OAKLAND, Calif. — When right-hander Trent Thornton fired a slider to Nick Allen that resulted in a ground ball to J.P. Crawford for the final out of Monday's 5-0 victory, the Mariners' pitching staff had made club history.
It was the 16th time this season that Seattle had shut out an opponent, which surpassed the previous franchise record of 15 set in 2003.
The accomplishment was unbeknown to all involved.
"It was brought to my attention after the game," manager Scott Servais said.
Seattle leads all of the MLB in combined shutouts. The Braves are second with 15; the Blue Jays, Padres and Dodgers each have 14.
"First of all, we did that without Robbie Ray and Marco Gonzales, who are established veteran pitchers in this league," Servais said. "They go down, and we got contributions from a lot of young players and from a bullpen that is not the same as it was last year. Everybody's got to chip in, but it's the consistency of our group. It's been awesome to watch. It's hard to throw 16 shutouts in a season. Hopefully we aren't done and get a couple more."
Pitching coach Pete Woodworth had no idea they had set a club record until he was told shortly after the postgame victory handshakes, and then he even asked his assistant coach, Trent Blank, if he knew they had set a record. Blank did not.
Woodworth wasn't about to take any credit for it, when jokingly asked about his role in the success.
"Zero," Woodworth said. "I didn't throw one pitch. I think a lot of the credit goes to our catchers. And, obviously, the guys that are throwing the pitches on our staff are incredible. ... But to do that consistently says something about our catchers, and our process with our catchers. It's not just how they're calling games individually but making adjustments through series and throughout the season."
Catcher Cal Raleigh, of course, took no credit either. He credited the organizational philosophy of attacking hitters, and the pitchers buying into it.
"We're just establishing who we are, and our identity," he said. "We're not trying to keep it a secret, you know? We are going to attack the zone and win the 0-0 and 1-1 counts. We are super aggressive. I think that's the No. 1 thing that sticks out to me. We force teams to swing the bat, and we aren't giving away a lot of free bases. That's what makes us go. When we get it rolling, it's contagious."
It's not something that Woodworth had to sell to the organization's new pitchers.
"I don't think I'm a good salesman," he said. "I avoid salesmen at all times. Just give me the retail price; I don't want to haggle. For us, it's been such a part of what we've done. Guys that are new to it may be a little skeptical at first, but then you look around and you see what these other guys are doing, what other guys have done in the past. ... Every year, there's a guy or two who changes their career just by attacking on 0-0 and winning 1-1. So the proof is kind of in the pudding."
The Mariners started the season with a shutout. On opening day at T-Mobile Park, Luis Castillo worked six scoreless innings. Matt Brash, Paul Sewald and Andres Muñoz worked the final three without allowing a run in a 2-0 win over the Guardians.
From there, they held opponents scoreless 15 more times.
Digging deeper into the shutout numbers, Seattle has held 14 different teams scoreless in games this season. They've shut out the Tigers (May 13 at Comerica Park and July 16 at T-Mobile Park) and A's (Aug. 28 at T-Mobile Park and Monday night) twice this season.
In seven of those wins, Seattle scored three runs or fewer, including three that were 1-0 victories.
The Mariners have had 17 different pitchers contribute in those shutouts, with Castillo contributing the most innings — 31 scoreless in five starts, followed by George Kirby with 22 innings in three starts. Each member of the rotation has been a part of at least two shutouts. Right-hander Logan Gilbert has the only solo shutout, tossing nine innings vs. the Giants on July 4 at Oracle Park.
The Mariners had four different catchers work those shutouts. Raleigh caught 14 of them, with Tom Murphy behind the plate for three and Brian O'Keefe and Luis Torrens, who caught Monday's win, each catching one.
Interestingly, the 16 shutouts featured 12 different home-plate umpires. C.B. Bucknor was calling balls and strikes for three games, and Alex MacKay for two.
