Mariners end losing skid in big way, thump Pirates 10-3

PITTSBURGH – They’re the Mariners’ two cornerstone players, situated in the heart of lineup, and the heart and soul of everything this franchise aspires to be.

And the two runs Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh manufactured in the first inning Sunday afternoon were as important, and as timely, as any the Mariners have scored all season.

Rodriguez, despite a sore ankle, legged out an infield single and Raleigh followed a few pitches later with a line-drive home run, swatting away the Mariners’ prolonged slump and setting the tone in a 10-3 rout of the Pirates at PNC Park.

“Those are our guys – our young, homegrown guys,” manager Scott Servais said. “They’re good players. They play the game the right way and they need to continue to keep it going. They certainly got us off on the right foot today, and we needed it. We absolutely needed it.”

George Kirby rebounded from the worst start of his career to throw six strong innings, and the Mariners (64-61) snapped a five-game losing streak ahead of a daunting trip to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Monday.

Everyone in the starting lineup had at least one hit, and the Mariners had 13 hits in all, with homers from Raleigh, Josh Rojas and Dominic Canzone.

Their 10 runs Sunday were more than they’d scored in the previous five games (9) combined.

“It’s good to go out and take a quick lead, especially with George on the mound,” Raleigh said. “We’ve just got to keep it going. We can’t be happy with the one win.”

Raleigh, who showed up at the ballpark sporting a new mustache, turned on a sweeper from Pirates starter Jake Woodford and sent it out for his 27th homer of the season. He leads all MLB catchers in homers for the third straight year.

As part of MLB’s Players’ Weekend, Raleigh homered using his new Sonics “Bring ‘em Back” bat, which he said was inspired by the team’s two clubhouse managers, Chris DeWitt and Joe Van Vleck.

Raleigh’s swing also helped inspire a lot more offense Sunday.

The Mariners scored two more in the second when Victor Robles – after failing on a sac bunt attempt – ripped a double down the left-field line, scoring Rojas and Leo Rivas.

The Mariners broke it open with a three-run fourth inning.

Rojas drove a 92-mph sinker from Woodford out to center field, a 408-foot blast for his seventh homer of the season.

A throwing error on Pirates third baseman Jared Triolo brought in another run, and Luke Raley followed with a sac fly to bring home Victor and extend the Mariners’ lead to 7-0.

Canzone hit a 416-foot homer off one-time Mariner reliever Ryder Ryan in the fifth inning.

“Really good effort by our guys. We’ve been going through a rough time here on this road trip,” Servais said. “I can’t say enough about the group coming in today with a really good attitude – kind of a fresh start, let’s just see what we can do, go after it. We’re having a lot of fun with where we’re at, which is hard to do. It’s really hard, but it’s a kid’s game. You got to try to keep it loose. Our guys came out swinging the bat really aggressively.”

Servais said he liked the energy and positivity in the clubhouse early Sunday. He said Raleigh and Rodriguez both spoke up in the pregame hitters meeting, as did new first baseman Justin Turner.

“It starts with our leaders, the guys that have been around,” he said. “But even Cal and Julio, and JT added a lot today in the clubhouse. Just, ‘Hey, man, here’s where we’re at. Let’s go. Let’s swing the bat and let’s see what happens.’ And our guys were super aggressive today. We got good pitches to hit and we barreled them.”

Turner, part of the Dodgers’ World Series-winning team in 2020, will make his return to Dodger Stadium on Monday for the first time since leaving Los Angeles after the 2022 season. He’s seen just about everything in his 16-year MLB career and he described a feeling of “more life, more energy” in the team coming to the park Sunday.

“Obviously, offense breeds energy,” Turner said. “Cal had the big swing in the first inning to get us going … and it just seemed like we played with a looseness after that.”

Dylan Moore, though not in the starting lineup, was the first position player at the ballpark Sunday morning, working out his swing after going hitless the night before. (He replaced Jorge Polanco later in the game and promptly stole a base and made a terrific diving stop at second base.)

Even through the brutal start of this trip, Servais has maintained that he’s liked the consistency of work and the effort his team puts forth.

“That’s what it takes,” he said. “That’s how these guys are wired. That’s why I love them so much. I really do they care. They continue to work. They’re not always getting the results they want, but they handle the hard times, and you’ve got to keep pushing forward.”

It was the Mariners’ first win in a week – since a 12-1 romp of the New York Mets the previous Sunday before a nationally televised audience on ESPN to complete a rousing sweep.

At that point, the Mariners were tied with the Houston Astros atop the AL West.

A week later, they went into the series finale in Pittsburgh trailing the Astros by four games, and it remains four games as they head to L.A. to close out this nine-day trip.

Kirby, tagged for 11 runs (six earned) in a 15-1 loss in Detroit to start the road trip, threw five scoreless innings Sunday before allowing a two-run homer to Joey Bart in the sixth. He finished with six complete innings, allowing four hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

“Today, I just tried to pitch angry, pissed off,” Kirby said. “I feel like I’ve had a lot of learning lessons from pitching pissed off. … For me, more times than not, I’m usually pretty angry, which I really have to work on. But, you know, losing four or five straight, whoever was, I thought that was a little necessary for today, just coming in and setting the tone.”