After taking a beating in Arlington against the Texas Rangers, the M’s headed to SoCal to face off against the San Diego Padres for a brief, two-game series. One of their better put-together wins on Tuesday that included strong pitching and timely hitting was followed by a typical Mariner-loss as of late: weak offense (until “garbage-time” runs late in the game) and another poor showing on the mound. It was certainly the tale of two games, and the sub-.500 M’s are now just 100 miles north in in Anaheim, where they will take on the Los Angeles Angels for three starting tomorrow night. Before we look ahead to the Halos, here's a look back at Tuesday and Wednesday’s games inside of Petco Park.
Game one of two featured the thin man, Logan Gilbert against righty Joe Musgrove.
A scoreless game until the third where former San Diego Aztec and Padre, Ty France brought home J.P. Crawford on a single up the gut. Crawford made this inning prolong with a long at-bat that ended in a walk, and Julio followed with an infield single.
Fernando Tatis Jr, a half-inning later, tied the game at one on a check swing RBI fielder’s choice. This was the only run that SD was able to muster off against Gilbert, who had one of his best starts of the season.
A 1-1 tie was no more after the two Dominican Republic-born teammates, Teoscar Hernandez and Julio Rodriguez both laced solo home runs in the sixth and the eighth.
Both of Seattle's home run hitters Tuesday, Julio Rodriguez and Teoscar Hernandez pictured together after Hernandez's solo shot in the sixth inning. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
Logan Gilbert earned his fourth win on the season after allowing only three hits and one earned over seven innings, striking out six. Fresh off the injured list, Andres Munoz struck out two, and Paul Sewald shut the door on a 4-1 victory Tuesday night to get the M’s back to an even 30-30.
A win the M’s needed after being on the wrong end of a sweep, and looking to go for two in a row, it was George Kirby against reigning NL Pitcher of the Month, veteran Michael Wacha.
A midday matinee went the Padre’s way… SD rattled of 17 hits, and ten runs. Kirby wasn’t able to finish three innings, where he allowed five earned runs. Juan Soto went 5-5 with 4 RBIs, and four other Padres had multi-hit games.
Juan Soto celebrates his RBI double next to Seattle's Jose Caballero Wednesday afternoon. Soto had five hits in five at-bats in the ballgame. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Seattle was held scoreless until the ninth, far after Wacha’s exit, who allowed just two hits over six innings, striking out seven. A 10-3 blowout loss as the M’s split with San Diego.
The Seattle Mariners need some jolt on offense…badly. They currently rank 28/30 in the MLB in hits (462) and strikeouts (592). Four M’s hitters rank in the top ten in strikeouts this season, the most by any team by a long shot. Pitching has been off and on over the last few weeks. Other than Luis Castillo, no Mariner-starter has a sub-3.50 ERA.
Seattle, now one game under, have a negative run differential, (-1). They’ll need to put the batt on ball in Orange County as they are a meager 10-20 against teams with a winning record.
Now for a look ahead to the Angels. Winners of three of their last six and playing the Chicago Cubs tonight before welcoming in Seattle, LAA ranks in the top ten in team batting average, and they are an above average team inside Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
Pitching probables for SEA @ LAA:
- Friday 6/9, 6:38 PM: RHP Luis Castillo (4-3, 2.55 ERA) vs RHP Shohei Ohtani (5-2, 3.30 ERA)
- Saturday 6/10, 7:07 PM: RHP Bryan Woo (0-1, 27.00 ERA) vs LHP Patrick Sandoval (3-5, 4.14 ERA)
- Sunday 6/11, 1:07 PM: RHP Bryce Miller (3-3, 4.46 ERA) vs RHP Griffin Canning (4-2, 4.47 ERA)
American League West Standings as of Thursday afternoon:
- 1.Texas Rangers (40-21)
- 2.Houston Astros (36-26), 4.5 GB
- 3.Los Angeles Angels (33-30), 8.0 GB
- 4.Seattle Mariners (30-31), 10.0 GB
- 5.Oakland Athletics (14-50)