A Grip on Sports: Despite another double-digit whiff night at the plate, the M’s pitch their way to another win

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Every July we travel to the Sound. Sometimes we catch a ball game or two. Sometimes, like this time, not. What we do love to catch, however, is clear skies. That was the case Friday as we arrived. The mountain was out in all its glory. Still is, as we look south from our hotel room. What a special sight.

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• No reason for the travelogue. Other than to tell you we are on our way for a tour of the Coast, though we won’t actually access the Pacific Ocean for a few days. For now, we’re in the South Sound and we are reveling in the weather.

And in the Mariners’ two-game win “streak.” Seven runs one night. Two the next. Fine. As long as your pitching staff can limit the opposition to two hits, as Luis Castillo and a trio of relievers did Friday in Toronto South.

North, actually, as T-Mobile lies at 47.6 latitude and the Jays’ home is four degrees closer to the equator. But we quibble. All that matters is Castillo’s fastballs seemed about four degrees too hard for Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero Jr. and the rest of the Jays.

Only Kevin Kiermaier’s 373-foot solo drive to right in the sixth inning stood between Castillo and all zeroes in the run category.

Want to know two numbers that fascinate us? Besides the number two, of course, which we already covered.

The first is 13. The number of strikeouts Seattle’s offense – to use the term loosely – recorded against four Blue Jay pitchers. That marks 10 consecutive games with double-digit strikeouts.

Aaron Goldsmith and Mike Blowers had a discussion last night on the Root broadcast about the Mariner’s offensive mantra – control the zone – and how it might be getting in the way of making contact. The point of the discussion was simple. Being picky early in the at-bat is often putting hitters into impossible-to-overcome counts.

Goldsmith relayed he had talked with manager Scott Servais and been told the M’s brain trust had been looking into a connection as well.

Blowers? He would love to see the hitters become a notch more aggressive.

Regular readers here might recall we recently linked a five-part series in The Athletic concerning the most-recent revolution in baseball, pitchers doing everything they can to miss bats. It’s working. Everywhere. No one is hitting for a high average. Anywhere.

We see strikeouts as akin to turnovers in basketball. Every single one is a missed opportunity to do something positive offensively. And often lead to bad things on the defensive side.

In the past 10 games, Seattle has squandered more than 100 chances to put the ball in play. Yes, it happens to everyone. But no one does it more often than the local team. Despite being eight games over .500 and two games up in the American League West, the Mariners lead all of baseball with 925 strikeouts.

Would making more consistent contact be a panacea for the inept offense? Not necessarily. When the M’s do hit the ball, they hit it hard. That’s good. But more consistent hard contact is the goal. An elusive one recently, that’s for sure.

Which brings us to the other number that interested us from Friday night’s win. No, not the 34,493 in attendance, many of whom would probably rather drink a Molson or a Kokanee than a Bud or a Miller.

It’s actually the beginning of all numbers. Zero. As in the number of strikeouts Andres Munoz had to earn his 14th save. He threw 13 pitches. Got the top three hitters in the lineup to all ground out. Now that’s old school.

So is contact. Both would be welcome the rest of the season.

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WSU: A couple days ago we linked Jerry Brewer’s column on Klay Thompson in the Washington Post. If you were unable to read it then, you can now. It ran in the S-R this morning. … And a couple more, just for posterity and gratitude. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, the cost of resurrecting a full-fledged conference might be way too steep for Washington State and Oregon State, even with the money the departing 10 left behind. But John Canzano discusses a way for it to happen with the most-committed Mountain West athletic programs. They would have to show their commitment with a higher budget. … Yep, football recruiting stories never stop. We can pass along ones from Washington and Utah. … Hey, it’s time for No. 57 in the Oregonian’s football stories about Oregon and Oregon State. … A UC Davis men’s basketball player is transferring to Oregon. … A Colorado women’s player enjoyed her offseason. … New Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini talked with the Arizona Republic this week.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, the Idaho State women’s basketball team opened its Paris trip with an 82-56 win over a French squad made up of former pro players. … Montana football picked up a couple new recruits and changed a couple future schedules. … A UC Davis safety is considered among the best in the nation at his position.

Indians: Make it five consecutive wins over Tri-City for Spokane. No shutout this time, just a comfortable 9-3 victory at Avista Stadium. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Vancouver got back on the winning track with a 5-1 win at Everett. … Eugene edged visiting Hillsboro 2-1.

Mariners: By the way, for all his 100-mile-per-hour fastballs and hard-biting sliders, Munoz doesn’t strike out an incredible amount of hitters. He has 43 on the year (in 35 innings). That doesn’t even put him in the top 25 among MLB relievers. In his last five appearances, he has recorded just one and none in his last four. He was good enough last night, though, to close out the 2-1 win. … By the way, there is more on the game from Ryan Divish in the Times updated story. … Seattle’s president of business operations, Catie Griggs, resigned this week for a job closer to her East Coast home. Griggs was the first woman in baseball to ever hold a team’s president designation. … Jorge Polanco didn’t play again last night. … If the Jays and M’s decide to become trade partners before the deadline, why not do it today or tomorrow? Then the people in the deal, on Toronto’s side anyway, can just change clubhouses.

Storm: We’ve said it before. The WNBA’s schedule is oftentimes odd. Seattle lost 88-84 to the Chicago Sky last night at home. The Storm plays again at home Sunday. The opponent? Chicago. It’s almost like a playoff series. If that’s the case, Seattle will have to find a way to limit Chennedy Carter (33 points) and Angel Reese (career-high 27 points and 12 rebounds) better than it did Friday.

Sounders: The last in a three-match homestand arrives today, with Seattle hosting New England.

Kraken: Seattle added another forward yesterday. … One of the team’s draft picks explained an incident from his past. … Another has a fun back story. … The organization picked a new coach for its minor league team in the Coachella Valley. The old guy moved up the ladder.

Olympics: The Steve Kerr-led U.S. men’s basketball team is in Las Vegas, starting preparations for the Games later this month in Paris. Is it possible LeBron James, one of the NBA’s all-time greats, comes off the bench? Possible, sure. Probable? Nope.

Wimbledon: There was an exceptional men’s match Friday. Carlos Alcaraz and revitalized American Frances Tiafoe went at it, with Alcaraz, the best in the world at the moment, moving on after a five-set battle on Centre Court.

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• Darn it. Some clouds are gathering around Mt. Rainer as we finish up. Was sort of hoping the entire weekend would be dominated by its presence. Pretty cool mountain. Until later …