Mariners walk tight rope in win over Guardians, clinch first series victory of season

CLEVELAND – As he caught the short underhand toss from Ty France and stepped on first base for the final out of the Mariners’ 3-2 victory that clinched a series win over the Guardians, Paul Sewald held the ball in his glove, put his arms in a cradle position and mimicked a baby-rocking motion.

Why?

Well, the hitter who made the final out – Josh Naylor – did that as a celebratory move when he would round the bases following a home run last season. It became infamous in the American League Division Series when Naylor hit a homer off Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who took more than a little exception to it.

When someone made the “rock the baby” motion to Sewald in clubhouse after the game, he replied stone-faced: “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Following that little gesture, Sewald, who had closed out wins on back-to-back nights, joined his teammates near the mound for their regular postgame victory dance that is part “Lord of the Dance,” part Rockettes and all fun.

Admittedly, they weren’t doing much dancing or having much fun when the Guardians kicked them around in the opening series of the season, taking three of four games in Seattle.

The Mariners have now taken the first two games of a three-game series and have won six consecutive games at Progressive Field. They will go for a sweep on Sunday with George Kirby getting the start.

“It’s not easy to win these games,” manager Scott Servais said. “It was really cold on that field tonight with the wind blowing in off the lake. It’s nice to get a series win, and hopefully we’ll get one more tomorrow before we head to Chicago.”

After dropping a pair of one-run games on the homestand, the Mariners prevailed in one of their normal low-scoring, one-run games that featured quality starting pitching, this time from Marco Gonzales, solid relief work and just enough offense.

“They’re not easy,” Servais said. “You can kind of see where that game was headed. Marco did an awesome job and that’s exactly what we needed out of him. It’s our only chance to win the ballgame is if he gets us into the sixth inning. He did his job and stepped up.”

With a handful of relievers unable to pitch due to usage, Gonzales delivered what Servais called “a vintage Marco performance.”

After facing the Guardians in his first start of the season and allowing four runs on six hits, Gonzales was tasked with facing them again in consecutive outings. He pitched 5⅔ innings and allowing one run on six hits with a walk.

“He went right after them and kept them off balance with a really good change-up and curveball,” Servais said.

Gonzales held the Guardians scoreless through the first four innings, working around some early baserunners in the first three.

“I felt really good my first time out, but I felt like there were maybe some jitters with the first start of the year,” Gonzales said. “So tonight I was just trying to stay confident, stay within our game plan, make a few adjustments based off their lineup and that was pretty much the same guys besides Naylor. It was just go out there and execute.”

The Mariners jumped all over Cleveland starter Cal Quantrill, who they roughed up in Seattle in his previous start, scoring three runs in the first two innings.

Consecutive singles from Julio Rodriguez, Ty France and Eugenio Suarez resulted in a 1-0 lead. With one out and the bases loaded, Jarred Kelenic pulled a groundball through the left side to score another run. It was the first of three hits for him on the night.

“I feel real comfortable right now,” Kelenic said. “I’m focused on trying to get my pitch and really trying to carry that over into two strikes. I did a good job of it tonight.”

The Mariners probably should have had more off Quantrill, but Kolten Wong struck out and Tom Murphy flew out to left to end the inning.

Seattle picked up another run in the second when France doubled into the left-field corner and scored on Suarez’s single to left to make it 3-0.

But the scoring would dry up against Quantrill and the bullpen. Seattle squandered opportunities to add on in the third, eighth and ninth innings.

“We came out and swung the bats really good there early on and we probably should’ve got a few more runs than we were able to get,” Servais said. “We didn’t cash in maybe quite as well as we should have.”

Cleveland finally got to Gonzales in the fifth inning. A leadoff double off the bat of Andres Gimenez and a one-out double from Myles Straw would be the only run Gonzales allowed. He got some help to get out that inning with Rodriguez chasing down a drive to the gap in right-center and J.P. Crawford snaring a 109-mph line drive off the bat of Jose Ramirez to end the inning.

Gonzales couldn’t quite finish the sixth, though. He issued a one-out walk to Naylor and allowed a two-out double to Gimenez that put runners on second and third.

Servais went to his bullpen. Right-hander Penn Murfee got pinch-hitter Will Brennan to fly out to right to end the inning.

Matt Festa started the seventh, but couldn’t finish it. A leadoff walk and a one-out infield single forced Servais to call on lefty Gabe Speier to face switch-hitting Jose Ramirez.

Hitting from the right side, Ramirez looped a ball in between a retreating Wong and a charging Hernandez in shallow center. It went for a RBI double. After an intentional walk to Josh Bell to load the bases, Speier retired Josh Naylor and Oscar Gonzalez to end the inning.

“Plan A is just to attack and I just stuck with Plan A,” Speier said.

He came back and worked a scoreless eighth to get the ball to Sewald for the ninth.

“Probably the MVP of the game when it was all said and done with Gabe Speier,” Servais said. “What a job he did, coming in to bail us out and getting through the eighth inning clean like he did was huge. It allowed us to win the ballgame.”

A night after getting near flawless work from their bullpen, Matt Festa struggled in the seventh inning. He walked Straw, the No. 9 hitter in the order, to start the inning.