SEATTLE — The team destined for the postseason slogged its way through the three-game series with the emotion and intensity of high schoolers stuck in Saturday detention. The Astros know the playoffs are an inevitability with their amassed talent. But the swagger of years past was noticeably absent, perhaps filling those infamous trash cans now jettisoned from Minute Maid Park.
Meanwhile the team whose postseason hopes are still somehow alive due to math, but not common baseball sense, played its final home game of the season with the same energy as the first. In a season that supposed to be about learning at the big league level, it seems the Mariners have learned that energy and enthusiasm don’t have to go in slumps while exceeding expectations and playing games that matter in the final week of this shortened season.
Knowing they couldn’t afford lose another game the rest of the way and with a packed stadium of cardboard cutouts on hand for the final home game of the season, the Mariners avoided looming elimination from postseason qualification with a 3-2 victory over the Astros and a rare series win.
The Astros did awake from their malaise in the bottom of the ninth with the help of Mariners’ “closer” Yoshihisa Hirano, who gave up two runs and had the tying run on second and Jose Altuve at the plate with two outs.
But Altuve’s miserable season continued when he struck out swinging to end the game.
After coming into the three-game series with a 2-24 record against the Astros dating to last season, the Mariners took two of three from their rivals. And while it doesn’t represent a changing of the guard, the Astros look like a team headed for an early exit from the postseason.
As for the Mariners hopes, they can’t lose. They must win their next four games and hope the Astros lose their next four … against the hapless Rangers.
The other avenue is the Blue Jays. Seattle does hold a tiebreaker over Toronto so there is wiggle room for a loss. But it’s not recommendable.
And then there are the resurgent Los Angeles Angels, who moved a game ahead of the Mariners at 26-31. But Seattle does hold the tiebreaker over the Angels if they finished with identical records.
Confused?
The Mariners got a solid start from lefty Nick Margevicius, who pitched six shutout innings, allowing three hits with three walks and four strikeouts. While he had just 11 of 23 first-pitch strikes, he came back with strikes in eight of the 12 at-bats with a 1-0 count, which meant he only had three 2-0 counts the entire game.
He faced some minor drama in the third inning when he allowed a leadoff double to Aledmys Diaz and walked George Springer with one out. But shortstop J.P. Crawford gloved Jose Altuve’s hard liner and flipped the ball to second to double off Diaz to end the inning.
In his constant churn of low-cost, low-risk roster moves and acquisitions in the search for untapped talent or flawed but fixable performers, general manager Jerry Dipoto has unearthed a quality contributor in the young lefty.
Claimed off waivers from the Padres last offseason as depth for the rotation, Margevicius has found a place in the Mariners’ organization. It’s instructive to remember that he’s playing this season at age 24, the same as Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn.
Unless the Mariners acquire multiple starting pitchers via free agency this offseason — they realistically need to sign at least one — Margevicius will almost certainly compete with Dunn and top prospect Logan Gilbert for spots in the expected modified six-man rotation going for 2021.
The offense was provided for by newcomer Ty France, who had a first-inning RBI double and a fifth-inning RBI single. Kyle Seager also added an RBI double.
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