On Friday night, the Seattle Mariners beat the Colorado Rockies 5-4 thanks to a late home run from Lazaro Montes.

However, the game was not without its difficulties, as the Mariners squandered a 3-0 lead to end up down 4-3 as late as the seventh inning.

The game was also difficult for the Mariners defensively. Seattle made one official error, but there were several plays that could have been made. The Rockies also stole four bases against the Mariners combination of pitchers and catcher Cal Raleigh.

Only one runner was caught, and that was Cole Carrigg, who was caught dancing off second base by Andres Munoz in the ninth inning.

The running game has been a problem for the Mariners all year, so let's examine a little deeper what's going on.

In an effort to be completely fair: The Rockies stole four bases, but one runner could have been caught at second if not for Cole Young dropping the throw. Another runner was called safe, but could have been out for coming off the base, however replay didn't change the call.

Three Mariners pitchers surrendered stolen bases: Bryan Woo, Gabe Speier (2) and Seranthony Dominguez. All the pitchers had Raleigh in common as the catcher.

--Opponents have stolen 118 bases against the Mariners this season; that is the 10th-most in baseball.

--Opponents have been caught 31 times against the Mariners this season, which is the 14th-most in baseball

--The caught stealing percentage for the Mariners is 21 percent, which is the 19th-best in baseball. The league average is 23 percent.

As a former college pitcher, I'm always going to look at the pitchers first. I'm not saying it's all their fault, but holding runners is an art form, and it's a difficult one. Pitchers like to get in a routine, and too often, they fall asleep in the holding runners department. Pitchers also tend to feel uncomfortable varying up their looks and disrupting their timing. Some are also uncomfortable throwing to bases in pick-off attempts.

Furthermore, the pitch clock has made pitcher routines easier to predict. The pitch clock, mixed with the bigger bases, was supposed to increase action. Part of this is exactly what the league wanted to happen, but the Mariners are still average to below average, so it's still something to improve.

In guys like Logan Gilbert, Emerson Hancock and George Kirby, the Mariners have tall pitchers that inherently take longer to get to the plate. There's more body parts moving and it takes longer for those body parts to get in sync. So, these guys need to pay more attention to holding runners as a result.

Now, you have to take a look at the catchers and understand a few things:

As noted by Baseball Savant:

Cal Raleigh has a pop time of 2.01, which is the slowest of his career. It's also 85th of 93 catchers in Savant's Database, though it's fair to note that every catcher who has made at least five throws to second base appears. Obviously, there aren't 84 regular catchers quicker than Cal Raleigh.

His average throwing velocity to is 81.8, down nearly three MPH from his Platinum Glove winning 2024.

Mitch Garver's pop time is 2.07, which is last among 93 among catchers. His velocity of 78.7 mph is 87th. 

Jonny Pereda's velocity of 84.4 mph is 30th, his pop time of 1.98 is 72nd.

So yes, the catchers have a major hand in this as well.

I think it's certainly fair to be worried about the decline in arm strength and the slowing down of pop time, BUT, as I was reminded by someone I trust recently: Remember that Raleigh fought through an oblique injury for at least a month and a half. That will absolutely impact your stats and metrics, and could be dragging them down.

Furthermore, even though Raleigh is healthy enough to play now - and is hitting well - it doesn't mean that he's built up full strength yet in that area. His 2025 numbers were still good.

Raleigh is also in the 94th percentile of blocking, so he does add significant value in that area. But he is only in the 25th percentile of framing, which has become even more of an art in the ABS era.

A great edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast with former M's infielder and current broadcaster Ryon Healy dropped earlier this week. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.