According to Baseball Savant’s metrics, Seattle’s Josh Naylor ranks 350th in sprint speed out of 352 players.
He was slowed even further after fouling a pitch off his foot in the fourth inning Friday in St. Louis, prompting a visit from manager Dan Wilson and trainer Kyle Torgerson.
Imagine the Cardinals’ surprise as Naylor stole second after drawing a walk, and three batters later, he chugged home on a Dominic Canzone single to left field.
Two innings later, Naylor hit a tiebreaking solo homer, leading the Mariners to a 3-2 victory in the opener of a three-game interleague series that continues Saturday.
“This is this is how he plays. This is what he does,” Wilson said. “… He plays the game hard, and everyone around him plays the game hard because he’s leading it.”
Naylor, who played for Canada in the World Baseball Classic, has gotten off to the slowest start of his career. He is batting .198 with three homers and 11 RBIs, but he has started to heat up, going 10-for-20 over his past six games.
“It’s a long season, and it’s a hard game we play,” Naylor said, “so you just keep your confidence up, keep your positivity up. Show up every day is the most important thing. If you’re not gonna show up, you have no chance to succeed. So showing up every day and just going to work — good, bad or ugly. Put in the work and you’ll go to bed happy.”
George Kirby put together a quality start — six-plus innings, two runs — as the Mariners snapped an eight-game road losing streak.
“Getting that first one on the road is really important to set the tone for the series,” Naylor said. “The guys did a great job (Friday) through and through — offense and defense, pitching, baserunning. It was an awesome, complete game.”
The Cardinals took their first one-run loss of the season after winning their first five narrow decisions. They rallied from a two-run deficit to tie the score but were unable to pull off their 10th comeback victory in 25 games.
“No matter what, we’re going to fight,” said Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker, who hit a 110.4 mph grounder right to shortstop J.P. Crawford in the eighth that the Mariners turned into an inning-ending double play.
The Saturday pitching matchup is scheduled to feature Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo (1-2, 2.25 ERA) and Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore (0-1, 3.67).
Woo is coming off his first victory of the season, a 5-2 decision against the visiting Texas Rangers on Sunday. He allowed two runs on four hits over seven innings with one walk and six strikeouts. He won his lone previous start vs. St. Louis, when he threw six innings of two-run ball and struck out nine last Sept. 8.
Liberatore pitched well Sunday at Houston but didn’t get a decision in a game the Cardinals won 7-5 in 10 innings. Liberatore gave up one run on three hits through six innings, with two walks and four strikeouts. He is 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against Seattle.
–Field Level Media
