Longtime fans of the Seattle Mariners will undoubtedly remember the club’s motto from the magical 2001 season.
“Two outs, so what!”
The 2001 Mariners, who won a franchise-record 116 games, scored 339 of their 927 runs with two outs. In terms of percentage, that rate is actually right around average due to the sheer number of runs the 2001 Mariners scored, but the team had an ability to generate multiple-run rallies in almost any situation.
These Mariners aren’t going to score 927 runs or win 116 games. But through the first eight games of 2014, an ability to score runs with two outs has provided an offensive spark that hasn’t been seen in Seattle in a few years.
So far, 26 of the Mariners’ 39 runs have been scored with two outs, easily the best rate in the major leagues. The Mariners have only left 2.62 runners in scoring position per game, also best in the league.
The next best team with two outs is the Minnesota Twins, scoring 46.3 percent of their runs with two outs entering Thursday’s games. Seattle’s rate of 66.6 percent is completely unsustainable, but it has already helped the Mariners win some games.
A great example was last Tuesday’s home opener, a 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Albert Pujols and David Freese hit back-to-back home runs to give the Angels a 3-0 lead in the first inning. A 3-0 first inning deficit would have just about put the game out of reach for every Mariners team since 2009, but this team was able to generate some runs in unexpected situations.
Angels’ starter Hector Santiago had some control problems, but held the Mariners hitless through the first two and two-thirds innings. With two outs in the third, Brad Miller reached on a wild pitch on a strike out. Robinson Cano walked, and Justin Smoak delivered an RBI single to score Miller.
Then Corey Hart delivered the big blow by crushing a 3-run home run to left field to give Seattle a 4-3 lead it would not relinquish. Hart would add another two-out home run in the seventh inning.
Sure, Seattle was fortunate with the wild pitch to start the rally. But it was able to take advantage of the opponent’s mistake and generate multiple runs out of nothing, characteristics the Mariners have not had in quite some time.
The Mariners’ offense still needs some work. It returned to its old ways in Wednesday’s loss to the Angels, a one-hit shutout by Garrett Richards and two relievers.
But the two-out offense has helped to provide a rare level of early-season excitement about the Mariners. Seattle needs it to continue while it deals with injuries in the rotation to Hisashi Iwakuma, Taijuan Walker and now James Paxton.
Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson / Associated Press
