Dom Canzone demolished a game-tying, two-run homer on Monday night. It shouldn’t have happened, and it didn’t matter.
With the Mariners down to their final out, losing 4-0 in another snoozer of a game, Dylan Moore drew a narrow walk. It seemed inconsequential. Donovan Solano was at the plate, the tying run was in the dugout, and Justin Martinez was pumping triple-digit fastballs, having decisively dispatched Jorge Polanco and Randy Arozarena to begin the inning. But midway through Solano’s at bat, Martinez left the mound in pain. The game paused for several minutes while Jeff Brigham warmed up in front of everyone. When the game restarted, he both couldn’t find the zone and only found the center of it. Solano rocketed a single to score Moore, who’d moved up on indifference. Cole Young poked a soft liner to score Solano, who’d also moved up on difference.
That brought the tying run to the plate in Dom Canzone, who was called up before the game to replace the void left (and created) by Leody Taveras. Canzone worked a full count. He got a belt-high fastball. He sent it 450 feet away at 115.6 mph.
It was a new ballgame. But it was not. The Mariners would go on to lose by the same margin, 8-4.
The bullpen gave the Mariners two chances in extras. The lineup couldn’t manage a hit or a walk, even with base runners gifted by Rob Manfred. In the bottom of the 11th, Carlos Vargas intentionally walked Ketel Marte, unintentionally walked Geraldo Perdomo, and gave up a walkoff grand slam to Josh Naylor. It wasn’t a bad pitch, nor was it great contact, but it was enough — a fitting end to a game the Mariners never quite “deserved” to win.
The Mariners weren’t awful on Monday. They ultimately picked up three walks and 12 hits, even if most of their damage came against a guy who wasn’t prepared to pitch. There was bad luck, bad sequencing and bad umpiring that made this game feel worse than it was.
But there was bad baseball, too. After Crawford leadoff the game with a walk, Julio hit a weak tapper to replace him at first and immediately got picked off by Merrill Kelly. After consecutive singles to begin the second, Rowdy Tellez grounded into a double play and Miles Mastrobuoni struck out. The Mariners managed just one baserunner in third, fourth and fifth innings. They managed several baserunners in sixth, seventh and eighth innings but left them stranded. The Mariners lineup looked fine. Fine wasn’t enough, again.
Emerson Hancock pitched Monday and was also fine. He gave up a weak homer to Corbin Carroll on his first pitch of the game but ultimately scattered six hits and three walks over five innings. The Diamondbacks lineup is quite good, and Chase Field is a tough environment, and Hancock gave the Mariners a chance to win. He looked like an MLB pitcher of some quality. It’s become increasingly difficult to say otherwise.
The only thing I’d thought to write about before the chaos of the ninth was a bit of commentary on whether the Mariners should use a six-man rotation to keep Hancock around. I wasn’t going to argue in favor of the idea, but it doesn’t matter now. The Mariners announced out of nowhere after the game that Bryce Miller is headed to the IL. Both Logan Evans and Logan Gilbert will pitch Tuesday — Evans against the Diamondbacks and Gilbert for Tacoma — and they will presumably swap places next week. Hancock will likely stick around until Miller returns, whenever that may be.