SEATTLE — And suddenly, at the start of a tepid June, the Mariners’ bats have begun to heat up.
To scorching measurements.
A three-game display of run scoring, capped by Seattle’s 7-1 series-sweeping victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday, wasn’t aided by the dry heat of Texas or Houston’s porous pitching staff of a few years ago.
The Mariners scored 28 runs against one of the best pitching staffs in the American League.
And the runs came in nearly every way possible — grand slam home runs, multiple run-scoring doubles and singles, even a wild pitch.
Seattle starting pitcher Ariel Miranda took care of the rest Sunday, giving up just one earned run to win his career-best fifth game in a row — in the first complete game of his career.
“We’re coming together as a team,” Seattle shortstop Taylor Motter said. “These last 7-8 games have been awesome.”
And the scoring has been awe-striking.
Seattle’s 28 runs from this weekend’s series were the most it had scored in an series in nearly three years. The M’s also tallied 28 runs in a three-game series against the Astros in Houston from June 30-July 2, 2014.
And the last time Seattle scored more in three games? It came in May of 2012 – 33 runs at Globe Life Park in Arlington against the Rangers (highlighted by a 21-8 win).
Manager Scott Servais can pit the heart of his lineup — Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager — against anybody in the AL.
But what the bottom part of the order accomplished in these three games makes the offense really scary.
Of the 28 runs against Tampa Bay, the 6-through-9 hitters — Danny Valencia, Motter, Jarrod Dyson and Mike Zunino — accounted for 24 RBI. That quartet also batted .488 for the series.
Zunino drove in two more runs Sunday with his single to right field in the fourth inning.
“Obviously with what I’ve been working on, that cleans the (swing) path to go that way,” said Zunino, who has nine RBI in his past two games. “With two strikes, it’s nice to be able to have the swing now I can put that ball over to that direction.”
And Dyson put the game out of reach — 6-0 — with his two-run single just inside the first-base bag in the sixth.
“The guys on the bottom, we all know the potential that they have,” Servais said. “When they put consistent at-bats together, and literally keep the line moving, it is fun to watch. It (puts) constant pressure on the other team, and the other pitcher. He doesn’t have easy outs.”
With two more singles to start Sunday’s game, Valencia tied the team mark with hits in nine consecutive at-bats, matching Raul Ibanez’s record from 2004. Valencia’s record-tying hit came on an infield grounder that third baseman Daniel Robertson could not field cleanly.
The streak ended on his pop-up to Rickie Weeks, Jr. at first base in the sixth inning.
“Somebody asked Edgar (Martinez) in the dugout, ‘You were pretty good, did you ever do that?’ Edgar couldn’t say he’d done it,” Servais said. “When you get nine straight hits … when it is going good, you have to ride it as long as you can.”
Seattle took a 2-0 lead on Nelson Cruz’s two-run home off former M’s pitcher Erasmo Ramirez to straightaway center field in the first inning. It was the 47th time Cruz has homered in back-to-back games.
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