Marines come out ashes, pants White Sox 8-4

It was hard not to spiral a bit after yesterday’s unfortunate events. The loss of both James Paxton’s power arm and the joy of the Maple Grove in one go was as great as you can get, and on top of that with an injury to one of the few productive victims in Jake Fraley and a deadly 10-4 loss that was fifteen minutes short and lasted four hours, I blame no one for the bad vibes that took over. It’s early, we all know it, but injuries and heaps of crashes are never pleasant to watch.

For a long time, it felt more like the same today. Justin Dunn’s infamous commando issues were the worst I’ve ever seen, and by the time he leaves with the base in the fifth inning, the White Sox have been given eight free passes. Look, I like Dunn, his competitive fire and his seemingly endless ability to work from jam to jam, but eight go? Half the number would have propelled it for today, and it’s no less a wonder he’s only been charged with three runs. Yes, one was a ten-tone bat for Jake Lamb in the first place, where he had to pass on a 1-2 move, but seven is hardly better than eight in the running division.

There were, however, pieces where we saw what he was capable of: the third and fourth turns were things of beauty. Leaning heavily on his curve, he pulls the side in order in each of those frames, grabs a few eliminations and four easily manageable balls in play. The curve and move seem particularly sharp, and he makes the ruling MVP look foolish in the third with one:

And hey, down in the frame, the Mariners actually took the lead in choosing an Evan White fielder! Granted, they should have gotten more, with the old enemy Dallas Keuchel, not his usual self, but after twenty innings I did not have an advantage, I will take it.

However, Evan White’s thigh muscle did not.

Billy Hamilton also left the game with a thigh muscle issue, and between the two, Fraley and Tim Anderson, it feels like many guys have not been completely stretched so early in the year. Good memory for all of us! Per Ryan Divish, White is daily, and the club will likely wait until the strange Friday to make a decision on whether he is IL-bound.

In the first place of the fifth, Dunn’s luck finally ran out. He was able to get two pop-ups, including one from Abreu loaded with the bases, but in any case forced to run thanks to four hikes, three of which came on four lanes. Although his break points were intriguing and the speed increase was encouraging, his quick assignment was unbearable all afternoon, and the two-stroke single, Will Vest, immediately gave up to relieve him, making his final line much more reasonable given the struggle. However, he only allowed a double strike for Luís Robert once, and when the White Sox swung, they usually did not do much. Today was a fair start, but I expect Dunn to get a few more chances. Let us not make an eight-step excursion for all our affairs again.

Vest gave up another run that was all in sixth place, and at this point things look bleak. Keuchel sat down, and when the new first baseman José Marmolejos stepped in to open the bottom of the frame, faint complaints of grid management and position depth could be heard in the distance. I like Marmo, but off the bench against a hard left? He will be happy not to strike out here.

Instead, he walked. And just like that, the life of the Mariners’ offense was blown.

Dylan Moore put a bloomer in the shallow right field and advanced to second thanks to a throwing error by Adam Eaton, and with Marmolejos moving to third place, Keuchel’s day was over. Still, we saw the White Sox bullpen take down the Ms the past two nights, so there was still vigilance for me. Matt Foster was a strong contributor from the bull in 2020, and with the crucial Tom Murphy and Taylor Trammell coming next year, you could say it would not have been a surprise to see everyone go down.

You can, but you will be wrong. Murphy blows a ball right to third that Jake Lamb can’t handle to load the base, and Trammell jumps over a pending first pitch conversion.

Sam Haggerty, the only starter who could not reach the base today, went down in three places, but JP Crawford did not deter it. In a rough slump to start the year, he quickly finds himself in the score again, a late wave at 95 at the top of the zone that puts him at 1-2. Foster throws a change off the plate, JP throws his bat on it and good things happen.

Mitch Haniger hit a perfect sacrificial fly to level the game, and Ty France followed to give what I think was the best fight so far by a Mariner hit. I just mean about this:

He chased exactly one pitch out of the zone, and it was a fast ball that he was able to get a piece of. He may be a defensive job, but there is no doubt in my mind that this man can strike. Yet I remained terrified. Binding was great, but with two outs and two left-wing killers in Garrett Crochet and Aaron Bummer still hiding in Chicago’s bullpen, the lead might have asked for too much. Luckily, Tony La Russa continued to wash and left Foster for whatever reason to face Kyle Seager, and that only bit him squarely in the ass two places later.

Between Trammell’s high steps, Crawford’s prop and France’s majestic slide, it’s the highlight of the season for me. The passion! The energy! The camaraderie! All we ask is to be entertained, and that moment delivered and more. Oh, Marmo also joined the parade to place a cherry on a seven-inning.

Did anyone hear anything? Just the wind? Cool.

Kendall Graveman relieved Vest and unfortunately got into trouble pretty quickly and slammed a single around a few runs around the base without loading. I did not want to do that, nor did JP Crawford, who first caught a pop-up from Zack Collins on the in-flight line, and then turned an almost guaranteed two runs from Robert into two from to wrap. free.

Things were pretty JP Smoove after that. No more runs from the Mariners were completely good, and Anthony Misiewicz and Rafael Montero slammed the door in the last two frames, while Montero easily hit the White Sox midfield of the order. We even scored a first Major League win for Will Vest! Good vibes all around! You would not have convinced me of this three hours ago. Sometimes all you can do is ride together. The Ms are on their way to Minnesota to see old friends Nelson Cruz and Michael Pineda for their next series against a strong AL Central team. It will undoubtedly be another long test for a young, unproven lineup, but games like today show that they are ready for it. It can become pear-shaped fairly quickly. We can laugh that on Saturday we see Sam Haggerty hit the eighth shift. But we’ll only know when the day comes, so let’s keep the good vibes rolling.