Mariners win 8th straight, within 1 game of 1st place in AL West

CHICAGO -- They were again without Julio Rodríguez after he was a late scratch with a stomach illness, working behind Bryan Woo on a by-design abbreviated outing and operating with a bullpen that’s been used heavily on this 10-game road trip.

But none of those factors slowed the Mariners in a 6-3 victory on Tuesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field, which extended their win streak to eight and continued to add credibility for their bid to win their first AL West title since 2001.

And following Texas’ loss in Arizona, the Mariners pulled to within one game of first place -- marking the latest in a season that they’ve been this close to the top of the division since Aug. 25, 2007. Seattle remains a half-game back of Houston after the Astros defeated Boston, and it is one game ahead of Toronto for the final AL Wild Card spot.

“I think the guys understand where we're at in the season,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “And oftentimes early in the season, you want to get going and you want to put together a big year. Then it comes to a point in the season where it kind of flips -- and that's what's happened with us, I believe. It's like, What do we need to do to win games?'”

Some more superlatives on the hottest team in baseball:

• They’ve scored 61 runs for an average of 7.6 per game during this win streak, which is the longest active streak in MLB. They plated a season-high 14 in the series opener in Chicago, their most in a game since June 5, 2019 against Houston.

• This is their second win streak of at least eight games in the same month, marking just the third time in franchise history they’ve had multiple streaks of at least that many games in the same month (1996, 2001). The last team in baseball with such a feat was the 2017 Dodgers.

• After starting the year 16-22 on the road through June for MLB’s 10th-worst win percentage (.421), the Mariners are now 21-5 away from T-Mobile Park since July, easily the best road record in MLB in that span. It’s one game off their franchise-best 21-4 stretch accomplished most recently in 2003.

• They secured their eighth straight road series win after going 3-9-1 in road series to begin the year.

• They are 16-3 over their past 19, 18-4 over their past 22, 21-5 over their past 26, 24-7 over their past 31 and 33-13 over their past 46. And if it weren't for two extra-innings losses to Baltimore and a blown ninth-inning lead in Kansas City over a three-game stretch from Aug. 12-14, they might be on a 19-game streak.

“Our lineup is as deep as has ever been at any point during the season,” Servais said. “Guys don't give away at-bats.”

Beyond the numbers, they showed why they’re on such a roll with another from-the-start victory on Wednesday.

Seattle ripped four singles in the second inning off Mike Clevinger that led to two runs, capped with a two-out knock from J.P. Crawford for his first hit since being activated from the 7-day concussion IL on Monday. In the midst of a career year -- and as a tone-setter atop Seattle’s lineup -- Crawford is hitting .317/.481/.512 (.994 OPS) this year with two outs and runners in scoring position.

Yet it was the bottom of the lineup that maybe stood out more, headlined by No. 9 hitter Josh Rojas blasting a two-run homer off Clevinger in the fourth on the first pitch, just after Mike Ford drew an eight-pitch walk -- all with two outs.

The Mariners had nine hits, drew six walks, were hit by two pitches and forced the White Sox to throw 163 pitches.

“It's taxing,” Rojas said of the Mariners’ approach against pitchers. “You could kind of see it with their starter today. In that third, fourth inning, it was kind of deep breaths, it was long walks around the mound. That's the goal as an offense.”

Seattle added insurance runs via a bases-loaded infield single from Ty France that deflected off Elvis Andrus’ glove and a sac fly from Cal Raleigh.

That proved to be plenty of run support for a pitching staff that began with Woo, who was making his first start since Aug. 3 due to a stint on the 15-day IL with right forearm inflammation.

Woo surrendered a leadoff walk to Andrew Benintendi then singles from Eloy Jiménez and Andrew Vaughn that led to a first-inning run. But he settled in after, allowing just two additional baserunners while retiring his final eight batters to cap four strong innings -- precisely the threshold that Servais intended to ease the rookie back.

After hovering around .500 for nearly all of the season’s first four months -- as recently as July 24, when they were 50-50 -- this hot streak has Seattle on pace for 92 wins.