Three things stand out from Mariners’ start

For much of Wednesday’s game it looked like the Seattle Mariners were heading toward another series loss, but in the end, they mounted a stunning comeback to secure their first series victory of the young season.

Randy Arozarena hit a grand slam in the eighth inning, Julio Rodríguez tied the game with a two-run, bases-loaded double in the ninth, and Arozarena ended it with a walk-off walk for a 7-6 victory over the Houston Astros.

Watch: Randy slam, Julio’s big hit lead Seattle Mariners over Astros 7-6

With the win, the Mariners improved to 5-8 with the AL West-leading Texas Rangers coming to town for a three-game series starting Friday. And after the type of slow start Seattle had been off to, it was a much-needed victory over a division rival.

However, the M’s remained tied for last in their division. Here’s three things that stand out from the first 13 games.

Mounting injuries expose problems

Before Wednesday’s game, manager Dan Wilson said that there’s never an ideal time for injuries. That’s true, but there’s certainly times that are worse than others. And for the Mariners, the beginning of the season was definitely the worst timing.

The M’s just don’t have many answers to fill the shoes of injured starter George Kirby, right fielder Victor Robles, second baseman Ryan Bliss and relievers Matt Brash and Troy Taylor at this point. With Jorge Polanco’s injury problems added in, it equals a difficult roster situation that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

Seattle just doesn’t have the depth near the major league level within its organization to withstand a slew of injuries right now. The farm system is loaded with highly regarded top prospects, including a league-high eight in Baseball America’s top 100. But most of those players are still in the lower levels of the minor leagues, and the guys who have reached Triple-A just haven’t been there very long.

Related: Seattle Mariners 2B Ryan Bliss to IL among several roster moves

Second baseman Cole Young entered Wednesday with just 38 at-bats past the Double-A level, catcher Harry Ford has 18 and third baseman Ben Williamson has 41. The one player who is probably the most MLB-ready at this point, first baseman Tyler Locklear, has 296 at-bats in Triple-A and 45 more from his short stint in the majors last season. But unless the M’s are willing to move him back to his college position at third base, he doesn’t really fit what the roster needs to address the injury issues.

Calling up Young, Ford or Williamson at this point would feel desperate, and it could potentially stunt their development by exposing them to the majors too soon. Ideally, those players would make their debuts a couple months in if needed.

And unfortunately for the Mariners, the Kirby injury has become more of an issue than initially expected. Former first-round draft pick Emerson Hancock and Luis F. Castillo have given Seattle a combined 7 2/3 innings over three starts, which has further compounded the issues for an overused bullpen missing two leverage relievers.

More needed from top of the order

With everything above under consideration, this team could potentially be in a much better situation if the top of the lineup was hitting better. Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh, Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley are all batting under .200, and they had just 14 combined RBIs before Rodríguez and Arozarena combined for all six runs driven in Wednesday.

The numbers get even worse when you look at what that group has been with runners in scoring position. They’re 4 for 47 (an .085 average) with just three extra-base hits (two are from Arozarena). Rodríguez’s double Wednesday was his first hit in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position this season, and Raleigh has gone a combined 0 for 12.

Rodríguez had been struggling in particular after some encouraging signs early on. The center fielder hit his third home run of the season during the first inning on Sunday against the Giants, which was his 11th game of the season. That is the fastest he has gotten to three home runs in a season, and it was 42 games quicker than when he got off to a dreadful start in 2024. However, he was 0 for 15 with eight strikeouts between that homer and Wednesday’s game-tying double.

One reason for hope on offense

Opportunities.

The Mariners have generated plenty of chances on offense despite having the fourth-worst team batting average in the league at .200. Their 101 at-bats with runners in scoring position are ninth in the league, although their .129 batting average in those situations is last, and they had just two extra-base hits in those situations before Arozarena’s grand slam and Rodríguez’s double Wednesday.

But the team’s ability to draw walks at a high rate and steal bases means it’s still getting guys on base and in scoring position. The M’s are second in the league in walks (56) and tied for third in stolen bases (20).

That lack of ability to come through during a lot of those situations can make the team a frustrating watch at times, but the law of averages says those numbers should swing upward pretty drastically.

Seattle has an absurdly low .169 average on balls put in play with runners in scoring position this year, which just simply isn’t sustainable. The lowest a BABIP a team has had with runners in scoring position over the past 10 seasons is .255 by Cincinnati in 2015.

More on the Seattle Mariners

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• Passan on Seattle Mariners’ division: The AL West ‘stinks’
• Seattle Mariners ship out pitcher who was in their bullpen in ’24
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