Mariners trounced by Tampa Bay Rays for third loss in a row
The juxtaposition between the two teams was beyond stark to the point of glaring, and it wasn’t because one team was wearing hideous black baseball pants.
No, the gap between the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners in terms of talent, execution, competitive nature and relentlessness looked and felt wider than the geographic distance separating the two teams.
The Rays are everything the Mariners want to be, believe they can be, but have rarely shown glimpses beyond a game or two that they might be. And based on how the past week has gone, it isn’t getting better.
Friday’s series opener against the Rays — the team with best record in baseball — started with so much promise.
The Mariners scored four runs in the second inning off Rays ace Shane McClanahan, the current front-runner to win the American League Cy Young Award.
The game ended with designated hitter Mike Ford lobbing in 68-mph “fastballs” in the ninth inning, getting a nice ovation from what was left of the announced crowd of 37,063. They were only staying for postgame fireworks and delivering deserved boos aimed at the Mariners and their abysmal showing when the final out, fittingly a strikeout from Julio Rodriguez, was made, and 15-4 beatdown by the Rays became official.
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“It started out on a very positive note tonight,” manager Scott Servais said. “Obviously, it got ugly at the end,”
So what the heck happened in the middle?
Well, starter Bryce Miller had to leave with one out in the fourth inning due to a blister on his middle finger.
The Mariners didn’t score another run or really even threaten to score after the second inning, generating one hit and drawing four walks over the final seven innings.
And Seattle’s bullpen suffered one of the worst implosions of the season, giving up eight runs in an interminable eighth inning.
Add it all up and you get the Mariners’ third consecutive loss that somehow felt worse than the extra-innings failure Tuesday, the embarrassing series-losing defeat to the lowly Nationals on Wednesday, when they were shut down by Patrick Corbin, one of the worst starting pitchers in MLB.
“We gave up eight runs in the eighth inning,” Servais said. “We have to be better than that. You can make up all excuses you want, we didn’t pitch well tonight in the eighth inning. We’ve got to figure out how to turn it. I’ve said that multiple times and, quite frankly, I’m tired of saying it.”
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The hourlong players-only meeting before the pregame workout would’ve served as a nice anecdote if they had prevailed, particularly with McClanahan starting.
Instead, it will be another example of the saying, “Good teams win games; bad teams have meetings.”
In the early evening warmth and a Friday night crowd, T-Mobile Park was rocking and energetic as the Mariners jumped McClanahan, scoring four runs in the second inning and Miller punched out five hitters in his first two innings of work.
In the second, Teoscar Hernandez led off with a double to right field and Tom Murphy crushed his fourth homer of the season.
Seattle continued to add to the 2-0 lead. Cal Raleigh worked a walk, Jarred Kelenic blooped a single into right field and Jose Caballero loaded the bases with a single to left field.
That brought J.P. Crawford, the Mariners’ most clutch hitter this season, to the plate.
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Crawford pulled a 1-1 slider through the right side of the infield for a single that scored both Raleigh and Kelenic for a 4-0 lead.
“We did what we needed to do against the starter, probably even could have added another run or two against him,” Servais said. “But you feel good about getting him out of there in the third inning. Then they shut us down.”
The four runs allowed tied a season high for McClanahan, who exited the game after working a scoreless third inning.
With McClanahan out and how Miller was pitching, it seemed like the Mariners would ride it to victory. He hadn’t allowed a hit in the first three innings and had struck out six batters.
“The way the game started, I’d have put everything I had that we were going to win that game,” he said. “We were rolling. Anytime you take the ERA leader out of the game after three innings and score four off him in an inning … and you combine that with how I felt and how their swings looked and the energy in the building. But sometimes things turn, and they didn’t turn in our favor.”
After getting Wander Franco to fly out to center, Miller looked down at the middle finger on his right hand and started rubbing it against his thumb. A blister that had been building had torn, causing discomfort.
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“It’s happened a couple of times in college and it happened a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “I noticed it in the third. There was like a big blood blister showing up. I went in and they cut my fingernail. But I … looked down after a couple of pitches in the fourth and there was blood all over my fingernail and on the ball.”
Servais and head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson came out to check on Miller. After a brief conversation, Miller remained in the game, believing he could pitch through it.
But he walked Luke Raley, throwing some wayward breaking pitches and showing a slight decrease in fastball velocity.
“When I throw my fastball and the hard slider and the other slider, the pressure is right there on the inside of this middle finger, so it’s not really an ideal spot to get a blister,” Miller said.
The issues continued when Randy Arozarena stepped to the plate. But instead of walking the Rays’ cleanup hitter, Miller left a 92-mph fastball up in the zone, but not up enough.
Arozarena yanked the ball over the wall in left field for a two-run homer.
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It became clear that Miller couldn’t keep trying to pitch through the discomfort. Servais and Torgerson went out to check on Miller again, and he was lifted from the game.
“It’s frustrating in the fact that they weren’t even really close on anything until that happened,” Miller said of Rays hitters. “Then I ended up having to come out, forced the bullpen to throw five innings and everything turns whereas I feel like if I stay in, I’m going six or seven innings and it’s a completely different ballgame.”
The Rays picked up a run in the fifth off Matt Brash and one in the sixth off Trevor Gott.
But the eighth inning was something to behold … or forget.
Working a second inning of relief against the heart of the Rays’ order, Andres Munoz never recorded an out. He gave up a double to Raley and a single to Arozarena. When Eugenio Suarez couldn’t get an out on Isaac Paredes’ soft grounder and Raley scored from third, the tie was broken. And then the deficit grew. The Rays beat up on lefty Gabe Speier, who faced five batters and gave up four hits with his only out being a sac fly that led to a run.
The booing in the eighth inning wasn’t vicious, but it wasn’t friendly.
“We have very passionate fans and I certainly understand it,” Servais said. “You give up eight runs in the eighth inning. Nobody’s gonna like that. I know how I feel, I know how our players feel and that’s where we’re at right now. We have to play better baseball. That’s the bottom line. And we’re certainly capable of doing that. It’s not just going to wake up one day and all of a sudden flip for us. We have to make it happen.”
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Source: The Seattle Times
