Mariners’ five homers too much to overcome for the Dodgers

In the definition of a back-and-forth battle, the Mariners outslugged the Dodgers with a season-high five home runs in a 7-6 loss for the reigning champs. Neither team seemed capable of holding onto a lead for any meaningful period until the Mariners jumped in front in the eighth thanks to a two-run shot from Dominic Canzone, his second and Seattle’s fifth homer of the game.

As different as the seasons of the two starting pitchers in this matchup might be, for one game, they both encountered the same problem, completely allergic to the prospect of a shutdown inning. On four separate occasions, a team took the lead in the first five innings only to see its starter unable to put a zero on the board in the following half-inning.

Justin Wrobleski has thrived this season with the ability to raise his level according to the situation, but what does he do when the opposition ambushes him? The Mariners managed to score five runs off the left-hander without even having a single at-bat with a runner in scoring position against him—courtesy of not two, not three, but four home runs against a pitcher who had allowed a total of three long balls prior to this game. Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Rob Refsnyder, and Dominic Canzone all left the yard. While the homers hit by Rodríguez and Raleigh could be categorized as mistake pitches, the ones by Canzone and Refsnyder came on well-located fastballs at or well above the strike zone—it stands to reason that Wrobleski’s heater didn’t have the same life on it, or that the M’s guessed right on multiple occasions.

For the Dodgers’ offense against Castillo, it was an eventful game from start to finish, but one that could’ve been more dominant. The M’s veteran starter allowed a leadoff bomb to Shohei Ohtani and had to deal with trouble in some form or another for his entire outing.

Take the fourth inning, for instance: trailing 4-2, the Dodgers scored one on a Tommy Edman double and proceeded to load the bases for Ohtani. The reigning back-to-back NL MVP tied the game with an RBI single that should’ve given Los Angeles the lead. Unfortunately, Kyle Tucker committed a mental error and stayed at third despite getting the wave home from the third base coach with no discernible reason why he did so. The threat remained to add more runs and take the lead, but Andy Pages and Freddie Freeman stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout and a flyout. It wouldn’t be the only time that duo, with the best Dodger hitter with RISP and the hottest one heading into this game, would come up short.

Emboldened by Castillo’s Houdini act in the fourth, the Mariners sent him back out there for one more, only to see Max Muncy take him deep, making it 5-4 Dodgers. Muncy hit the second majestic home run of the evening for the Dodgers, both 430 ft. or longer. Once again, though, as quickly as a lead came, it went away, with yet another long ball given up by Wrobleski. Canzone, who was the seventh hitter to homer in this game, left his best for the end, tying the game at five all and then, a few innings later, hitting the go-ahead shot against Vesia.

Much like Wrobleski’s performance was a complete outlier in contrast with his form this season, Alex Vesia, who hadn’t given up a home run to a lefty hitter all year long, saw the M’s cleanup batter take him deep for the decisive hit.

Led by an Ohtani RBI extra-base hit with no outs in the ninth, the Dodgers had every chance in the world to punish Andrés Muñoz and at least tie the game. However, the Mariners closer showed the form that led him to the All-Star Game in the previous two seasons—Muñoz punched out Pages, kept Freeman from leaving the infield, and retired Mookie Betts after a walk to Muncy to strand the tying run at third and the go-ahead one as second, not even trying to prevent Muncy from stealing a base. In a way, this final inning defined the Dodgers’ game, leaving a lot of meat on the plate in a close loss.

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (23), Max Muncy (21), Cal Raleigh (11), Julio Rodríguez (16), Rob Refsnyder (4), 2 Dominic Canzone (18)

• WP—José A. Ferrer(4-a): 1 IP

• LP— Brock Stewart(0-1): 1.1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run

• SV (18) Andrés Muñoz: 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (23), Max Muncy (21), Cal Raleigh (11), Julio Rodríguez (16), Rob Refsnyder (4), 2 Dominic Canzone (18)

LP— Brock Stewart(0-1): 1.1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run

SV (18) Andrés Muñoz: 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Having appeared in nothing but wins for the Dodgers across his eight appearances since moving to Los Angeles, Eric Lauer looks for yet another victory in a matchup against Emerson Hancock and the Mariners. If the Dodgers have Wrobleski, the M’s have Hancock as a youngster in the middle of a breakout campaign, establishing himself as an important member of the starting rotation. Same as Tuesday night, first pitch is at 7:10 p.m. (PT).