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

Sergio Estrada-Imagn ImagesToday 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.

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