since signing with Seattle last season, smashed a solo homer off right-handed reliever Jonathan Brogdon to give the Seattle Mariners a 2-1 lead that they would turn into a 2-1 victory.

It was Seattle’s seventh straight win. The Mariners improved to 80-68 and remained tied with the Houston Astros atop the AL West.

Facing an old friend in lefty Yusei Kikuchi, the Mariners grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. With one out, Cal Raleigh hit the first of his two doubles in the game. He would later score on Jorge Polanco’s two-out double into the left field corner.

It was the fifth straight game where Polanco has hit a double. He has an extra basehit in seven straight games.

Luis Castillo gave the Mariners six scoreless innings, allowing a hit with two walks and five strikeouts. He looked more like the pitcher that, along with Bryan Woo, helped carry the rotation in the first half of the season.

With the bullpen taxed from two straight days of 13-inning games, the Mariners tried to stretch Castillo for a few more outs. At 93 pitches, they brought him out to start the seventh inning, hoping he could get through it without incident.

But when Luis Rengifo led off with a single to left field, manager Dan Wilson decided to go to his bullpen. Right-hander Carlos Vargas entered the game but couldn’t prevent the inherited runner from scoring. A wild pitch advanced Rengifo to second. Logan Davidson hit a hard groundball down the first base line that tipped off the glove first baseman Luke Raley on his diving attempt. It went for a run-scoring double, tying the game at 1-1.