The Mariners split their four-game set against the Minnesota Twins this week, despite winning the first two games emphatically to being the series.

Hot hitting from the series in Chicago seemed to carry over into the first pair of games in Minneapolis, but the Mariners’ bats were stymied in the latter two, scoring only one run between the those games to allow the Twins to even the series.

Heading into the series, the Twins’ pitching was in the midst of some serious struggles, sitting dead last in team ERA in the month of June to that point. In the first two games, it appeared those struggles were going to continue. The Mariners lit up the scoreboard with crooked numbers in both of the first two games, winning by scores of 11-2 and 6-5.

On both Monday and Tuesday, the Mariners jumped out to big leads. Between the two days, they scored a total of 11 runs in the third inning. However, a 5-0 lead after the top of third on Tuesday evaporated quickly, with Luis Castillo allowing five runs over the next two innings to let the Twins tie the game. The bullpen would come through for the Mariners, though, shutting down the Twins the rest of the night and allowing Julio Rodríguez to hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth to help lead the Mariners to a win.

With rain in the forecast for both Wednesday and Thursday, there were some concerns about getting the games in. Given the Mariners’ brutal schedule that sees them traveling the fourth-most miles of any team this season, any rain outs that would force makeup games on their remaining off-days would be less than ideal. In the end, though, both games were able to be played on their scheduled day, albeit with Thursday’s game delayed into the afternoon.

The Mariners would take the loss in both games, anyway. Twins starter Joe Ryan subdued their offense on Wednesday in a pitchers’ duel with George Kirby. The Twins were able to scratch a couple of runs across, however, and the Mariners were shut out 2-0.

In the delayed game on Thursday, things appeared to be headed in the same direction, with the two teams scoreless into the fifth inning. Emerson Hancock was chased after allowing two runs in the bottom of the fifth, turning things over to the bullpen. Manager Dan Wilson called upon recently selected reliever Zach Pop in the sixth. Pop would allow eight runs in the inning, breaking the game wide open. The Mariners would ultimately drop this game, too, by a score of 10-1.

It felt like the Mariners were on a bit of roll after Tuesday’s victory, so back-to-back losses certainly extinguished some good vibes. To make matters worse, the Astros continue to find ways to win at the top of the division, having swept the Phillies despite only scoring five runs the entire series. The Mariners end up losing another 1.5 games of ground since Monday as a result — talk about bad luck.

While disappointing, the series split was enough for the Mariners to take the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Twins in case it matters for playoff positioning at the end of the year.

Harry Ford joins the taxi squad

Mariners catcher/designated hitter Mitch Garver left Thursday’s game after being struck beneath his chin guard by a foul tip. The Mariners were forced to burn the DH spot in the batting order to move Cal Raleigh behind the plate, though it did not end up meaning too much after the game was broken open in the sixth. Ironically, it was actually Miles Mastrobuoni, the utility man called upon to pitch the eighth, that drove in the Mariners’ only run of the afternoon.

In the aftermath of Garver’s injury, it was reported by MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer that Harry Ford, catcher and the Mariners’ no. 6 prospect, will be joining the big league taxi squad in Arlington.

Fans should expect that if Ford is formally promoted to the Major League roster, he will likely be in the lineup almost every day, getting some days behind the plate in relief of Raleigh, and otherwise a designated hitter the rest of the time. Ford would join Cole Young and Ben Williamson as prospects promoted this season to receive regular time in the Mariners lineup.

Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports provided an update this afternoon, saying Garver’s CT scan came back clean and that he is “good to go.” No official word from the Mariners yet on what that will mean for Ford.

Ford is hitting .311/.426/.469 with a 136 wRC+ in Triple-A Tacoma so far this season.

Cal Raleigh to participate in Home Run Derby

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh announced on Friday that he will be participating in the Home Run Derby as part of the All-Star Game festivities in Atlanta this year.

Raleigh, currently the Major League leader with 32 home runs so far this season, announced his intention to compete in an Instagram post with the Mariners. He will be the team’s second participant in the Derby in three years, joining Rodríguez in 2023.

What’s up next?

Following the series split in Minnesota, the Mariners will remain in the central time zone but head down south to Arlington to face the Texas Rangers for three games.

The series this weekend between the Mariners and Rangers has the makings of a potentially pivotal one. The Mariners are looking to get back on track after a couple of disappointing losses to close out the series against the Twins. On the other hand, the Rangers are lurking only 1.5 games behind the Mariners despite trailing them for much of this season to this point.

The Mariners have a chance to take the season series against the Rangers with a series win this weekend — they play a total of 13 games against them and already hold a 5-1 record. Again, this could be important later on.

Though the Rangers have yet to officially announce starters for the later two games of the series, it is worth noting that the Mariners will seemingly avoid facing Jacob deGrom (8-2, 2.08 ERA) over the weekend since he pitched the Rangers’ last game on Wednesday. He allowed only one hit in seven innings of work as the Rangers shut out the Orioles, 7-0.

Both teams have been rather streaky this season. We’ll see what wins out this time around!

This is Rolling Roof Rundown’s twice-weekly Mariners newsletter. You can follow James @rollingroofrundown.com on Bluesky and, if you haven’t already, subscribe to the newsletter for more news and commentary. Rolling Roof Rundown is now on Instagram and Threads as well.