Mariners Stat of the Day: July 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Mariners this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

? Mariners Stat of the Day: June 2021

July 31: Rangers 5, Mariners 4 (10) -- France continues surge
Ty France may have had only one hit on Saturday, but it was an impactful one. His 442-foot home run in the ninth inning not only tied the game late but also helped extend his hitting streak to nine games, tying a career high. The home run also doubled as France's 10th of the year, pushing him to double-digit long balls for the first time in his young career. Across these nine games, France is slashing .297/.350/.432 with 11 hits in 37 at-bats.

July 30: Mariners 9, Rangers 5 -- Toro's wheels on display
Newly acquired infielder Abraham Toro endeared himself to Mariners fans early by blasting home runs in back-to-back games, showcasing his hidden power potential. On Friday, he took it one step forward by showcasing some speed on the basepaths. In the third inning, Toro singled to short, beating out Isiah Kiner-Falefa's throw to first, helping set up Jarred Kelenic's monster three-run home run in the next at-bat. Toro's sprint speed to first base was 29.7 feet per second, just three-tenths of a foot shy of the 30 feet "elite" threshold. It also doubled as his fastest recorded sprint speed this season.

July 28: Astros 11, Mariners 4 -- Toro's historic homers
Abraham Toro was the hottest hitter of this three-game series between Houston and Seattle, homering in each game -- and for both teams. Toro went yard in the finale, but it was the homer the day prior that was historic. After going deep in the first game for Houston then again in Game 2 for Seattle, Toro became the first player in MLB history to homer for and against a single team on consecutive days.

July 27: Astros 8, Mariners 6 -- Kelenic ends RBI drought
Jarred Kelenic broke out of a slump with his first multi-hit and first multi-RBI game since May 14, when he homered for his first big league hit. It also marked his first RBI since May 26. The Mariners are hopeful that this is the first of many hits and RBIs as MLB Pipeline's No. 4 overall prospect continues to work in what's been a trying season.

July 26: Mariners 11, Astros 8 -- Seattle's 200th grand slam
Dylan Moore's go-ahead grand slam was the obvious highlight of a huge win over Houston, but it also carried a milestone in franchise history as the 200th grand slam hit by a Mariner since the club's inception in 1977, and its fifth this season.

July 25: Mariners 4, A's 3 -- Four-plus runs? Really good results
The Mariners' success in one-run games this season has been well-chronicled (they're now 23-8 in such contests in 2021). But an underlying number worth watching, especially if their hot stretch continues, is how they do when manufacturing sustained run production. Manager Scott Servais pointed out before the season that the club seems to fare far better when scoring at least four runs, and the numbers back that up -- the Mariners are 45-14 in such contests.

July 24: Mariners 5, A's 4 -- Another multi-HR game for Haniger
Mitch Haniger was the offensive headliner for the Mariners, staging his third two-homer effort of the season and coming just a few inches shy of what would've been the first three-homer game of his career. But he instead settled for a 395-foot double. It marked the first individual multi-homer game for a Mariners player at T-Mobile Park since Daniel Vogelbach did it two years ago exactly, on July 24, 2019.

July 23: Mariners 4, A's 3 -- Raleigh's 113.1 mph rocket
Cal Raleigh didn't just exhale after crushing his first career homer -- he also marveled. The ball left his bat at 113.1 mph, making it the fifth-hardest-hit homer for any player on his first career long ball since Statcast began tracking such figures in 2015. Raleigh trails only Jake Burger (115.2 mph), Jorge Alfaro (114.2), Luke Raley (113.5) and Bobby Bradley (113.5).

July 22: Athletics 4, Mariners 1 -- France quietly heating up
Ty France collected a first-inning single en route to going 1-for-4 and is now hitting .303 with 22 runs scored, 12 doubles, six homers, 29 RBIs, 10 walks and 10 HBPs since returning from the IL on May 24. He's reached base in 44 of the 50 games in that stretch.

July 21: Rockies 6, Mariners 3 -- McCaughan's historic debut
With his stellar outing against the Rockies at Coors Field on Wednesday, Darren McCaughan became only the third pitcher since the mound was moved to its current distance from the plate in 1893 to toss five hitless innings out of the bullpen in his MLB debut. Bill Dillman accomplished the feat on April 14, 1967, for the Orioles against the Kansas City A’s, and Hank Borowy did so on April 18, 1942, for the Yankees vs. the Red Sox.

July 20: Mariners 6, Rockies 4 -- Milestone night for Raleigh
Playing in his fourth Major League game, Mariners rookie catcher Cal Raleigh achieved several firsts. In the second inning, he earned his first walk. In the fourth, he singled to center field for his first hit. Raleigh wasn't done yet as he notched his first extra-base hit when he doubled in the sixth, driving in a pair of runs -- his first two RBIs.

July 18: Mariners 7, Angels 4 -- Gilbert K's nine
As if his last outing against the Yankees wasn't impressive enough, when he set a career high with eight strikeouts, Logan Gilbert followed it up with nine against the 24 Angels he faced on Sunday, including six of his first seven.

July 17: Angels 9, Mariners 4 -- 28 straight games with runs
Mitch Haniger's fifth-inning sacrifice fly put the Mariners in business and his ninth-inning homer that scored three made things interesting, even though the Halos halted each rally. Though they didn't have much else going and were in a deep hole early, the state of the Mariners' offense since the last time they were shut out -- June 11 in Cleveland -- has been a big positive and a huge reason why they've gone 18-10 since.

July 16: Mariners 6, Angels 5 -- Mitch is the new WAR leader
After a 3-for-5 night in which he came a triple shy of the cycle, Mitch Haniger reclaimed the Mariners lead in wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, with 1.8. That edged him over shortstop J.P. Crawford's 1.7. Haniger crushed his 21st homer in the seventh inning off the third pitch from Dylan Bundy, who Angels manger Joe Maddon explicitly brought in to face Haniger. Seattle's right fielder said postgame that he spent the All-Star break working on regaining the timing coordination between his hands and hips.

July 11: Angels 7, Mariners 1 -- .527 and eyeing a Wild Card spot
The Mariners finished the first half of the regular season with a 48-43 record, five games above .500, and they are the first team on the outside looking in for the second American League Wild Card spot. Seattle's .527 winning percentage at the break is the 10th-best in franchise history and its highest since its .598 mark in 2018, when the club eventually won 89 games but fell short of the postseason.

July 10: Mariners 2, Angels 0 -- Flexen' on the Halos
Chris Flexen twirled another seven scoreless innings against the division-rival Angels, marking the third time this season that he's done so. That leads the American League.

July 9: Mariners 7, Angels 3 -- Another bullpen gem
Mariners relievers JT Chargois, Anthony Misiewicz, Drew Steckenrider and Kendall Graveman combined to throw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. Seattle's relievers have not surrendered an earned run in six of the past seven games, showing signs of their form from earlier this season before a scuffle in May. This month, the Mariners' bullpen has a 1.99 ERA, third-best in the Majors.

July 8: Mariners 4, Yankees 0 -- 8-game Gilbert win streak
Logan Gilbert is quickly emerging as the Mariners' young ace, and it's not just because of his pure stuff. He's also put Seattle in position to win every time he takes the hill. The Mariners have now won each of his past eight starts, which ties him with Jacob deGrom, Yu Darvish and Kyle Hendricks for the second-longest such stretch this season, and it trails only the Cardinals' streak of nine straight games won behind Jack Flaherty earlier this year.

July 7: Yankees 5, Mariners 4 -- The 10-year anniversary of Seager's debut
Kyle Seager hit another major milestone with the Mariners on Thursday, which marked exactly 10 years since his first game in the big leagues on July 7, 2011. He joined Harold Reynolds, Dave Valle, Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, Jay Buhner, Ken Griffey Jr., Dan Wilson, Jamie Moyer, Raúl Iba?ez, Ichiro Suzuki and Félix Hernández in the Mariners' 10-year club.

July 6: Yankees 12, Mariners 1 -- Crawford extends on-base streak to 22 games
With a sixth-inning walk against Jameson Taillon, J.P. Crawford continued to produce as the on-base machine that nearly earned him an All-Star bid. He's now reached base in 22 straight games, a new career high.

July 4: Mariners 4, Rangers 1 -- Seattle homers in 13th straight game
Seattle once again rode the long ball to its series-clinching win, with all four of its runs coming via homers from Luis Torrens and Shed Long Jr. In doing so, the Mariners extended their season-high home run streak to 13 games, dating back to June 19. In this stretch, the Mariners have hit 24 homers, which trails only the Nationals' 25 for the most in MLB in that span.

July 3: Rangers 7, Mariners 3 -- France wins 12-pitch at-bat
Though it didn't have much impact on the game's outcome, Ty France's elite plate discipline and contact ability were once again on display in an eighth-inning battle against the Rangers' Joe Barlow, one that France won. Seattle's DH needed 12 pitches before hitting a scorching double, which surpassed his previous season high, a sequence that directly led to a win in April. It was also the longest at-bat by a Mariner since J.P. Crawford's 12-pitch battle against Oakland on Sept. 16, 2019, which resulted in a groundout. The last Mariners at-bat of such length that resulted in a hit was on April 10, 2017, when Leonys Martín singled off Houston’s Tony Sipp on 12 pitches.

July 2: Mariners 5, Rangers 4 (10) -- 13 straight at home vs. Texas
The Mariners stunned the Rangers on a night when Texas sent the starting pitcher with the best ERA in the American League to the mound. Seattle overcame a strong start by Kyle Gibson for its 19th come-from-behind win this season, and it also extended its home win streak against the division rival to 13 games dating back to July 24, 2019. That represents the second-longest such stretch against a single opponent in franchise history, behind only a 15-game home winning streak against Baltimore from 1999-2002.

July 1: Mariners 7, Blue Jays 2 -- Lefties go deep vs. Ryu
The Mariners jumped all over Blue Jays ace Hyun Jin Ryu, tagging him for five runs (four earned) in his second-shortest start since joining Toronto last season. They also beat him at his own game by taking him deep twice with two lefties, Jake Fraley and Shed Long Jr. Ryu entered the day having given up just one homer to the 118 lefties he'd faced in his Toronto tenure.