Taylor Motter rounds the bases following his grand slam in the first inning off Jake Odorizzi. (Photo Credit: Seattle Times)

The Seattle Mariners jumped on Jake Odorizzi and the Tampa Bay Rays early Friday night, ultimately trouncing the good guys and taking the first game of the series, 12-4. Thanks a lot, Mark Zuckerberg.


Source: FanGraphs

Going into the game, Odorizzi had the third highest fastball whiff rate in the American League at 27.4%. That, however, changed last night after Odo gave up five runs on 48 pitches in the first inning alone. The Mariners whiffed on just one pitch out of the first 20 thrown, and just three times overall. In short, they spat on changeups in non-full counts, and waited for the mistake pitches they could punish…which they did. That said, the Rays right-hander certainly didn’t get any help from the defense behind him, namely Brad Miller.

Miller, just activated from the disabled list, failed to make a play on a ground ball that was hit toward him by leadoff hitter Ben Gamel, and then booted the next ball hit to him, which should have been a double play.

Obviously just didn’t catch it and put Odo in a pretty tough spot to battle through there. The first one I don’t even know if I backhand it. He’s the leadoff hitter and he can run pretty well. I don’t know about that one. The second one, not even close. It’s got to be made. Got to get that out.

Odorizzi almost worked his way out of the mess, fanning Nelson Cruz and getting Kyle Seager to line to first. Yet, Danny Valencia walked, which forced home a run, then former Ray Taylor Motter hit a grand slam to left after falling behind 0-2, giving Seattle a five run lead. Motter fouled off 11 pitches, nine with two-strikes against him.

Motter did not hide the satisfaction he got from beating his former team.

That was definitely something to remember right there, Motter said. Especially against them. …There are a lot of things that run through my head to answer that question, but specifically they got rid of me to let me come here. To do it against them means more than anything. They gave me my chance in baseball, but I’m going to succeed somewhere else. And I’m glad to show them that.

The Mariners were able to knock Odorizzi out of the game in the third inning. Robinson Cano singled to right, then moved up to second as Cruz walked. Two batters later, Valencia belted a three-run homer to left, making it an eight run game.

The Rays tried to chip away at the lead, and got on the board in the fourth against starter Christian Bergman. Colby Rasmus and Tim Beckham went back-to-back with solo homers, their seventh and ninth (respectively).

It also was the MLB leading seventh time this season where the Rays went back-to-back.

They, however, were the only runs Bergman gave up over the course of his six inning outing — this despite not throwing a perfect frame.

They did draw a little closer in the top of the seventh inning after Corey Dickerson singled to left, giving him yet another multi-hit game — his league leading 25th. Kevin Kiermaier followed with his third homer in as many games, and seventh of the season, to bring the Rays within four.

However, Seattle answered with a four run frame in the bottom of the inning, against former Mariner Danny Farquhar. Valencia singled in a run, Jarrod Dyson hit a two-run single off the glove of Miller, and Mike Zunino plated the final run on a sacrifice-fly.

The biggest positive of the game for the Rays was Ryan Garton throwing 3-2/3 inning of scoreless relief. Granted they weren’t the highest leverage innings, notching just a .14 LI (at the highest leverage point of his outing) per FanGraphs, but it’s a start.

The New What Next

Game two of the series is on Saturday when Alex Cobb (4-4, 3.67 ERA, 4.13 FIP) starts opposite Sam Gaviglio (1-1, 3.50 ERA, 6.04 FIP).

Cobb gave up run on six hits against the Twins on Sunday, coming away with a no-decision in the 16 inning marathon ball game. He is 3-1 in his last four decisions, with the only loss coming against the Blue Jays when he held them to two runs over eight innings.

Gaviglio, the rookie right-hander, picked up his first career win against the Rockies in his last outing — becoming the first pitcher in Mariners history to earn his first big league win on Memorial Day. He is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA in three starts since moving into the starting rotation. Gaviglio, however, hasn’t thrown more than 76 pitches in any of his starts to date. This season he has relied primarily on a heavy 88 mph four-seam fastball, and an 83 mph slider. He also has mixed in an 84 mph changeup with good arm side run.

You can read more about the series in our preview.

Rays 6/3/17 Starting Lineup

Dickerson DH
Kiermaier CF
Longoria 3B
Morrison 1B
Souza Jr RF
Rasmus LF
Beckham SS
Robertson 2B
Norris C
Cobb RHP

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