Ben Williamson steals hits, gets hits, powers Mariners to 3-1 win in series opener

Luis Castillo is dominant, Josh Naylor hits his first homer as a Mariner, Ben Williamson gets it done on both sides of the ball

Today was a huge day for Ben Williamson fans everywhere, starting with my mother, who’s been a big Ben fan (or a Big Ben fan?) since day one. My mom has a top-tier kindness magnet and has adopted Ben as her new favorite Mariner because you can tell he’s such a nice boy. She cheers when he does well, and sighs in disappointment when he doesn’t come through at the plate—which has been more often than she, or any Mariners fan, would like. For all his defense prowess, Ben has been battling with a wRC+ in the 70s. On the bright side, he’s gotten his strikeouts under control; in July, he’s cut his strikeouts down to single-digits. But his contact goes into the ground so often that he’s too often a threat to ground into a double play, as he did in his first at-bat tonight: an inning-ending, rally-snuffing twin killing with the bases loaded that got A’s starter JP Sears off the hook in what had been a long and agonizing inning. Oh Ben.

But that turned to “oh, Ben!” over the course of the game, as Williamson made brilliant defensive stop after stop to bail out his pitchers against the swingin’ A’s and literally save the game—and even chipped in on the offensive side, as well.

“The story is Ben Williamson,” said Dan Wilson postgame. “He made some really difficult plays look really easy.”

“Wow,” said Luis Castillo simply, when asked about his favorite Ben Williamson play of the night.

Castillo was pretty wow himself; he gave up a leadoff single to open the game to Lawrence Butler, but Butler was caught stealing, thanks to a perfect strike thrown by Cal Raleigh. Castillo kept the A’s quiet after that, working around a Luis Urías single (a .345 hitter against the Mariners, per the broadcast, which is as annoying as it is predictable) in the third and a two-out Carlos Cortes triple in the fifth. The A’s finally got to him in the sixth, as one of Castillo’s only mistakes on the night—grazing Urías with a pitch—came around to score on an RBI groundout that was overshadowed by what was already Williamson’s second defensive highlight-reel play of the game.

The first, if you were interested, was on this diving catch—again against Rooker—in the fourth, on a ball with a .660 xBA. At this rate, Rooker is going to spend his off-season vengefully hunting the Mariner Moose.

The Mariners got their first run of the night thanks to Josh Naylor’s first home run as a Mariner, a no-doubter that’s out at all 30 ballparks. (My friend who dislikes the trident immediately named Naylor as her new favorite player after seeing the relative disdain/confusion with which he handled the trident in the dugout.)

But due to the aforementioned BWilly rally-killing double play, the Mariners weren’t able to get more in that inning despite putting a lot of pitches on JP Sears. Naylor took it on himself to extend the lead, leading off the fourth inning with a ground-ball single, then stealing second and taking third on a truly wild throw by A’s rookie Nick Kurtz, who must’ve seen a baseball and got overexcited about sending it over the fence. We love a free triple. Mitch Garver brought Naylor home, because while Garver hasn’t been great, he is capable of behaving like a Professional Ball Player in such situations and getting the sac fly if nothing else.

Williamson made up for his earlier mishap at the plate in the fifth, leading off with a double and eventually coming around to score on a Cal Raleigh single. I do want to show you Ben Williamson double, because it’s a rare but good case of Billiamson hitting the ball in the air, or even the Cal Raleigh single, because it’s a rare but good case of Cal hitting something other than a home run, but it’s really imperative that you see...whatever this new celebration is that Cal is doing.

Okay, here’s the Cal single in full because you can still see...whatever that is at the end, but also pay attention to Williamson’s base-running here. This is a tricky play to score on from second because it’s hit to left field and Tyler Soderstrom, the former catcher, has 87th percentile arm strength, but Williamson cuts the bag at third really nicely and puts down a good slide to ensure the run scores. For Williamson truthers, this is the kind of thing that makes him so appealing despite the excessive ground balls; he just does all the little things correctly, and that consistency shows through on balance even if it’s at times frustrating.

The Mariners didn’t score again after that, but were able to make that slender lead hold up—and not because of especially effective pitching. Gabe Speier walked pinch-hitter Colby Thomas in the eighth and took nine pitches to do so, but was able to record the first two outs of the inning. Matt Brash took over from there and really struggled with his command, allowing a single and a walk to load the bases. Once again, though, Benny-on-the-spot was there:

It’s not an understatement to say that play saved the game; at best, one run scores and the inning continues with a shaky Brash pitching to Miguel Andujar. More likely, two runs score, the game is tied, and the inning continues. But oh, Ben.

And Williamson wasn’t even done yet. Andrés Muñoz led off the bottom of the ninth by allowing a single on a slider to Andujar, but Williamson snatched up a grounder off the bat of Cortes, starting a 5-6-3 double play. With two outs and the bases clean, Muñoz was able to go right after Max Schuemann, striking him out on three pitches to secure his 24th save. It’s too bad ROOT gave out the “AllState Good Hands” award in the third (giving it to Cortes for a twisting catch in the outfield where Angie called the route “Magellan-like”). Ben sure deserved it tonight. All his teammates noted it, though (Julio interrupted Ben’s walkoff interview to shout into the mic, Liquid Swords-style, that BEN IS SO NASTY AT THIRD BASE.) One of the nicest comments came from tonight’s starter, Luis Castillo.”

“When a ball goes in his direction, he gives 100% on every play that he gets,” said Castillo through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “I think God’s given him a gift, and I hope he keeps blessing him with even more success.”