Sep 15 – Decades ago, Nike created a TV commercial for Air Jordans in which the fictional character Mars Blackmon, played by Spike Lee, referenced NBA superstar Michael Jordan’s achievements when he said, “This shoe has to be the best” when he created his ad.
For the Seattle Mariners, this has to be the uniform.
After rallying to victories the past two nights in their Nike City Connect uniforms, the M’s will once again wear their blue jerseys and black pants when they wrap up a four-game series with the visiting Texas Rangers on Sunday afternoon.
“I mean, we have to do it, right?” Mariners head coach Dan Wilson said of being in uniform. “We have to.”
The Mariners usually only wear the City Connects jersey on Friday nights. The jersey features an inverted trident on the cap, similar to the team’s original logo, “Seattle” across the front in a font similar to the one used by the Seattle Pilots in 1969, and black pants in honor of the Seattle Steelheads of the Negro Leagues.
Following Friday’s 5–4 comeback win, Julio Rodríguez hit a three-run homer to the second level in left field with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Mariners won by the same score.
Rodríguez went deep again in the second and Randy Arozarena singled to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth to make it 5–4 again.
That leaves the Mariners (76-73) 2.5 games behind Minnesota, which is 14-1 in those uniforms this season, in the race for the American League’s third and final wild-card playoff spot.
Victor Robles hit a double to the left corner and stole third in Saturday’s ninth inning. Rodriguez and Carl Rowley walked to load the bases. After getting stranded in the infield, Arozarena hit an inside-the-park single off diving shortstop Josh Smith to win the game.
Since joining the Mariners as a free agent on June 5, Robles has stolen 25 base attempts and has two sacks, including 11 third-down steals.
“How aggressive was their base running tonight? Yeah, we’ve got to do better,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “Yeah, that’s a pitcher’s issue. You know, go a little faster, watch them. We knew that in the game and it put us in a tough spot.”
Texas got two-run homers from Leidy Taveras and Marcus Semien, but that’s the extent of its offense.
The Rangers plan to pit left-hander Andrew Heaney (5-13, 3.84 ERA) against Mariners right-hander George Kirby (11-11, 3.77) in the series finale.
Heaney faced Seattle 22 times in his career, with a 4-9 record and 4.35 ERA, including 20 starts; he lost to the M’s twice this season. On April 25, in Arlington, Texas, he gave up four runs on five hits in six innings, eventually losing 4-3. On June 14 in Seattle, he gave up three runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings in a 3-2 loss.
Heaney faced the Los Angeles Angels last Sunday, pitching six innings and winning 7–4, ending their eight-game winning streak.
On June 15, Kirby beat the Rangers 7–5 in Seattle, allowing one run on three hits over six innings; in seven career starts against the Rangers, Kirby improved to a 1.08 ERA and had 5 wins and 0 losses.
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