Carter country

It’s probably too late to help in 2025, but we need to start looking for an Etsy Witch for a little good fortune next season. The Mariners ripped the Royals, 12-5 on Monday night, further sinking Kansas City’s now even slimmer playoff odds. Seattle has now won 10 in a row since a fan paid a witch to cast a positive spell on the team.

I feel as though I’m misleading by writing “even slimmer playoff odds.” Those odds stood at just 0.2 percent ahead of the start of Monday’s game. Three batters in, I believe they sunk all the way to zero.

The Mariners got to starter Michael Wacha early in each inning to remove all doubt. They opened the game with hit by pitch and then back-to-back doubles. That plated two runs and they were off and running. In the second, Dominic Canzone hit a leadoff home run. The third inning started with a Cal Raleigh home run and was followed by a single, a double and another single. That was five runs, all with no outs in the innings in which they were scored.

Sure, that trend wouldn’t last. After a double play, which netted Seattle another run, they plated one more on a single and a triple.

Wacha’s final line on his return from the concussion list:
2.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO

That works out to a Game Score of 12. That’s Wacha’s worst start of the season. In fact, it was his worst start of his Royals career. He had a similar nine-hit, seven-run outing against Texas last year, but he managed to get through 3.2 innings.

The Royals chipped away at the Seattle lead, thanks to the work of Carter Jensen. The rookie, starting behind the plate once again, went 3-4 on the night with a pair of home runs—the first two of his career—and a double. He drove in three and scored three times.

The first home run was an opposite field laser off Seattle starter Logan Gilbert.

If you know anything about my writing, you know that I’m absolutely fixated on dudes who can crush the ball the opposite way. For Jensen to let a low, 94 mph four-seamer travel that deep in the zone and to flip it to left at 103 mph off the bat…that’s special.

The second home run came on a classic lefty power swing on a changeup down and in.

That was the culmination of a six-pitch battle against Seattle reliever Carlos Vargas. Five of Vargas’s pitches were located in that general area down and in. So Jensen was probably hunting for that pitch with two strikes. Also, Vargas had alternated sinkers at 96-97 with that change at 92-93. Not a lot of separation. I’m making it sound easy for Jensen. It was not. It was impressive awareness from a kid with fewer than 20 big league plate appearances.

The second Jensen dinger left the bat at 111 mph.

Neither home run had an exit velocity higher than his 111.3 mph double he ripped in the eighth.

On a night when Salvador Perez was given a nice moment before his first at bat on this homestand with acknowledgment of his 300th home run he hit over the weekend in Philadelphia, Jensen threw himself a bit of a coming out party. I think the torch is ready to be passed. Or, at a minimum, shared.

Cole Ragans will make his return on the mound tonight after missing over three months with a left rotator cuff strain. He threw two rehab appearances in Omaha and faced 25 batters total. He struck out 14, walked just two and allowed three hits. Ragans will likely be on a short leash—he threw 56 pitches in his last rehab outing—but it will be good to have him back on the bump. It will be good for him to get a couple of outings before starting his offseason workout routine to prep for 2026.