[jksander]

April 10, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (0-1, 6.75 ERA, 4.0 IP, 3 K’s, 2.00 WHIP) started against George Kirby (0-0, 9.00 ERA, 5.0 IP, 5 K’s, 1.20 WHIP), and neither starter was happy with how their first game of the year went ... plenty of room for improvement. Rasmussen’s day didn’t start much better than his first one, giving up an RBI double to Julio Rodriguez before even getting a single out, and a three-run slam by Kyle Schwarber cleared the bases ... a quick 4-0 lead for the home team. By the time he got out of the inning we trailed 5-0, only a tiny improvement on his 6-0 inning in game one, and I’m starting to seriously question whether we made a mistake betting on the 30-year-old. Small sample size, I know, but a 39-pitch first inning immediately after a bad outing like the one he had in Cleveland, it’s not a great sign. He gave up a solo homer to Schwarber, his second of the game, in the bottom of the second but got out of the inning with a pair of strikeouts ... and in the name of not blowing up the bullpen in the first game of the series we let him keep pitching, but three innings was his limit. Noah Syndergaard took over in the top of the fourth with a 6-0 hole to stare out of, and the game became a rout. Luis Sanchez drew some cheers even from the home team as he struck out a pair in his mop-up innings at the end of the game, but it’s a lot easier to cheer when your team is the one winning 10-0 while being struck out. Rasmussen’s not going to get a lot more rope after two starts where he now sits at 0-2 with a 10.29 ERA, two starts totalling just seven innings. But they outhit us 15-2, so even one run was going to get a loss in a game like this. We didn’t even get any walks, finishing the game with two paltry baserunners.

April 11, 2026: Dylan Cease (0-0, 1.29 ERA, 7.0 IP, 8 K’s, 0.43 WHIP) pitched against Jackson Rose (0-0, 16.88 ERA, 2.2 IP, 3 K’s, 3.00 WHIP) in game two, and we took the lead in the top of the first when Kjerstad hit into a fielder’s choice, driving home Kim, who had reached base thanks to an error as our leadoff hitter. But we were unable to run the score up on them, just coming out of the frame with the one run, and back to back doubles for Randy Arozarena and Nick Castellanos tied us right up in the bottom of the inning. A killer throw by Bellinger from deep left got our final out in the bottom of the third, off a hit that anytime last year would have guaranteed the Mariners a lead ... instead we got Schwarber out trying for home and kept the score at 1-1. Rose was gone from the game with two outs in the fifth, but Cease did manage to get us through five full innings, with the score still knotted at one each ... and that was enough time for Tauchman to buy us the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth, batting home Kjerstad from second to put us up 2-1! Eduard Bazardo came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning, getting one out before blowing the save with a solo homer by Schwarber tying the score at 2-2. We took back the lead in the top of the eighth thanks to a two-run double by Kjerstad, Alvarado taking over in the bottom of the inning to hold it. Valenzuela reached base on an E8 error in the eighth, adding on a run when Rafaela came in to score, and with one out and nobody on in the bottom of the eighth Ryan Helsley came out to relieve Alvarado, striking out a pair to protect the three-run lead. Ben Joyce came out to close in the bottom of the ninth, facing the bottom of their lineup, but it went nothing as planned ... with one out and the bases loaded, we desperately started warming up Sanchez, our power strikeout man ... but we wound up not needing him, as Joyce got Arozarena to ground into a 5-2-3 double play as we beat the Mariners 5-2, none of their runners scoring! Cease got us through five hard-fought innings with five hits, seven strikeouts and just one earned run, and though Bazardo blew his first save of the year he also got his second win, improving to 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA with two hits, a run and three strikeouts in his inning. Alvarado and Bazardo each had holds, and Joyce saved the game in the most difficult way possible. They outhit us 10-9, but we outwalked them 5-1 and our offense was led by Kjerstad, who hit twice and walked once, scoring once and driving in three more.
 
April 12, 2026: One more game and we can get home to Chicago where our fans are ready to celebrate our home opener in style. Brandon Pfaadt (0-0, 4.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 4 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) got his second start of the year against Thomas Harris (0-0, 4.76 ERA, 5.2 IP, 2 K’s, 1.41 WHIP), and this became a duel of the highest order. Unfortunately for Pfaadt, his near perfect night ended with a solo homer by Yoan Moncado with one out in the bottom of the seventh that broke the stalemate and put the Mariners into the lead. Luis Sanchez took over and was immediately rung up by Cal Raleigh for another solo bomb, and with a runner on first and two outs we had to bring out Alvarado to finish things. Incredibly, our bats woke up in the top of the eighth ... Tauchman got us on the board with an RBI single, and then Brandon Valenzuela hit a grand slam homer to push us into the lead 5-2, on just the 25-year-old’s second homer of the season! Ryan Helsley took over in the bottom of the inning, getting three quick flyouts to right, and Ben Joyce came out again in the ninth, getting two outs but giving up an RBI double to J.P. Crawford, cutting our lead to two. Julian Merryweather came out to relieve him, and it was the worst possible outcome ... Arozarena hit a two-run homer to blow the save, tying the score at 5-5, and instead of going to extra innings Castellanos walked it off with a solo homer to pretty much the same goddamned spot ... unbelievable, only we could find a way to go into the frame up by three and still lose it 6-5. That’s Merryweather’s third blown save, and he took the loss as well, falling to 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA through four innings. But Seattle outhit us 11-6, so we were riding a razor’s edge, leading only because of the fluke grand slam. Valenzuela, who is now hitting .391 with two homers and nine RBIs, got four of those in one swoop to lead the team today.

We’ll head back to Chicago with a 3-6 record through our first brutal road trip. This week we’ll have three games against the 5-4 Twins, who sit in second place now in the division, followed by three against the 7-2 Guardians who already handed us two of our losses. We’re in fourth place, a game and a half back of the 5-5 Royals but still half a game ahead of the 3-7 Tigers.