SEATTLE – Logan Gilbert did something he hadn’t done before in the Seattle Mariners’ season finale.

Video: Cal Raleigh sets two new HR records with one swing

The right-handed starting pitcher called some of his own game in Sunday’s 6-4 victory over the Oakland A’s, using the PitchCom to relay signals to catcher and close friend Cal Raleigh.

“I asked Cal all year if I could do the PitchCom, because he doesn’t like when we shake him off. He actually wanted me to all year, because he wanted me to give up a hit on something I called and then kind of rub it in my face,” Gilbert said with a laugh.

Raleigh had to wait quite a while for Gilbert to give up that first hit. The All-Star went recorded 17 straight outs against Oakland before Nick Allen finally broke through with a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth.

“I was going to hear it afterwards if it didn’t go well, but I didn’t call every pitch,” Gilbert said. “… I was calling sometimes and I told Cal if he didn’t like it, he could override me. … We were just going back and forth.”

So, who called the pitch that resulted in Allen’s single?

“I think it was Cal actually, but (the pitch) was right down the middle,” Gilbert said. “He doesn’t have to know that part. We’ll blame it on the PitchCom.”

Allen’s single spoiled Gilbert’s bid for perfection and ended his outing. But as he walked off the field for the final time during what’s been a rollercoaster 2024 season for the team, a crowd of 42,177 fans at T-Mobile Park rose to their feet and showed their appreciation with a standing ovation.

“That means a lot. I probably couldn’t actually put into words what it means. It was pretty overwhelming,” Gilbert said. “Honestly, that’s the kind of moment that I wish I could just hit pause on and take it in for a while because it goes so quick and mean so much, but you feel how much they care. You feel how much these fans support me and everybody else, and also I’m trying to lay it all on the line for the team and for the fans. So, it’s nice that they show their appreciation, and hopefully they know how much I appreciate it too.”

Gilbert finished the day with seven strikeouts and just the one hit allowed.

The outing capped off what’s been a brilliant year for the Stetson product. He proved himself as the workhorse of a pitching staff full of talented arms, leading the major leagues with 208 2/3 innings pitched.

“That’s really impressive, and Logan is the real deal,” manager Dan Wilson said. “He’s got tremendous talent, and he’s a tremendous person and a guy that’s a leader in our pitching staff. It was just a great afternoon for him.”

Gilbert was an All-Star for the first time this season. He also led MLB with a 0.89 WHIP, was tied for second in quality starts (22), and ranked third in opponents’ batting average (.196) and sixth in strikeouts (220).

In 33 starts this season, he went at least six innings 26 times.

And despite the over 200 innings of wear and tear on his arm heading into Sunday’s game, Gilbert found another gear. He twice reached 100 mph with his four-seam fastball, including a career-high 100.5 mph pitch. Four more four-seamers touched 99 mph.

The Mariners recently altered their rotation to put Gilbert in line to start the season finale with the hopes he’d be trying to pitch them into the playoffs. Unfortunately for Gilbert and his teammates, the result of the game was inconsequential after they were eliminated from postseason contention on Thursday.

“It says a lot about him as a person to go out there and compete even when there’s nothing on the line,” Raleigh said. “You gotta show up even when it’s tough like that. So hats off.”

As for Gilbert’s ability with the PitchCom, Raleigh revealed there are some bugs to work out if he were ever to call any of his own pitches again.

“There was a lot of times where he wasn’t even hitting anything or he’s hitting the wrong pitch that he doesn’t even have,” Raleigh said. “It was kind of comical.”

More on the Seattle Mariners

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SEATTLE – It was clear something was on Julio Rodríguez’s mind when he entered the Seattle Mariners clubhouse before the team’s penultimate game against the for-now Oakland Athletics, but soon to be just “A’s” Saturday afternoon. He had a question for manager Dan Wilson who he found in the hallway outside his office.

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“Skip, is there early hitting today?” he asked.

If there wasn’t, it certainly could, and would be arranged quickly. While there were just two games remaining and the postseason no longer an option, Rodríguez felt the need to finish strong, if not in results at least by feel.

“(It’s) very important,” he said. “Being able to finish the season knowing that you feel good, that you kind of checked your boxes out. Especially later in the year, it kind of drives some good air into the offseason so you’re looking forward to the next year.”

It has taken some time for Rodríguez to get to this feeling. Having got off to a slow start while hitting just seven home runs through the first three months of the season, he would not experience a significant turnaround until July when his slugging percentage jumped 61 points. An ankle injury interrupted that success forcing him to miss 16 games. He did not miss a beat in his return posting similar numbers in August before taking another jump in September. The hitter we see today is not the hitter who left Peoria six months ago. Rodriguez admits it has been a process.

“In this last stretch, I feel like I’ve been a lot more comfortable and just kind of having a simple thought in my mind and going up there with that and just kind of believing in myself a lot more,” he said. “Especially in bigger situations, in any type of situations, just knowing what I want to do is something so simple and that can carry me. That has helped me out as a hitter and I’m going to plan on continuing to keep it moving forward.”

Rodríguez said leaving practice behind when he stepped into the batter’s box was key. “The work has been done, let it play.”

“That’s something that I used to do that maybe I took a little bit for granted and this year, I was able to kind of get it a little bit more again. It’s just kind of being out there and playing free.”

To get there, according to Julio, it takes good people around you. The name at the top of the list is likely not a surprise.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to (hitting coach) Edgar (Martinez),” he said. “He was he was somebody that instilled a lot of things that I kind of forgot in myself. And I’m grateful that he was able to be part of this coaching staff for the last stretch of the season.”

For Rodríguez and others, it goes back to simplifying. Martinez believes if the swing is good, trust it. Approaches can be simple. Stay up the middle, let the ball travel, adjust if need be, fight if you get to two strikes.

“As a hitter in the times that we’re living, we kind of forget that feel of the game,” Rodríguez. “And that’s something that he really kind of brought to not just to me, but I’m sure to a lot of the guys in this room and, yeah, I’m going to give the credit to him.”

Martinez has been around the team for years, available before most home games, behind the batting cages. It’s different when he is the voice of hitting and not leaving the ballpark once the game starts. Julio has seen him have great impact in the dugout.

“One thing that might seem small for a lot of people, every time you have Edgar Martinez in your dugout telling you, ‘Are you ready to go compete?’ It kind of fires you up. Are you ready to go compete out there? Do you got this guy? Little things like that,” Rodríguez said. “That’s Edgar Martinez, he’s gonna get you riled up and you want to go out there and compete and just do the best you can. Even whenever you were to miss, he’s never doubting you and for the next at-bat he brings the same energy.

“It doesn’t matter what you do, he’s always there for you. And I feel like that’s something as a player that you love so much because we struggle so much in this game. Let’s say you have somebody in your corner that is actually there supporting you and you feel that, you feel like they got your back, truly. And that’s something that is really, really impactful for me.

Rodríguez plans to do more than give Martinez, who was brought on to help Wilson through the end of the year, credit. He would like him to stick around.

“I would love him to stay. I feel like he’s somebody that all of us, we can benefit so much,” he said. “We respect him so much and he just loves this organization just like how we do. He built this organization in the beginning pretty much. Just the impact that he has on all of us, I feel like that’s something that I would love for him to stay. At the same time, he has his own things going on. I feel like we (are) all waiting to see.”

In the meantime, there is a season of expectations not met to put behind them. Never one to focus on the negative, Rodríguez looks forward.

“I don’t want to say disappointed,” he answered when asked his feelings of the outcome of the season. “Obviously, it was definitely a learning year for a lot of us as players, to me personally, too. I just feel like this is part of a long journey. I feel like this isn’t the end right now, this is a chapter of it this year, but I feel like a lot of us as a player, we learned a lot and that’s something that we’re going to carry on for next year and obviously looking forward to going deeper into the games and into the playoffs and be able to play some real ballgames.”

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Cal Raleigh reflects on Mariners’ ‘disappointing’ 2024 season
• Rost: Where Seattle Mariners’ season ending leaves fans
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• Video: What led to Seattle Mariners missing the playoffs again
• Requiem for a Seattle Mariners Season: The questions that await

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SEATTLE (AP) — Leo Rivas scored on Justin Turner’s fielder’s-choice grounder to lift the Seattle Mariners over the Oakland Athletics 7-6 in 10 innings on Saturday night.

Seattle Mariners 7, Oakland Athletics 6 (10 innings): Box score

Pinch-runner Rivas avoided Shea Langeliers’ tag attempt at the plate with a wide slide, giving Seattle its third straight win and 11th victory in its final at-bat of the season.

“That’s not exactly what I was trying to do up there,” pinch-hitter Turner said of his grounder to second. “But (hitting coach Edgar Martinez) talks about it all the time, just trying to get a good pitch and hit it hard somewhere, move the ball forward and make things happen.”

The Mariners’ comeback win — their 32nd of the season — came with nothing on the line after the team was eliminated from postseason contention midweek. But the teams traded late leads and Luke Raley rallied the Mariners twice for their seventh win in their last nine games.

First, Julio Rodríguez scored from first base on Raley’s double into the left-field corner for a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning. Then he hit a two-run homer to right field to tie it 6-6 in the ninth. His 22nd homer came after Langeliers had put the A’s up 6-4 in the top of the inning with a three-run homer.

“It’s the big leagues,” Raley said of his motivation. “Not everybody gets to do this. I will never take a day for granted.”

Eduard Bazardo (2-0) earned the win and Scott Alexander (1-3) took the loss.

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh hit his 92nd career homer in the fourth inning, tying him with Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets Hall of Famer Mike Piazza for most home runs through the first four years of a career for catchers. That also ties Alvin Davis’ team record. Ninety of the 92 homers came after the switch hitter’s first year in the majors.

Josh Rojas added a two-run single later in the inning to put Seattle up 3-0.

Emerson Hancock, a rookie right-hander making his 12th start after being called up from Triple-A Tacoma, walked four batters. He struck out three and gave up five hits in 5 1/3 innings. But he started the fifth by putting Max Schuemann on base, then one out later Brent Rocker hit his 39th homer to cut the Mariners’ lead to 3-2.

“You can kind of see him emerging and taking on that responsibility (of clubhouse leadership), which is awesome,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “I hope that tomorrow works out for him and he gets that 40th homer.”

Tyler Soderstrom tied it in the sixth with a solo shot to the left-field corner.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners RHP Bryce Miller was moved to the 15-day injured list with a blister on his right index finger. The move opened a roster spot for Hancock. Miller was 12-8 and led the majors with nine starts of 6-plus scoreless innings. He’s the first Mariners starter with an ERA lower than 3.99 (2.94) and a WHIP below 1.00 (0.98) since Félix Hernández in 2014.

UP NEXT

Seattle RHP Logan Gilbert (8-12, 3.33 ERA) faces Oakland RHP Mitch Spence (8-9, 4.35) to close out the season.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• The key things Dipoto said about Mariners’ offseason plans
• Cal Raleigh reflects on Mariners’ ‘disappointing’ 2024 season
• Rost: Where Seattle Mariners’ season ending leaves fans
• Video: What led to Seattle Mariners missing the playoffs again
• Requiem for a Seattle Mariners Season: The questions that await