M's Mitch Garver capitalizing on chances as Royals visit
A return to his former stomping grounds turned out pretty well for Mitch Garver.
The Seattle Mariners' backup catcher drove in four runs Sunday, including a two-run homer in the 12th inning, in a 6-4 victory against his former team, the host Texas Rangers.
That capped a 6-4 trip for the Mariners, who return home to face the Kansas City Royals on Monday night to open a four-game set.
All three games against the American League West rival Rangers went to extra innings, the first time all three games in a series did so in the major leagues since 2015.
'I can't imagine what those guys are feeling. Three games, three extra-inning games, three hard-fought extra-inning games. This was a series that pushed you to the limit,' said Mariners manager Dan Wilson, whose team won twice in 12 innings. 'But like I said, these guys always respond. They're always resilient, and you can't ask for any more effort than these guys gave this weekend.'
Garver's opportunities to catch have been sparse playing behind AL MVP candidate Cal Raleigh, but he's made the most of his recent ones. Garver, who had just one homer and 11 RBIs when the 10-game trip began, broke out by going 6-for-16 with three homers and nine RBIs. He hit two homers and drove in five runs against the Chicago Cubs on June 20 and went 1-for-2 with a double on Thursday at Minnesota, where he also previously played.
Garver added RBI singles in the sixth and 10th innings Sunday, tying the score with the former and giving the Mariners a 3-1 lead with the latter.
'I didn't think it was going to be a strong day after my first two at-bats, but I just continued to battle and move on and try not to let the last at-bat dictate the next one,' said Garver, who fanned his first two times against Rangers starter Jack Leiter. 'Able to push one across there in the sixth, which was huge for us to get Leiter out of the game. Just a couple more good pitches to hit in those last few at-bats and capitalized on them.'
The Royals have lost seven of their past eight games and are 4 1/2 games behind Seattle in the chase for the AL's third and final wild-card playoff berth.
They snapped a six-game skid with a 9-5 victory against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday before dropping the series finale 5-1 on Sunday as they failed to score after the first inning and managed just five hits.
'We didn't win,' Royals second baseman Jonathan India said. 'That's the bottom line.
'It's frustrating just because, you know, we felt so good (Saturday). We were positive and ready to go.'
The Royals are hoping a seven-game trip to Seattle and Arizona might help them out of their funk after losing 12 of their past 13 home games.
'We love playing here,' Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Kauffman Stadium. 'We haven't played well here, that's obvious, but it hasn't been fun for us, it hasn't been fun for our fans. We're going to try to do everything we can for the fans that follow us on the road, who watch us on TV -- we're going to play better baseball. It doesn't matter where we go.'
The Royals are set to send veteran Michael Wacha (4-7, 3.33 ERA) to the mound Monday to face Seattle's George Kirby (1-4, 5.40) in a matchup of right-handers.
Wacha suffered a 3-0 loss despite a quality start Wednesday -- three runs on nine hits in six innings -- against visiting Tampa Bay. He is 2-3 with a 5.59 ERA in 37 innings over eight career starts against Seattle.
Kirby allowed just one run on three hits over six innings Wednesday in a 2-0 loss at Minnesota. He's 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 20 innings over three previous starts against the Royals.
--Field Level Media
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