Tuesday, March 26

Luis Torrens earns pitching win for Mariners to open doubleheader


SEATTLE — This penultimate day of the regular season was always going to be a headache for the Mariners.

When the revised schedule was released after the lockout was lifted in March — which resulted in a delayed start and finish to the regular season — manager Scott Servais had a hunch that a nine-day stretch with 10 games leading into a hopeful postseason appearance would hamper his roster, particularly pitching-wise.

Such was the precise case in a 7-6, 10-inning win over the Tigers in the opener of Tuesday’s doubleheader at T-Mobile Park, which forced Servais to use catcher Luis Torrens on the mound once the game reached extras. Thankfully for Servais, Abraham Toro ended it in the 10th with a sacrifice fly to score Carlos Santana, who had just previously ripped a game-tying RBI single to score automatic runner Eugenio Suárez.

Aside from the stress of mapping out arms, the victory gave the Mariners some clarity on their postseason destination, which will be Toronto for the American League Wild Card Series beginning Friday. With Tampa Bay’s rain-shortened 6-0 loss in Boston, the Mariners locked up the No. 5 seed, one day after the Blue Jays secured the No. 4 seed and home-field advantage for the best-of-three series.

But first, the Mariners have to get there — and it began with an all-hands-on-deck effort Tuesday, which will continue into the regular-season finale on Wednesday, with pitching preservation squarely at the forefront of mind.

“This is about putting us in the best position to win a playoff series,” Servais said. “And again, I think you guys know how competitive I am. I want to win every game. But it’s about playing the long game here, getting us to that point. So the decisions today are going to be a little clunky.”

Marco Gonzales is slated to start Wednesday vs. the Tigers and will completely empty the tank to — in the Mariners’ hopes — spell as many bullpen arms as possible. As such, Gonzales is not expected to be on Seattle’s 26-man Wild Card Series roster, because the soonest he’d be available on regular rest would be Monday, at which point the series will be over.

Gonzales is more stretched out and will likely be allowed to throw 100 pitches, a threshold Servais said he’d avoid with the other starters in this final turn. It’s well beyond the capacity of Chris Flexen, who had a shorter leash given that he was making his first start since Aug. 6 when he took the mound for the twin-bill opener.

Flexen, who was admittedly “gassed” by the end of his four innings, allowed three runs (including a two-run homer to Spencer Torkelson), but he achieved precisely what the Mariners hoped for.

Servais hinted Tuesday morning that folks tuning into the doubleheader would “see some very unconventional things happen” with Seattle’s pitching, which is exactly what manifested.

“It was always going to be a challenge,” Servais said. “I think any manager’s worst nightmare is when you run out of pitching when you have it mapped out, and sure enough, that’s what we looked at today.”


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