The last time they failed in this situation, which wasn’t the first time this season, JP Crawford was part of the problem.
He was one of three strikeouts, missing an opportunity with the bases loaded and no outs, resulting in a frustrating loss for the Dodgers.
It left him irritated and heartbroken, struggling to find optimism in defeat.
“I didn’t do my job and neither did Julio,” he said after that game. “Runners on first and second late in the game, we have to get over them and get them in. We (expletive) above. I take full responsibility. I have to get it over with. I have to do my job.”
On Thursday night, he pitched in the bottom of the ninth inning as his team’s postseason hopes began to fade.
After a run, he watched as his teammates loaded the bases with no outs, taking advantage of Aroldis Chapman’s struggles.
He had also watched his team, hitless and with runners in scoring position, continue that trend, with pinch-hitters Mike Ford and Josh Rojas failing even to move runners and at least tie the game.
The top three wild card teams advance to the playoffs / *Texas has the tiebreaker against Seattle
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Reaching the playoffs: 28.2%
Win division: 5.3%
Remaining games: 3
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43,817 spectators stood there chanting “JP! JP!” The Mariners’ unofficial captain did his job and scored the most important goal of the season so far.
Crawford sent a line drive over left fielder Evan Carter’s head for a two-run walkoff double in the Mariners’ 3-2 win over the Rangers.
“At this point, everyone is depending on me,” he said. “You just have to do it. These last few games mean everything.”
Instead of getting that much closer to elimination from postseason contention, the Mariners, who needed to win at least three of the four games in the series against Texas, are still alive.
“Tonight is about the fight,” said manager Scott Servais. “You play all season long, including spring training and all the work that comes with it, and it kind of comes down to you have to win a game, you have to score a big hit, and our guys found a way .”
For most of the season it was a tough battle for great success. The Mariners have struggled to score with runners in scoring position, and that has increased in their recent struggles.
“This situation has happened to us a few times,” Servais said. “I think if there was a defining moment in our season, it was our inability to get guys in the game from third, especially because the bases weren’t loaded until late in the game. It’s happened to us a few times. Luckily we had the right man at the right time. JP Crawford had kind of a season.”
The numbers don’t lie. Crawford made 16 full-base appearances this season. He has 10 hits with three doubles, one homer, one walk, two strikeouts and 22 runs batted in. That’s a .667 batting average, folks.
“He hasn’t changed and he hasn’t tried to do too much,” Servais said. “He was just JP Crawford. When you have moments like that, just be yourself instead of trying to be the hero and do too much, and that’s exactly what he did.”
Crawford’s approach isn’t complicated: get in touch
“Just hit hard,” he said. “Hopefully it can find a hole and some grass somewhere.”
Seattle was one game behind the Astros in the wild card standings, who dropped out in Phoenix and opened a three-game series against the Diamondbacks. The Mariners are two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays.
“We never get this opportunity if we don’t throw,” Servais said of the late-game heroics.
The Mariners got solid work from Logan Gilbert, who faced the Rangers’ high-powered offense for the second straight game, and scoreless relief work from Isaiah Campbell, Gabe Speier and Andres Munoz.
Gilbert pitched six innings, allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts. He allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings at Texas on Saturday.
“What a job by Logan Gilbert,” Servais said. “I’m not surprised by Logan. On the outside we all see what a great competitor George Kirby is, but Logan has this alter ego, Walter. And he shows up the day he pitches and we saw it tonight. There was no doubt he was going to dig into this game and give you a chance.”
Both of his runs allowed were solo home runs.
In the third inning, Leody Taveras took advantage of a 2-1 fastball in the middle of the plate and sent a powerful hit over the wall to right-center, allowing a solo home run.
The second home run came in the fourth inning when Gilbert hit the always-dangerous Adolis Garcia with a 1-1 slider. The error bounced into the Mariners bullpen for a 2-0 lead.
“Even though they have a pretty strong lineup and can do some damage, you obviously saw some individual shots there, you can’t shy away from that,” Gilbert said. “You just have to go right after them and hopefully it will fall in your way.”
The Mariners got one of those runs in the bottom of the inning.
Julio Rodriguez, who had a strikeout in his first plate appearance to make five strikeouts in a row, stayed on a curveball on Rangers starter Jordan Montgomery’s first pitch and sent a fly ball just over the right-field wall. Garcia made a diving attempt to steal Rodriguez’s home run and even caught him with a small glove.
“I thought he might get it,” Rodriguez said.
It was the Mariners’ first hit and run of the game.
Montgomery went six innings and allowed one run on five hits along with two walks and five strikeouts.
The Mariners had a chance to tie the game after a Rodriguez home run, but were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position when Crawford came to the plate.
During this period of missed opportunities, assistant coach Carson Vitale tried to instill optimism in Servais.
“At some point we have to score with runners in scoring position,” Vitale told Servais. “We only need one. If we get one, we’ll probably win the game.”
In the future, it may be necessary to get more than one to win at least two of the remaining games in the series.
“You just have to keep fighting,” Servais said. “And that’s what we do. Some evenings it’s not very nice. And it’s very frustrating. I want to thank the fans who were here tonight. They came into the game in the ninth inning and made the difference. When it gets loud and you’re on the move, it’s difficult to throw punches. And we saw that with Chapman. That’s why we all need to please show up tomorrow and be as loud as possible because we need all the help we can get.”
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Ryan Divish: [email protected]; on twitter: @RyanDivish. Ryan Divish covers the Mariners in Seattle and on the road. Look out for his Extra Innings podcast and mailbags throughout the season.