Big win keyed by Kikuchi, 'pen, small ball

SEATTLE -- There wasn’t quite a sense of October in the air on a picture-perfect, 74-degree Pacific Northwest evening in July. But the Mariners’ 4-3 win over Oakland on Friday had as strong of a postseason feel as any game they’ve played since flipping to the future following an 89-win year in 2018.

It had dominant pitching. It had a huge homer from a top prospect. It had vital baserunning awareness that led to the game-winning run. And it had a high-stakes bullpen shutdown.

These are the primary ingredients for a postseason recipe, especially given the context of the opponent, an Oakland club that has reached October each of the past three seasons and sits 3 1/2 games ahead of Seattle for the second American League Wild Card in 2021.

And with just five games remaining until next Friday’s Trade Deadline, this homestand, which also features three games against Houston, could loom large on the front office’s strategy and the trajectory for the final two months -- and beyond.

“All my teammates and myself understand how big of a week this is for us playing the A's and the Astros,” Yusei Kikuchi said through interpreter Kevin Ando after striking out a career-high 12 in six innings against Oakland. “And so it just makes it that much better, and it makes me feel that much more happy that I was able to pitch well tonight.”

In Friday's contest, Oakland certainly helped Seattle’s efforts with five wild pitches, the most ever against the Mariners, including two in the seventh inning that allowed Dylan Moore to reach third base and score the go-ahead dagger after pinch-hitting with an infield single and stealing second -- all with two outs.

But that would never have been set up had it not been for Paul Sewald’s gritty recovery from a nine-pitch walk to load the bases in the seventh, coming back to strike out Elvis Andrus to quash an A’s rally.

Those were the highest-stakes moments, but a huge rebound by Kikuchi after two of his toughest starts in consecutive outings -- as well as a new-look, dominant changeup -- can’t be overlooked. Neither can Cal Raleigh’s 444-foot two-run bomb in the third that left his bat at 113.1 mph for his first career homer.

“Helping out a big league team win a game, and especially in this tight Wild Card race, I think it's really cool,” Raleigh said. “It's something I've always dreamed about, and to see it actually happening is crazy in itself.”

There was much to unpack from Friday, but the most glaring takeaway was that this is as deep in the regular season that the Mariners have been “in it” since their rebuild began. And even more so -- especially after the way they lost Thursday, which led to Rafael Montero being DFA’d -- they saw a positive result.

And after evening this four-game series with their division rivals -- who sit directly in front of them in the postseason standings -- Seattle continues to whet its palette for what the playoffs might taste like, even if there are clear roster voids (starting pitching and second base), young players continuing to experience growing pains (Jarred Kelenic is 3-for-26 since returning from Triple-A Tacoma) and two strong teams in the AL East (Yankees and Blue Jays) breathing down their necks in the Wild Card chase.

“These are great experiences for young players," said manager Scott Servais. "The value of that with where we're at with our club is, it's so high. It's so important as we continue to move forward, not just in this season, but well beyond. These players are going to be here for a while.

“Oakland has been really good in the AL West the past couple years. They've won it and they've made the playoffs, and so I think that us as a team, we're trying to get to that level. And to go toe-to-toe with them tonight really showed that we're a team on the rise and we’re a team that ultimately wants to get to where they're at.”

This isn’t suggesting that the Mariners are a lock to snap their 20-year playoff drought, the longest active stretch in American professional sports. But rather, Friday’s game -- even had they lost -- represented another benchmark advancing from Jerry Dipoto’s self-professed “step back” nearly three years ago to, perhaps, their most tangible, one-game-in-162 step forward.