Three observations from Mariners’ series win over Twins

Jun 1, 2025, 5:08 PM | Updated: 5:09 pm

Seattle Sports

One of baseball’s hottest teams over the past month came to T-Mobile Park this weekend, and the Seattle Mariners are sending them back on the road with just their second series loss since early May.

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Randy Arozarena played hero late with a game-winning RBI single as the M’s walked off the Minnesota Twins for the second night in a row Sunday to take the three-game series. With the win, the Mariners improved to 32-26 and remained one-half game in front of the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West.

Here are three observations from the M’s series win.

M’s end week on much-needed high note

Before the Mariners won the final two games of the series with Minnesota, it had been an absolutely brutal week for the ballclub.

It started with a rough three-game set against the Washington Nationals. After winning convincingly in the first game, they were blown out in the second and lost in an excruciating way in the finale, surrendering seven runs in the 10th inning.

Déjà vu hit Friday in a very unexpected way, with shutdown closer Andrés Muñoz allowing his first earned runs of the season and giving up a three-run lead in the ninth. Then the Twins exploded for six runs in the 10th and Seattle was out of it in the bottom half of extras for a second night in a row.

But things did take a big swing in the Mariners’ direction Saturday and Sunday. They earned consecutive walkoff wins, including a very memorable night as highly regarded prospect Cole Young won it in his MLB debut.

The vibes were starting feel not so good, but the club can now head into an off day at home on a high note.

Brash hits big benchmark

It was a pretty rough week for the Mariners’ bullpen, but right-hander Matt Brash on Sunday reached an encouraging achievement in his return from Tommy John surgery.

It was a little shaky, but Brash pitched a scoreless eighth inning in his first time pitching three times in four days since rejoining the club in early May. The hard-throwing reliever last completed that feat in September 2023.

“We had to be a little bit careful coming off the injury, and today was one of those days we were a little then down there,” manager Dan Wilson said. “This is a big step for him for sure. Matty’s the kind of guy that wants the ball, and he wanted to be there and this was a big day for him.”

Cal can’t do it on his own

Cal Raleigh continued his unreal stretch over the weekend, walloping four more home runs to take sole possession of the MLB lead. He drove in eight of the Mariners’ 12 runs during the series in the process.

What Raleigh is doing right now is truly remarkable. He’s on a record-setting home run pace for catchers and is putting his name in the record books in front of legendary names like Mike Piazza and Roy Campanella. If it wasn’t for what Aaron Judge is doing with the Yankees, the M’s switch-hitting backstop would be the frontrunner for AL MVP.

But Raleigh needs help. He can’t carry this offense by himself.

Early on it was Jorge Polanco who provided a big punch next to Raleigh to help the Mariners’ offense to a surprising start. Polanco’s production has cratered this month, and at least one and preferably two or three more players need give the M’s more production.

Perhaps Arozarena could be one of them. He homered in the series opener and had the aforementioned walkoff Sunday. Between him and Julio Rodríguez, it feels as if the M’s have two sleeping giants in their outfield. Right now would be an excellent time for one (or both) to wake up.