Mariners notes: Seattle wins on Opening Day, but drops series to Cleveland; Ray placed on IL

The Mariners opened the 2023 season with an electrifying win Thursday night at T-Mobile Park on Opening Day.

But, three consecutive losses followed.

Friday night, the Guardians responded with a decisive 9-4 win to hand the Mariners their first loss of the season.

Saturday night, they shut down Seattle’s offense, allowing only three hits in a 2-0 win.

Then, in Sunday’s extra-innings finale, Cleveland scratched across the winning run in the 10th and held on for a 6-5 victory.

The Mariners, a young club with high expectations this season after reaching the playoffs for the first time in more than two decades last fall, end the first week of baseball in the Pacific Northwest this spring with a series loss and a 1-3 record.

“We have a lot of baseball to go,” Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters postgame Sunday. “We have a really good team. We do. We’re not playing as good as we can right now, but we will. We will get it moving in the right direction.”

The weekend had a much more encouraging start.

Seattle opened its schedule with a victory for the third consecutive season, posting an Opening Day win over the Guardians on Thursday night.

Ty France ended a scoreless tie in the eighth inning, igniting the crowd with a three-run home run to right — Seattle’s first home run of the season — that eventually lifted the Mariners to their 3-0 win.

“Honestly, it feels like we never left,” France said of the energy in that decisive inning. “This place is just — you really can’t say enough about these fans. The amount of love that they show us, and just how loud they are every single game, it felt like October all over again.”

The crowd noise amplified when J.P. Crawford drew a leadoff walk in the inning, which included the first pitch clock violation of the season. Kolten Wong later reached base on a hit by pitch.

France then sent a fastball from Guardians reliever James Karinchak over the fence.

The home run not only led to Seattle’s first win, but also ended a stretch of more than 30 scoreless innings for the club, dating back to the postseason — which included the 18-inning, season-ending loss to the Astros in the American League Division Series.

Earlier in the evening, the Mariners got a brilliant start from ace Luis Castillo, who tossed six scoreless innings, allowed only one hit and struck out six while retiring 18 of the 19 batters he faced.

Matt Brash, Paul Sewald and Andres Munoz each tossed scoreless frames for the Mariners in relief with Sewald eventually earning the win and Munoz a save.

“Timely hits, really good pitching and we’re on the good side of it, so awesome way to start,” Servais said Thursday.

But, Cleveland won the next three.

The defending American League Central champions responded with the 9-4 victory Friday night.

The Mariners got on the board in the first on a single from Wong that scored Julio Rodriguez, but never led again.

Cleveland answered with a three-run second, including scoring a pair of runs on throwing errors to take the lead. A two-run double from Cal Raleigh evened the game in the third, but Steven Kwan’s two-run double the next inning gave the Guardians the lead for good.

Rodriguez’s double in the fourth scored Seattle’s final run of the evening, and the Guardians added four more on singles from Kwan, Amed Rosario and Josh Naylor.

Cleveland scored five runs (three earned) against Mariners starter Robbie Ray, who was placed on the 15-day injured list the following day. Seattle’s bullpen allowed four more in the final five frames.

Logan Gilbert tossed six quality innings in his first start of the season Saturday night for the Mariners — allowing one run on four hits while striking out seven and walking one — but Seattle was shut out in an eventual 2-0 loss.

Naylor’s solo home run to center in the fourth ended up the game’s deciding run, and Cleveland added one more on a solo homer from Andres Gimenez off Mariners reliever Diego Castillo in the seventh.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez had a pair of singles for the Mariners and Tommy La Stella a double, accounting for Seattle’s only three hits in the loss.

Rodriguez gave Seattle an early lead Sunday, collecting his first home run of the season on the first pitch he saw from Cleveland starter Cal Quantrill in the first inning.

But, former Mariners catcher Mike Zunino put the Guardians in front the following frame with a three-run home run off Marco Gonzales.

A Eugenio Suarez single and Raleigh two-run double gave the Mariners the lead back in the third, but Cleveland evened the game at 4-4 in the fifth on a groundout from Kwan.

Suarez scored on an error later in the frame, but Kwan singled in a run in the seventh to make it 5-5.

Jose Ramirez scored the decisive run in the 10th. Naylor hit a one-out grounder back to Mariners reliever Gabe Speier, who tossed Kwan out at the plate.

Raleigh turned to try to double up Naylor at first, but the throw skipped out of the infield allowing Ramirez to score.

RAY PLACED ON IL

The Mariners’ rotation will be without Ray for at least two weeks as the season moves ahead.

Following his first start of the season Friday, the 31-year-old former Cy Young Award winner was placed on the 15-day IL on Saturday with a left flexor strain.

“Last night in the second inning felt a little tight, but didn’t seem out of the ordinary,” Ray told reporters pregame Saturday. “Just one of those things where, a cold night, I just thought maybe it took me a while to get loose in that second inning.

“So, didn’t really think that much about it. But then after that, my arm started to tighten up a good amount.”

Ray allowed five runs (three earned) on four hits in Friday night’s start against Cleveland, with five walks and three strikeouts across 3 1/3 innings. He was evaluated by medical staff after the outing, and had a MRI on Saturday.

“He’s going to be shut down for a couple weeks, then he’ll build up and be good to go hopefully after that,” Servais told reporters pregame Saturday.

This is the first time Ray has been placed on the IL since signing with the Mariners in late 2021. Ray made 32 starts for Seattle in 2022, part of a rotation that did not miss a start all season due to injury.

He posted a 12-12 record and 3.71 ERA, and struck out a team-high 212 batters across 189 innings.

He also led the Mariners’ pitching staff with 26 strikeouts in camp, allowing only two runs in 17 innings in an impressive spring.

“Certainly disappointing with the spring that he had,” Servais said. “I thought he was about as good as we’ve seen him at any point.”

Former starter Chris Flexen, who has been pitching out of the bullpen as a long reliever since midway through the 2022 season, will fill Ray’s spot in the rotation.

Flexen has made one appearance so far this spring, tossing four innings in relief Friday, allowing one run on four hits while striking out one and walking three.

Left-handed reliever Speier was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding roster move, and replaces Flexen in the bullpen.

Speier was claimed off waivers from the Royals in November, and made his Mariners debut Saturday night, tossing a scoreless eighth inning and striking out one.

SHORT HOPS

▪ Seattle’s two returning All-Stars from 2022 hit the first two home runs for the Mariners this spring.

France collected the club’s first home run of the season with his 358-foot game-winner to right in the eighth inning on Thursday’s Opening Day.

Rodriguez opened Sunday’s game with a 350-foot home run to right on the first pitch he saw.

▪ The Mariners acquired Nick Solak from Cincinnati for cash considerations Friday, and optioned the 28-year-old, who has played primarily second base and outfield during his career, to Tacoma.

Solak has a .252/.327/.372 career slash line across 253 games in parts of four big league seasons with the Rangers from 2019-22.

▪ Seattle’s season-opening series also included a homecoming for former longtime Mariners catcher Zunino, who signed with the Guardians in December.

Zunino was 4-for-9 with four runs scored, a home run, three RBI, two walks and two strikeouts in three games during the series.

ON DECK

The Mariners (1-3) wrap up their opening homestand with a three-game series against the Angels (2-1) beginning Monday night.

Right-hander George Kirby is set to make his season debut opposite Los Angeles left-hander Reid Detmers in the first AL West matchup of the season.

Castillo is scheduled to oppose Angels left-hander Jose Suarez on Tuesday, and Flexen to start Wednesday afternoon’s finale opposite Los Angeles ace Shohei Ohtani.