Blown chances bite Mariners in loss to Nationals to even series
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – In frustrating, disappointing fashion, the Seattle Mariners dropped game two of their series against the Washington Nationals to even things up at a game apiece and create a rubber match for the third matchup on Wednesday. A hot start thanks to a Teoscar Hernandez homer seemed to get things going positively, but the bats sputtered throughout the rest of the game and ultimately failed in big spots throughout the remainder of the contest. Considering that Seattle is battling for a playoff spot here in late June and their offense has been mediocre at best, the Mariners need to figure out their own issues immediately if they want to have the sort of hot turn around that they did at this time last season.
Woo works another strong outing for Seattle
Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo, in his fifth career start in the big leagues, continues to show improvement after being called up in an emergency capacity from Seattle’s AA affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers. Woo, like teammate Bryce Miller, has effectively had to learn how to adjust to big league hitting on the fly as he develops his off-speed pitches. While that’s a current factor in his play, Woo has been able to use his improving two-seam fastball to attack batters and help make his way through his opponents at the plate. It’s a tough scenario for Woo, being thrust into the Mariners starting rotation due to injuries, but his adjustments throughout his time with Seattle this season have been crucial as the ballclub navigates an issue they didn’t have to deal with last year.
Things got off on a bit of a quirky start for Woo, as a single with two outs by Nationals third baseman Jeimer Candelario turned into a run for Washington as a pickoff attempt went wide left of Mariners first baseman Ty France. Candelario bolted for second, but was able to round the bases and cross home as Seattle took an extended period to retrieve the ball that had gotten past France. After the wonky start, Woo locked in to work his way out of jams in the second and third to avoid letting the Nationals stack runs on in consecutive frames. Washington was able to push a second run across home as Lane Thomas (single) was driven in by a Jeimar Candelario double that went over the shoulder of Seattle left fielder Jarred Kelenic, just squeezing out of his closed glove.
Looking further into his outing, Woo relied somewhat strongly on his fastball as he threw it 63% of the 88 pitches that he threw in his outing. Mixing in a slider, that saw an increase in velocity, and a sinker with a smattering of changeup, Woo was able to generate 12 whiffs and seven strikeouts on the night compared to only one walk. Woo largely did his job for Seattle tonight, and although manager Scott Servais discussed being able to go deep into the game to rest the bullpen, I’d have to argue that Woo’s outing was solid when you consider his situation. Only one earned run against and two total, is a winnable ballgame or at least should be in Major League Baseball. That is of course, unless you’re the Mariners with their current offense.
Early spark not sustained by Mariners bats
Following the bizarre beginning to this game on the errant pickoff attempt, the Mariners were able to find a bite back when Teoscar Hernandez obliterated a baseball to right-center field to drive in teammate Ty France, who had singled. Hernandez’s first plate appearance of the night continued a strong month of June for the right fielder, who’s been Seattle’s best hitter during the month as he’s hit a slash line of .313/.376.590 to this point. Going quiet for a few innings, the Mariners began to put some things together in the bottom of the fourth with singles by France and Cal Raleigh before a Eugenio Suarez sacrifice fly drove in France from third. While it was a narrow advantage at the time and when the Nationals got one back in the fifth, the Mariners are equipped to outlast their opponents due to their strong pitching. But it was proven that they can’t just rely on their staff to shut teams out the rest of the way, as Seattle began to blow opportunities to add on, and eventually tie + win this ballgame.
Blown leads in the latter part of the regular innings, and extras
Seattle had two key opportunities late in this game to try and put things away with a walk off win, but obviously failed to do so in both cases of the ballgame. The first came in the ninth inning, coming after Paul Sewald had blown the hold chance, as Eugenio Suarez doubled and Jarred Kelenic was intentionally walked. With one out, Dylan Moore was left staring at a third strike and Kolten Wong had an awkward pop fly caught by CJ Abrams at shortstop. Moore continues to fail miserably at the plate, and although he missed all of Spring Training, the current situation doesn’t warrant him any real patience, at least not from the ball club.
The other is the one most people will remember from this loss, and the one that stings extra. While the Mariners have been solid this year when it comes to hitting with the bases loaded, there have been a few key moments where they’ve fallen flat on their face with the bags filled. Another one of those instances came tonight as Seattle loaded things up with no outs in the top of the tenth thanks to walks (intentional for JP, pitch clock violation walk for Julio) in addition to ghost runner Kolten Wong being on base. Ty France popped out in foul territory, Teoscar Hernandez struck out, and Cal Raleigh softly grounded out to stab Mariners fans in the heart and send us to the top of the eleventh.
‘Pen report
From here on out, each game we’ll look at what the Mariners bullpen was able to do/ didn’t do since we already look at the starting pitching anyway in our recaps. Considering that pitching is really the only thing at times that keeps Seattle in ballgames, it feels like that sort of thing should be alright, you’d just hope that the Mariners bats would be able to get things going so that the pitching performances by the staff aren’t wasted so often.
Tonight, Seattle had to dip into their bullpen a little extra thanks to the fact that this game went to eleven innings. Six Mariners relievers were deployed tonight after Bryan Woo’s start ended at five complete innings. Overall, the bullpen was able to do its job for much of the time that they hit the mound. The run that was charged to Speier is tough, because he hit the first batter he faced in the seventh inning and was then pulled for Matt Brash. Brash proceeded to walk the next two batters before a sac fly scored the runner that Speier hit. So, less fault on Speier and more so on Brash and his poor control in his outing today, even though it was just the one inherited runner that he allowed as a run. The main two big stains on the bullpen tonight would be the solo homer that tied the game allowed by Paul Sewald and Trevor Gott leaving a ball right over the heart of a plate for a two-run double.
Quick notes
Tonight’s attendance at T-Mobile Park was 22,671
The Mariners dropped to a 38-40 record with tonight’s 7-4 loss in extra-innings…the loss split the home series against the Nationals 1-1.
The Mariners are now 29-7 when leading after the 6th inning.
Seattle falls to 4-8 in extra inning games.
Teoscar Hernández went 1-for-4 with a home run, 2 RBI, and 1 walk... he gave Seattle its first lead of the game with a 2nd inning 2-run home run.
In June, Hernández is batting .313 with 14 runs, 26 hits, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 6 homeruns, 18 RBI, and a .966 OPS.
He leads the Mariners in home runs with 15 this season.
It was Hernández’s 4th homer and 15th and 16th RBI with 2 outs this season.
Ty France went 2-for-5 with 2 singles and 2 runs to extend his hitting streak to 4 games.
In June, France has recorded a hit or more per game in 17 of 22 appearances.
Tonight was France’s 23rd multi-hit game of the season…he only trails Julio Rodríguez (25) in Mariners multi-hit games this season.
Cal Raleigh went 2-for-5 with 2 singles.
In his last 8 games (6/20-c), Raleigh is batting .273 with 9 hits, 5 runs, 2 home runs, and 4 RBI.
Eugenio Suárez went 1-for-3 with 1 double and 1 RBI.
Suárez scored Ty France off a sac fly for his 47th RBI of the season and 13th in June.
Jarred Kelenic recorded 2 walks (1 intentional) and his 34th run of the season.
He scored after a tag-out play at home plate was overturned.
Kolten Wong drove in Kelenic to record an RBI in the 7th inning.
Mike Ford went 1-for-3 with a single.
Bryan Woo allowed 6 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts across 5.0 innings.
Through his last 4 starts, Woo holds a 2.18 ERA (5 ER, 20.2 IP) with 5 walks and 28 strikeouts.
Woo threw 88 pitches and 66 strikes… it was his most strikes thrown through 5 Major League starts… he raised his career-high from 65 strikes, which he threw on 6/16 vs CWS across 5.2 innings.
He recorded 7 strikeouts tonight…his second strikeout came from a batting timer violation.
The Mariners bullpen (Gabe Speier, Matt Brash, Paul Sewald, Andrés Muñoz, Justin Topa, and Trevor Gott) combined for 6.0 innings.
Muñoz allowed no hits and 2 strikeouts.
Speier allowed 1 run (1 earned), 1 walk, and 1 strikeout.
Brash allowed no hits, 2 walks, and 1 strikeout.
Sewald allowed 1 hit, 1 home run, and no walks.
Topa allowed no hits, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout.
Gott allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in his first game back from being reinstated from the 15-day IL, getting the loss.
Washington’s Corey Dickerson was struckout by a batter timer violation (batter) in the 2nd inning.
Bryan Woo was called for pitch timer violation (pitcher) later in the 2nd inning… Derek Hill ended up walking during the at bat.
Scott Servais won a challenge for a called-out tag play at home, the call was overturned to score Jarred Kelenic in the 7th inning.
Washington's Kyle Finnigan was called for a pitch timer violation (pitcher) in the 8th inning.
Washington’s Jordan Weems was called for a pitch timer violation (pitcher) in the 10th inning… the call walked Julio Rodríguez and loaded the bases in the 10th inning.
Nationals pitching coach Jim Hickey was ejected by home plate umpire Brennan Mille in the 10th inning.
What’s next?
Following the bizarre, wacky, odd, you name it game that the Mariners lost tonight, Seattle will look to win this series against the worst team in the National League East when they meet tomorrow for the rubber match with a first pitch time of 1:10PM PST. The Mariners will have starter Logan Gilbert on the mound as they try to take this series from a struggling Washington team, and “Walter” aims to have a third consecutive strong start after only allowing one earned run to the Orioles on the team's previous road trip. The Nationals will have Patrick Corbin on the mound to duel Gilbert, and Washington is hoping for a bounce-back effort from him after giving up seven earned runs to the Padres in his last outing.