Gonzales earns his 14th win in the Mariners’ 3-1 victory

Herald news services

SEATTLE — If there is such a thing as a smile that is part sheepish and part sly, Marco Gonzales might have it mastered. It’s the combination of being the guy you want your daughter/sister to marry and also being the rip-out-your-opponent’s-heart competitor you wish there were more of on your team.

That smile appeared again Sunday following the Mariners’ 3-1 victory over Toronto that secured a fourth straight series win for Seattle. Gonzales was asked if he wanted to discuss the throngs of Blue Jays fans and their annual invasion of the stadium during the three-game series.

The question was in reference to his seething postgame comments a year ago when he took a loss vs. the Blue Jays and felt most of the 30,715 in attendance cheered against him in his home stadium.

“I take that personally when a team comes in here and brings their faithful fans and their muddy shoes and stomps on our carpet and takes a dump on our dining-room table,” he said after that loss.

It was a memorable quote that spoke to the frustration of this yearly occupation.

Sunday’s crowd of 29,698 — about 80% cheering for the Blue Jays — were rendered a non-factor for most of the game. Gonzales gave them little to cheer about, tossing seven innings and allowing one run on three hits. He walked two and struck out five in winning his career-high 14th game of the season.

So, did he have anything to say about the fans in victory?

Gonzales paused briefly — as the battle between boy-next-door Marco and competitive Marco battled in his mind — gave that little smirk/smile, and replied: “No, it didn’t matter who was in the stands. I had a lot of family here. My wife, our extended family, my brother flew in, so to me, it didn’t matter who was in the stands this weekend. It could’ve been empty for all I care, I wanted to put on a show for them and do them proud.”

Not exactly quote-of-the-year material like last year, but it was earnest. And typical humility in victory for Gonzales. But setting a career high in wins mattered to him because of what it represented to his teammates.

“Going into the season, my main goal was to find my consistency,” he said. “Be someone that my teammates looked at and said I did the same thing every day, went out and competed and took the ball and was the same guy. I have a little ways to go. But at this point, it’s been good to be able to see that result come through and know I’ve stuck to that process.”

While Gonzales has tried to remain consistent in his day-to-day and start-to-start approach, the results didn’t always follow.

After starting the season with a 5-0 record and 2.80 ERA in his first seven starts, Gonzales endured a miserable stretch of outings that started May 1 and carried into the first week of June. The Mariners lost all seven of his starts in that span, and he went 0-6, posting a 7.79 ERA. The low point of that suboptimal stretch came on June 2 when he allowed 10 earned on nine hits in 4.2 innings against the Angels at T-Mobile Park.

He ripped himself after the game, saying: “It starts with being accountable. The way that I pitched was just unacceptable. Not giving my team a chance to win. Exposing our bullpen too early in the game. I think there’s a lot of things I need to work on. I need to help this team win. I need to be a guy that’s dependable and reliable and that hasn’t been the case. I’ll be the first one to say that’s on me.”

He vowed to fix it — and he made good on that promise. Sure there have been a few less-than-stellar outings. He’s not going to dominate like other pitchers. But since that awful outing, he’s posted a 9-4 record in 14 starts with a 3.53 ERA, including 20 walks and 72 strikeouts. In those 14 starts, he’s allowed more than three runs just twice and has pitched five or more innings in all of them. In his past six starts at T-Mobile Park, Gonzales is 5-0 with a 2.14 ERA, allowing 10 earned runs in 42 innings with 37 strikeouts and six walks.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things — mental and physical — and being able to not do too much and control what I can control,” he said. “It’s easier said than done sometimes. But I was just trying to find consistency and stay in that feeling as long as I can. Baseball comes in waves and you try to stay consistent and not ride those waves. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of failure to understand and stay level-headed. That’s the person and pitcher I need to be.”

Dylan Moore homered in the third inning to give Seattle a 1-0 lead. Hot-hitting Kyle Seager delivered an RBI double with one out in the third, scoring J.P. Crawford to give Seattle a 2-0 lead. Seager is batting .347 in 20 games this month with seven doubles and 22 RBI.

After Toronto scored its run in the sixth, Omar Narvaez gave the Mariners an insurance run in the seventh with a short sacrifice fly to left.