Mantua, Cuba, is a small fishing village on the northwestern coast of the island; legend says it was founded by shipwrecked Italian sailors in the early 1600s. Los Arroyos, the neighborhood where Randy Arozarena grew up, is a tiny tip of the island, about as close to Cancún as it is to the capital Havana, where Lazaro Montes was born. Maybe their respective hometowns account for their personality differences: Randy is quieter, more removed, shying away from media appearances, while Laz is as big and boisterous as the bustling capital city itself, eager to try out his English with whoever wants to talk. Making his big-league debut tonight, “Big Laz” had an appropriately splashy welcome to the big leagues that will guarantee his megawatt smile will light up highlight reels tonight both in Seattle and beyond, accounting for two of the Mariners’ nine runs tonight. But Randy Arozarena also continued doing what he’s done all season, leading the team offensively and providing an early separating blow that helped the Mariners outlast the Red Sox in a grueling 9-6 win at Fenway.
The Mariners got on the board right away when Dominic Canzone absolutely obliterated this hanging changeup from Red Sox starter Jedixson Paez:
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Unfortunately, the Red Sox took that run right back with a blast of their own, a four-seamer from Bryan Woo that didn’t quite get top rail enough that Mickey Gasper hammered for a matching blow.
But the Mariners offense picked up their starter in the top of the second, pouncing on Paez for five runs of both the small and large ball variety. Josh Naylor got things going with a leadoff double, followed by a line-drive single from Cole Young – not super hard hit, but any contact in the air is good from young Cole, who’s been really struggling lately with pounding the ball into the ground. That brought up Lazaro Montes for his very first big-league at-bat in an RBI situation. Facing a flagging pitcher on a bullpen day, Montes took a studied, disciplined at-bat, getting ahead 2-0, whiffing at a changeup on the plate, and then declining to chase two more changeups to earn his way on base. J.P. Crawford put the Mariners ahead on a sacrifice fly, and then Brock Rodden checked in with an infield hit of his own, hustling down the line to allow Cole Young to score. That also turned the lineup over for Randy Arozarena, who continued his audition to Get Real Paid by the Red Sox next season by crushing a sinker middle-middle that would have wound up on Lansdowne Street if not for an inconveniently located billboard.
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The Mariners extended their lead in the third, adding one more run but unfortunately leaving the bases loaded. But that one run came in super-fun fashion, as Lazaro Montes recorded his first big-league hit, an RBI single on a curveball he was just able to shoot between the 3-4 hole, scoring Josh Naylor, who had singled to lead off the inning (followed by a single from Cole Young pushing him to third base, Young’s second hit of the day, hooray for Cole). It’s very funny that Montes, known for big power and big strikeouts, started his career with a walk and an RBI single, but I find it delightful, almost as delightful as the man himself. Also look how quickly he gets out of the box here! I’m excited for when we get to see Laz really run.
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The Mariners added another run in the fourth, thanks to back-to-back doubles from Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh, and gosh if that doesn’t feel good to type.
Their ninth and final run of the game came in magical fashion, as Lazaro showed that promised power with a homer to dead center. Like his single before, this also came in a two-strike count, lifting a slider at the bottom of the zone and driving it out with that storied power.
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Laz said postgame he’d watched Randy do his guitar celebration earlier in the game after his home run, so he was ready for his first trip with the trident:
Meanwhile, Bryan Woo just quietly kept dealing; after the home run, he didn’t let a Red Sox hitter get past first base until the fifth inning, when Trevor Story led off the inning with a double. Woo came back to strike out Connor Wong swinging after a sinker below the zone, got helped out by a nice leaping snare by J.P. Crawford on a hard-hit ball from Roman Anthony, and then polished the inning off by striking out Gasper on a perfectly located slider. He also had to battle in the sixth, following a long delay after home plate umpire Ryan Wills had to leave the game after being concussed by a foul ball off Cole Young’s bat. With one out, Woo again allowed a double, and this time it did come around to score as Brock Rodden made a shaky throw on a would-be inning-ending groundout that Josh Naylor couldn’t pick. With Woo nearing the end of his day, he was able to get Jarren Duran to ground out to end the inning, completing six innings with just the two runs of damage. It was a second straight solid outing on the road from Woo, his second start in a row allowing just two runs on the road (and really it should have been one), and another nail in the coffin of the “Woo road woes” narrative that has been quietly driving me nuts all season. Hope to see ya never.
Things got a bit tighter after Woo departed, though, and of course [cracks open the oldest and most ancient text imaginable to speak the cursèd phrase] no lead is safe in this ballpark. Carlos Vargas wasn’t as sharp as he’d been in his previous outings, walking nine-hole hitter Connor Wong (bad!) and then giving up a single and a double to allow two runs, cutting the Mariners lead to 9-4 and causing Dan Wilson to have to go get Jose Ferrer to quell the threat. Ferrer worked around some traffic in the eighth but was able to keep things were they were, sending the Mariners to the bottom of the ninth with a five-run lead. Again, Wilson tried to use a non-leverage reliever, getting newest Mariner lefty Hoby Milner, but Milner gave up a single followed by a home run to make things a very uncomfortable 9-6, so in came Andrés Muñoz to defeat the ghosts of Fenway.
Muñoz demolished Wilyer Abreu on three pitches, all off the plate, putting him away with 100 followed by two diabolical changeups. Andrés Muñoz’s changeup is so special to me. He then got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground out first-pitch swinging on another spicy fastball to lock things down and complete the vibes transfusion the Mariners desperately needed after last night’s crushing loss. Thank you, Lazaro. We’re so happy you’re here.
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