Takeaway
Vidal Nuno turned in an unexpected performance on the mound, a seven-inning one-hitter, while Kyle Seager and Mark Trumbo provided eight of the Mariners’ nine hits in a 6-0 win (box score) over the Rangers Wednesday night at Safeco, the sixth win in the past eight games.
Essential moment
Seager’s two-run homer in the fifth, which came two innings after Trumbo went deep, gave the Mariners a 5-0 lead to put the game out of reach.
Pitchers
Nuno struck out a career-high 10. In his first start since Aug. 31, Nuno snapped an 11-decision losing streak while earning his first win since June 27, 2014. The only hit he, Danny Farquhar and Carson Smith allowed was in the first inning, a two-out single from Rangers DH Prince Fielder.
Hitters
Seager and Trumbo combined to go 8-for-8 with two home runs, five RBIs and four runs scored. Seager extended his hitting streak to 12 games, while Trumbo extended his streak to a career-long 11 games.
Words
“That was special, the way he threw the ball tonight. The way he was locating it, going at people – it was awesome.” – Seager on Nuno
Noteworthy
The Mariners’ Sunday starter is still undecided. McClendon is contemplating skipping RHP Taijuan Walker’s next start, but the Mariners won’t name LHP James Paxton the starter until they can evaluate a fingernail injury from his most recent rehab start. Paxton has been out since late May because of a strained finger on his pitching hand . . . OFs Nelson Cruz (strained quad) and Franklin Gutierrez (abdomen) were out of the lineup again . . . C Steven Baron made his major league debut.
Next
Thursday’s 12:40 p.m. start has quite a pitching matchup. Felix Hernandez (16-8, 3.65 ERA) will start against LHP Derek Holland (3-1, 2.37 ERA) of Texas. Holland has gone 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA in five starts since coming off the DL. He has allowed six hits and one run over 17 innings in his past two starts.
6 Comments
Interesting how the team is playing better. Make me wonder if some of the current roster are able to handle the pressure of a pennant race? Were the expectations of this season too much for some?
Does make you wonder, doesn’t it? The hitting has been much better in the warmer months but the pitching went south. They have been terrible at home all year. The M’s are going to need two possibilities at most positions when the season starts next year. They need competitiveness deciding starting lineups, not contracts, and they can’t just give a guy three months to warm up. They’re locked into Cano’s large contract but not Zunino’s modest one.
When Lou came on board in ’93 he was asked why he was being so rough on players like closer Mike Schooler. He said he wanted to see which players could handle it because he wanted players who could handle the pressure of a pennant drive. IMO, the M’s lost 10 games last year they had no business losing. If they won those they’d have been in the playoffs. This year the AL West is the AL Weak and most media outlets picked them to go the the World Series. Did they wilt under that pressure? Only Cano and Cruz have been to the playoffs and with Cano he had Jeter, Pettite, Posada and Rivera to take the pressure off of him. Not at all pointing the finger at Lloyd. More at Jack for assembling this team and expecting it to win. Seems like he didn’t understand clubhouse dynamics.
It’s easy to perform better when the pressure’s off. When you’re this far out of it there are no longer any expectations.
They’re only 7 games out of the Wild Card slot. With luck they could still do it but with all the trades and the GM fired that all but seals it that the organization has waved the white flag.
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