MINNEAPOLIS — There was a little something for everyone to pick and choose from on a tense and terrific opening day, delayed first by the lockout and then by inclement weather and at last delivering a wallop of sustained stress.
The worriers among Mariners fans had plenty to fret about Friday, and the skeptics could point to warning signs that foretell trouble ahead. Ah, but the dreamers had the last laugh — one that admittedly caught in their collective throats as Gary Sanchez’s potential walk-off home run hurtled toward the left-field fence.
It was, as manager Scott Servais said with a look of relieved bliss on his face, a game the Mariners have seen before, and will see again often. In other words, in doubt right down to the end, a one-run lead hanging in the balance, with their bullpen making sure that Robbie Ray’s brilliant debut was not for naught.
If you want to nitpick this 2-1 Mariners win at Target Field — and that’s become an art form with a team that has gone two decades between playoff appearances — you could certainly point to the Mariners’ inability to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities. They had just five hits, left 10 runners on base, and were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position — ominous echoes of their offensive woes last year.
But you could also be encouraged by the fact the Mariners had a constant stream of base runners, indicative of what they believe will be a much deeper lineup. And by the door-slamming finish of relievers Paul Sewald and Drew Steckenrider, who hope to belie the popular wisdom that the Mariner bullpen is ripe for a regression to the mean after carrying them to an inordinate number of one-run victories last year.
Mitch Haniger, who by his own admission left spring training still searching to find his swing, crushed the second pitch he saw over the left-field wall for a two-run first-inning home run that held up. When the Twins cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth, Haniger said to himself, “We’re probably going to win 2-1 just because of how last year went. It was a lot of confidence.”
They did just that behind a start by Ray that didn’t just set the tone; it adjusted the treble and bass.
“I mean, he’s a Cy Young winner,” Winker said. “He’s a No. 1. He’s an ace. And he’s a gamer.”
Ray was sharp from the beginning — an eight-pitch first inning, all eight of them strikes — and just willed himself through seven innings. When Servais contemplated taking out Ray after six, he was swayed by the look of determination in Ray’s eyes. Servais told the 2021 Cy Young Award winner, “OK, you got three hitters.” Ray got all three, quickly.
“Robbie sets the tone, I think, in everything he does,” Servais said. “He’s just wired that way. He wants to be out front. He’s going to be super aggressive. It’s fun to watch, and it’s such a warm feeling, I guess is the best way to put it, when you know he’s out there.”
Servais is bracing himself for many more conversations — or subtly conveyed silent signals — when Ray is trying to plead his case for extending his starts. Ray said he is constitutionally geared to go as long as he can, and that such appeals “come from a place of love, and understanding that we’re both men and it’s a decision that we both have to make.”
All the good vibes of Friday would have been for naught if Sanchez’s drive off Steckenrider with two outs in the ninth had cleared the wall for a two-run homer. Sanchez’s body language indicated that he certainly thought he had. In right field, Haniger said he had no idea if the ball was going to be caught — the swirling wind had been playing havoc with fly balls the entire game. Winker backed to the wall and prepared to leap as high as he could to keep it in the yard. It turned out no leap was necessary as the ball dropped into Winker’s glove as he approached the wall.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I knew off the bat it was going to (stay in the ballpark),” Winker said. “It got high really quick. And I was like, ‘Oh, man.’ I just wanted to get back and find the wall. I was getting ready to jump. And then squatted down to jump. And then I was like, ‘OK, I don’t have to jump.’”
Servais said that in the dugout, “everyone sighed at the same time” when Winker caught the ball.
“I’m like, I think we’re OK here, but we are going to play some crazy baseball games this year,’’ Servais said.
It was a day that started with news that J.P. Crawford had signed a five-year, $51-million contract that buys out the first two years of Crawford’s free agency. The Mariners see Crawford as a foundational piece, one of their core players whom they are counting upon to build a brighter future.
As the Mariners headed into opening day, general manager Jerry Dipoto said, “This is as excited as I’ve ever been for the start of the season. This is the team that we imagined putting together, and I don’t think this is the best we’re ever going to be. Every day from here, we will continue to grow.”
The Mariners certainly showed on Friday that they had room for growth, but the lessons came wrapped up in a victory that left the clubhouse in a buoyant mood. Servais said that when Julio Rodriguez lined out sharply to right field in his final plate appearance after beginning his major league career with three lackluster at-bats, he told the manager in the dugout, “I’m trending in the right direction.”
“I’ve never had a player tell me that,’’ Servais said with a laugh.
Meet your 2022 Mariners — a work in progress, but trending in the right direction.
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