Three takeaways after Mariners’ skid hits five and puts postseason hopes on life support
The math says the Mariners are still afloat, which amounts to being clinically alive because their pulse now barely registers.
A nightmarish collapse in the fourth inning Wednesday sent the Mariners to an 8-6 loss to Texas at Safeco Field. The Rangers scored seven runs in fourth thanks to three walks, two errors and a Rougned Odor grand slam.
It was too much to overcome, although the Mariners did get the go-ahead run to the plate in the seventh inning. A baserunning mistake by Ben Gamel in the eighth inning didn’t help, either.
"We’ve got to play better baseball," manager Scott Servais said. "You’re not going to the playoffs if you continue to make errors and don’t execute in crucial situations or make pitches. That’s just where we’re at. That’s the reality of it."
Desperately in need of a September surge to avoid extending their postseason drought to 16 seasons, the Mariners have instead lost five in a row. At 74-78, they are four games under .500 for the first time since the All-Star break.
While the Mariners remain four games behind nose-diving Minnesota in the race for the American League’s final wild-card berth, they have just 10 games remaining and must jump past three other clubs to get to the Twins.
Further, while Minnesota has lost five of its last six, it closes the season by playing seven of its 10 remaining games against Detroit, which has lost 33 of its last 44.
A very faint pulse.
Everything started fine Wednesday for the Mariners, who took a 1-0 lead with two outs in the third inning on Mitch Haniger’s 14th homer of the season.
Haniger turned on a 96-mph fastball from Texas starter Andrew Cashner on a 1-2 count and sent a drive into the seats above the line scoreboard down the left-field line.
Felix Hernandez had, at that point, retired the first nine Rangers in order, but that ended when he began the disastrous fourth inning by walking Delino DeShields.
The Mariners’ defense then betrayed Hernandez, who wasn’t nearly as sharp when pitching from the stretch with runners on base.
"I was different from the stretch than from the windup," he said. "So maybe (that was the problem)."
Shin-Soo Choo grounded a single to right and, when Haniger bobbled the pickup, DeShields went to third. Elvis Andrus then hit a slow chopper that third baseman Kyle Seager mishandled for another error.
Had Seager made a clean pickup, he appeared to have a play at the plate on DeShields, who instead scored the tying run.
A walk to Adrian Beltre loaded the bases with no outs before Nomar Mazara grounded an 0-2 changeup into center field for a two-run single and a 3-1 lead.
"I lost my command a little bit," Hernandez said. "I was missing, but I was missing down in the zone. Three walks and a couple of base hits."
Hernandez (5-5) struck out Joey Gallo but exited after he reloaded the bases by walking Robinson Chirinos. In came Andrew Albers, who surrendered a grand slam to Odor on a 1-2 slider.
"Middle, middle," Albers said. "Hung it. You know he’s going to swing. He’s an aggressive hitter. That’s got to be a better pitch.There’s just no excuse for that. That’s a pitch that just can’t happen in that situation."
The Rangers led 7-1.
Cashner (10-10) held the Mariners to three run in six innings before four relievers closed out Texas’ victory. Alex Claudio got the final six outs for his 10th save.
THREE TAKEAWAYS:
***What’s that Odor?: Less than a week earlier, Sept. 14, Albers gave up a three-run homer to Odor at Texas. That one didn’t hurt. The Mariners had a nine-run lead at the time and went on to a 10-4 victory.
The Mariners, in contrast, were trailing 3-1 when Albers replaced Hernandez on Wednesday with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. Odor took Albers out of the park again. A grand slam this time. And it hurt.
"First goal is to get ahead," Albers said, "and we were able to do that. We got up 0-2, and I bounced a breaking ball and then threw a really bad one. In that situation, you just can’t do that."
Fifteen of Odor’s 89 career homers have come against the Mariners. His only other career grand slam was Aug. 27, 2014 at Safeco Field. That one came against Erasmo Ramirez (in his first tour with the Mariners) in a 10-4 Texas victory.
Odor has six homers this season in 18 games against the Mariners.
***Robbed at the wall: The Rangers nearly had a second grand slam when Choo hit a drive to deep center field in the sixth inning against Casey Lawrence.
Guillermo Heredia had time to retreat to the wall, gather himself and make a leaping catch that snagged the ball above the yellow line. Choo settled for a sacrifice fly.
Heredia’s catch prevented the Mariners from giving up two grand slams in a game for the first time in more than a decade: Sept. 10, 2007 in a 9-3 loss to Oakland at Safeco Field.
Kurt Suzuki hit a one-out grand slam in the second inning against Horacio Ramirez, and Dan Johnson hit a two-out slam in the ninth inning against Ryan Rowland-Smith.
***Shae Hey: Reliever Shae Simmons struck out the side in the eighth inning in continuing a strong September after spending nearly the entire season on the disabled list because of a strained right elbow.
"Shae has a really good arm and good stuff," Servais said. "It’s nice to see him healthy. His fastball has a lot of life, and the last curveball he threw to DeShields was awesome."
Simmons has allowed only one hit in six scoreless innings over six appearances since being activated Sept. 1 from the 60-day disabled list. He gave up seven runs and 12 hits in 11 innings over 13 rehab appearances in the minors.
Bob Dutton: @TNT_Mariners
This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 11:33 PM with the headline "Three takeaways after Mariners’ skid hits five and puts postseason hopes on life support."