Meet the Mariners' new heroes: M's ride Haniger, Motter to much-needed sweep
Two lesser-known heroes helped Seattle rebound from a 2-8 start
By
Matt Snyder
•
1 min read
The first 10 games of the 2017 season couldn't have gone much worse for the Seattle Mariners. They were 2-8 and had already lost starting shortstop -- and offseason acquisition -- Jean Segura to the disabled list.
The season is a 162-game marathon, but an awful start many times carries over into an awful season, so the Mariners needed to bounce back rather quickly. They did so with a sweep of the Rangers over the weekend, thanks to two lesser-known names.
The Mariners haven't made the playoffs since 2001, but they do have star power. Robinson Cano. Nelson Cruz. Felix Hernandez. Kyle Seager is unbelievably underrated, but he's a known commodity. The stars in the sweep of the Rangers, however, were Mitch Haniger -- who also came over with Segura in the offseason trade -- and fill-in shortstop Taylor Motter.
On Friday, Haniger's seventh-inning single that was almost a home run ended up being the difference in a 2-1 win:
The big blow in Saturday's 5-0 win was Motter's three-run shot:
On Sunday, Haniger hit a three-run homer to cut the Rangers' lead to 6-4 and later drew the game-tying, bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth before a walk-off single from Cruz. He also made this likely game-saving catch of a potential Joey Gallo home run:
Overall, the Mariners are 11th in the AL in average, ninth in on-base percentage and 12th in slugging. Cano is hitting .212 with a 75 OPS+, Cruz only has a .333 slugging and Seager hasn't yet hit for power. As noted above, Segura is hurt, too, so the Mariners are lacking right now from their four most-expected offensive contributors.
They have climbed back to a 5-8 record, which isn't good but also isn't awful, thanks to the tremendous starts by Haniger and Motter.
Haniger: .294/.410/.588, 184 OPS+
Motter: .292/.370/.708, 203 OPS+
Without those two, the disappointing Mariners start would be an unmitigated disaster. It's one of the fun aspects of baseball in the early-going, watching some of the lesser-known players propel teams when they need it.
