Takeaway
The Mariners (20-23) not only botched a shot at sweeping Toronto at Rogers Centre for the first time since May 11-13, 2001, they fell another game back (eight) of Houston in the AL West (Astros beat Detroit 10-8) Sunday by falling to the Blue Jays 8-2 (box score). Seattle starter Taijuan Walker breezed through four innings without ceding a hit, but unraveled in the fifth, gouged for four earned runs. Neither Walker’s offense nor his bullpen could bail him out.
Essential Moment
Walker sailed through four before permitting a flare single to Kevin Pillar to open the fifth. Ryan Goins, he of three career long balls, followed with a two run homer. After Russell Martin doubled to center two hitters later, Edwin Encarnacion crushed a ball into the second deck in left as Toronto took a 4-1 lead.
Hitters
Kyle Seager’s home run in the second inning, his seventh of the year, extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Hev also singled. Robinson Cano has Seattle’s longest streak at 11 games from April 13-25. Seager’s solo shot was Seattle’s 29th home run in May (third in AL) and 54th of the season. Forty-one of the 54 have been solos.
Chris Taylor, who had two hits Saturday for his first multi-hit game, had his second Sunday, going 2-for-3. Nelson Cruz went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and saw his five-game hitting streak snapped. The Mariners stranded five and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, Cano chipping in an 0-for-2. He was 0-for-4 overall and is hitting .247, 67 points below what he hit in 2014.
Over the three games at Rogers Centre, the Mariners went 2-for-17 with RISP.
Pitchers
Walker, who hasn’t won since April 27, has dropped three of his past five starts. He worked 5.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits. He fanned three and walked four among his 97 pitches. Walker has yielded 20 earned runs in his past five outings. . . Danny Farquhar’s ERA jumped to 6.46 after he coughed up three earned runs on three hits with 18 pitches in relief of Walker. The Blue Jays batted around in the seventh, scoring four times, including one run on a single by ex-Mariner Justin Smoak, and another on a bases-loaded walk by Seattle reliever Joe Beimel. Mark Lowe notched three strikeouts in 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Words
“I thought he was throwing a pretty good ball game. He competed well against a team that scores the most runs in the American League. But he just made a couple of mistakes and they cost him the ball game” — manager Lloyd McClendon, on the homers Walker surrendered.
Noteworthy
The Mariners evened their record against the AL at 19-19. They are 3-3 on the nine-game road trip . . . Had the Mariners won, they would have recorded their third sweep of the year (swept Texas April 27-29 and Oakland May 8-10) . . . OF Austin Jackson, who hit .310 in seven rehab games in Tacoma following an ankle injury, could rejoin the Mariners as early as Monday.
Next
The Mariners begin a three-game set at Tampa Bay Monday that will conclude their nine-game road trip. LHP Roenis Elias (1-1, 2.76) will start for Seattle opposite RHP Jake Odorizzi (3-4, 2.43). Elias has yet to allow more than three earned runs in any start.
5 Comments
Houston, we have a calendar problem….duct tape not helpful. 26 of the next 33 games are against teams with winning records with only seven games against Cleveland as far as teams with losing records are concerned and they have won 6 straight. There are two off days during this period. The final 16 games prior to June 28 are all against teams that are first or second in their division. By June 28 we’ll know what kind of team we have.
They blew the softer part of the schedule. You’re right, it gets harder. But the schedule is the nearly the same for all, so that’s looking at the problem from the outside, when troubles are within.
No, you’re right, Art. The big clue is that they struggle against everyone. The chemistry, the way the team is built, the way the whole isn’t greater than the sum of the parts, is what escapes them. Jacky Z put it together with bandages and Elmer’s glue and is simply betting on the come, to use a Vegas term. Yeah, good luck with that. Where is Hunter Pence or Buster Posey when you need ’em? The glue guys that make everyone around them better.
In hindsight maybe keeping Walker in would have been better because when he went out the team started to unravel in the following innings. Still, it was June when the team turned things around and when Cano really took off. Assuming Jackson and Kuma are back as well that could be the time we see the team we were expecting.
Not sure Jackson and Kuma are much of an answer. Neither were doing well prior to getting hurt. Cano playing to his career average would fix just about everything.