Takeaway
Any momentum the Mariners thought they developed from the come-from-behind 11-9 win over Detroit Tuesday evaporated in a hurry Wednesday when the Tigers splurged for eight runs in the third against Mike Montgomery en route to a 9-4 romp at Comerica Park (box score). The Mariners (43-52), increasingly likely sellers by the July 31 trade deadline (if they have anybody to sell), have not won back-to-back games since June 30-July 1.
Essential moment
Detroit 3B Nick Castellanos blasted a 2-0, one-out pitch off Montgomery in the third for a grand slam that staked the Tigers to a 5-0 lead. The salami followed walks to Rajai Davis, Yoenis Cespedes and J.D. Martinez and provided Detroit with an advantage the Mariners could not overcome despite Nelson Cruz’s individual heroics.
Hitters
Cruz’s two-run blast in the fourth, a crushed fastball off Anibel Sanchez, was his 23rd of the season and hiked his RBI total to 56. Cruz also had solo homer in the sixth and a double. He is batting .305. Cruz has four multi-home run games this season and 17 in his career. Cruz had a chance to inflict more damage to the Tigers in the seventh when he came up with two outs and runners on first and third. But he struck out. Eighteen of Cruz’s 24 homers have come on the road.
Austin Jackson (2-for-4), Kyle Seager (2-for-5) and Seth Smith (2-for-3) delivered multi-hit games.The Mariners went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and had 11 hits.Detroit produced 13. Detroit’s Ian Kinsler was 4-for-5.
Pitchers
Montgomery lasted only 2.2 innings, allowing eight runs, six earned, with two strikeouts and five walks, four of them in the third inning. The six earned runs marked a season high for Montgomery, whose ERA jumped from 2.51 to 3.25. Montgomery. He permitted 12 Detroit batters to come to the plate in the third. He allowed five earned runs July 10 against the Angels.
David Rollins had a nice effort, allowing two hits with two strikeouts in 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Words
“It happened in a hurry and it started with a two-out walk. That was a tough day for him. He just didn’t make quality pitches. He left a lot of pitches up in the zone. But we had opportunities. My guys battled and we were still in the ball game down 8-0” — Manager Lloyd McClendon, on Montgomery.
“That was wild. hopefully tomorrow we can score more runs and come back with a win” — Cruz, on Detroit’s eight-run third inning.
Noteworthy
The Mariners are 4-7 in their last 11, 8-10 in July and 9-15-6 in series played . . . The Mariners are 2-4 on the road trip through New York and Detroit . . . The eight runs allowed by the Mariners in the third inning matched the most they have allowed in a single frame in 2015. They also yielded eight in the first inning June 12 at Houston . . . Seager, a 2014 Gold Glove winner, committed two errors at third . . . Hisashi Iwakuma, who gets the start Thursday in the series finale, is 2-0 with a 1.32 ERA in his past two starts with wins over the Angels and Yankees.
Next
The series closes out with a 10:08 a.m. first pitch. Iwakuma (2-1, 4.89) throws opposite LHP David Price (9-3, 2.32). The Mariners return to Safeco Field Friday for a 7:10 p.m. first pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays. Saturday’s game with the Blue Jays has been moved to 1:10 p.m. to accommodate Seafair’s Torchlight Parade.
14 Comments
The M’s got stomped again….. I’m really surprised, but everything is cool because it’s “early”, there’s “a lot of baseball left”, they’re “in a funk”. It will be okay once everybody hits to “the back of their mediocre baseball cards”. They’re still allegedly in contention….. for what other than worst AL record, I don’t know. So they’ve lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees & duplicated that with the Tigers & face a REAL ACE tomorrow in David Price….. doesn’t look good. I’m looking for that miraculous win streak any day now….. Refuse to lose!
There you go! THERE’s that sense of humor! You know, teams have come back from this far down. But I don’t see it happening here, not this year. Apart from the big slides down from the big baseball card stats (Cano) there are so many little things. Have you noticed how many balls in the dirt Zunino is missing these days? He needs a break. Seager’s errors last night were odd. The team looks tired. A runner is getting thrown out on the basepaths almost every night.
Detroit got an ultimatum yesterday. Play well this week or the fire sale kicks in next week. They responded. You don’t get the sense the M’s would respond that way and yet they seem to be in a more dire position. They didn’t fix last year’s problems – OBP/RISP. Can’t get ’em on. When they’re on, can’t get ’em in.
Cano’s 3 month slump was crippling to this offense; made worse by McClendon’s refusal to move him from the #3 spot in the lineup. That right there is a perfect microcosm of this team’s problems: Underperforming players and questionable managerial decisions.
Rodney comes in again today with the game on the line. Russian roulette?
Oh well. Another year that slipped away early and often. I didn’t think the farm system could be much worse after the Bavasi regime, but I was wrong again. I can’t blame the organisation for this team. Howard Lincoln, as far as I could see, let Jack Z make whatever move he felt would advance the team. The payroll is still one of the highest in MLB, yet positive ROI remains an elusive.
I don’t know, after one seemingly has tried everything, what’s left?
I’m getting the intuition that Lomo or Trumbo will be moved this weekend for a catcher. Anyone else get that feeling? One wonders if a pitcher is going to traded.
So what type of catcher do you suppose Lameo or BUMbo would bring in a deal?
I know! I know! A catcher far worse than Zunino. No thanks.
If Howard Lincoln is going to insist on running this thing into the ground until he’s put into a retirement community, then its probably in all of our best interests that Nintendo go ahead and sell the team so new owners can move it. The suffering can end, and we can convert Safeco Field into a basketball/hockey facility. Really, I mean… That place is a mausoleum. The only thing less animate than the stadium itself is the team that plays in it. Seriously. There is really no reason for the Mariners franchise to exist anymore. What a pathetic waste of time, energy, and resources. To work for the M’s is to shoot time the face. To actively root for the M’s is to pee into the wind while doing a handstand.
Here we go again with the Fernando Slocum show…. of course he puts the very first hitter on base. It would be a miracle if this jabronie gets out of this. How about a Seth Smith deal next week? He’s pretty much useless also.
Seth is the 4th best hitter in the lineup. They’re stupid if they move him. Not that stupid has stopped them in the past.
If Seth Smith or anybody hitting .259 with 6 home runs & 0-5 sb’s this far in is one of your best hitters…… you’re in serious trouble. Not to mention he has no defensive range. I would like to see him packaged in a deal with either Happ/Iwakuma for a couple pizzas.
Lomo or Trumbo is gone by 5:00 Monday.