Chris Flexen, Seattle Mariners.
In a week where the Seattle Mariners went 3-3 against the reigning World Series Champion Dodgers and the American League’s hottest offense in the Red Sox, you’d think you’d find a lot of stars on both sides of the game. The truth is that very few bats did well throughout the week, but that bullpen? Wow.
Marco Gonzales – 7 Innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 run, 6 K’s
Marco Gonzales was the tough-luck loser in game two of the Dodgers series. He lost the start because the Mariners couldn’t muster any offense at all. Reminiscent of the Felix years, Marco finally had a strong outing only to take the loss. The good thing is that it appears that Marco righted the ship and against one of the league’s best teams. This is great news for the Mariners.
Ty France – .350 average, .984 OPS, 4 doubles, 5 runs scored
There was one bat that was even better than Ty France this week and he gets the star. France’s numbers were fantastic this week and if the offense could’ve done something around him, then the Mariners would’ve put up a ton of runs.
He was one of only two Seattle Mariners to bat over .193. That’s how gross it was. The M’s offense was so bad that as a team they hit .181 on the week. France did his part hitting .350. He is someone that I’m rooting for and I get excited every time he steps up to the plate.
Kyle Seager – .192 average, 7 RBI*
Kyle Seager gets the last honorable mention spot because, in four consecutive at-bats, he ended up hitting for the cycle. His last at-bat on Friday was a home run, then in his first three at-bats on Saturday Seager hit a single, double and triple. A natural cycle but across two games.
*He really wasn’t that good this week. Sadly he was 1-for-25 in his other at-bats for the week
.500 average, 1.404 OPS, 5 runs scored, 3 RBI
Sam Haggerty had a great week as the top contributor to the offense. It seemed as the week went on that Haggerty earned playing time over some of his Seattle Mainers peers. Haggerty’s six hits were second on the team to only France who had eight more at-bats than Haggerty.
Add in his two walks and the sum is a fantastic week. It was exciting to watch Haggerty at the plate, he seemed to be in the zone throughout the Red Sox series. If the utility man had more than 12 at-bats, he would’ve been higher than the third star.
7 Innings pitched, 4 hits allowed, 1 earned run, 7 K’s
Chris Flexen was en-fuego (on fire in Spanish) against the American League’s best offense. He was rarely in any kind of trouble throughout his game on Saturday. Meanwhile, the M’s offense showed up for once, collecting 12 hits and scoring 8 runs to back the righty.
In four starts, Chris Flexen now has a 2.74 ERA with a 2-1 record. His WHIP is a little higher than Seattle wants it to be at 1.35, but based on his career numbers, this is a solid trend. He got through seven innings very efficiently, rarely getting behind in counts. Flexen tossed just 88 pitches before handing the game over to the bullpen.
23.1 Innings pitched, 1.16 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 22 K’s
This bullpen has been insanely good this season. Anyone who witnessed last year’s debacle is amazed. It’s hard to pinpoint one pitcher in particular that shined so far above the rest to earn the star on their own. But, Ljay Newsome was close. Here are the bullpens numbers this week:
At one point, the bullpen went over 20 innings at one point (including some carryover from last week) without giving up a run. For the week, they gave up 4 total runs, but only 3 were earned. To put their excellence into perspective, the Mariners scored 3 runs or more on the Red Sox bullpen in three different games.
They say that every game counts and seven in a row against AL West rivals definitely count. The return of Kyle Lewis is definitely a good thing for Seattle as is the emergence of Sam Haggerty as a viable offensive threat helps out a lot. The offense has to get rolling though against some tough pitching and really great offenses.
Every game is important and every week has an impact. his week might be looked back on as the week that made or broke the Seattle Mariners 2021 season.
Joe Swenson is a lifelong Seattle Sports Fan. The author of Letter #3 and the sequel The Key (due out in October), he is also the writer, director, and producer for Broken Arts Entertainment’s Quarantine 2038 Project.