Nine consecutive Mariners batters struck out ... that’s how terrible their offense has turned
Want to know just how terrible this Seattle Mariners offense has turned? Just watch the sixth, seventh and eighth innings of Wednesday’s 5-4 loss to the San Diego Padres.
Nine Mariners batters walked to the plate, all nine struck out.
That set a record for most consecutive Mariners to strike out, breaking the previous streak of eight consecutive in 1986 against then-Red Sox hurler Roger Clemens.
There was no Roger Clemens in this one.
From once 24 games above .500, from once 11½ games ahead of the Oakland Athletics … to this. To three defensive errors, to nine consecutive strikeouts, to being swept in both two-game series the Mariners played against the team with the fewest wins in the National League.
Mariners manager Scott Servais, just outside of a clubhouse that was about as quiet as it had been all season, mentioned playing with pride a few times afterward in underscoring how poor this homestand went.
“I know guys are disappointed in how the season hasn’t gone the way we thought it was going to go,” Servais said. “But you still got to show up to work every day. You are a professional and you got an opportunity to play a kids’ game and you have to take advantage of it.
“It becomes – you have to look at where you’re at. It’s a pride situation and where you are at personally. You got to be prepared to play every day. Expect balls to be hit to you and make plays. Focus is the biggest thing. The second half of the season has been very poor … it’s focus. It’s being prepared and ready to come with an edge to your game every day and that is a personal pride matter.”
The Mariners’ (79-66) pride has certainly been shot. They went from a seeming lock for their first playoff trip since 2001, to now 9½ games back of the second wild card with 17 games to play.
The Rays, who shipped two key players (Alex Colome and Denard Span) to the Mariners back in May, are closer to the all-but-mathematically locked final wild card now than the Mariners.
The Padres turned to their bullpen for the sixth inning, and their relievers — Trey Wingenter, Robert Stock, Jose Castillo and Craig Stammen — struck out each of the nine batters they faced.
First in the sixth: Kyle Seager, Kristopher Negron and Gordon Beckham all struck out. Then Ben Gamel, Mike Zunino and Mitch Haniger in the seventh, followed by Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Ryon Healy in the eighth. All stepped to the plate, all walked back without putting the ball in play.
Seager was asked about the players’ pride level after this loss.
“I think everybody has pride here,” he said. “I don’t necessarily know if that is the issue for this team. But we understand what’s going on. It’s definitely a tough stretch, but there’s nothing we can do to change what’s happened.”
Mariners starter Wade LeBlanc, who allowed five runs but only two earned because of the three errors in five innings, reiterated that.
“It’s embarrassing when you fail,” LeBlanc said. “And embarrassing when you get your head pounded in and you walk back to the clubhouse after a loss. It’s not like anybody in here doesn’t care, contrary to what fans might think. We want to win and we want to win every game. But the other team does, too.
“At the same time, I know there’s nobody in here who has given up. It’s not for lack of effort … It’s been frustrating, but I’ll take these guys over anybody else any day of the week.”
Seager did end the team strikeout streak with an exclamation point – a crushed solo home run over the wall in straightaway center to lead off the ninth against Padres closer Kirby Yates.
Dee Gordon followed with a pinch-hit single, but he was left on base to end it.
Yet, before that the Mariners scored three runs in the fifth inning.
They’ve struggled to score three runs in a game, let alone one frame. The Mariners hadn’t scored three runs in a game in a week, and not three runs in an inning since Sept. 1.
Heck, the Mariners almost doubled their run total in the previous three games played against the Padres (five runs).
Guillermo Heredia’s single set up an RBI triple for Haniger down the left-field line for the Mariners’ first run.
After Cano plated Haniger with an RBI groundout, Cruz then picked up RBI No. 1,000 for his career – by sending a ball really, really far. Cruz sent Padres starter Joey Lucchesi’s offer into the upper deck in left field for his 35th home run of the season.
Cruz is now one of 11 active players with 1,000 RBI, joining Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre, Miguel Cabrera, Matt Holliday, Robinson Cano, Adrian Gonzalez, Victor Martinez, Edwin Encarnacion, Ryan Braun and Chase Utley.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congrats to <a href="https://twitter.com/ncboomstick23?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ncboomstick23</a> on RBI #1000 in his career. It comes on a Home Run for Nelson Cruz. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ROOTFANFAV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ROOTFANFAV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TrueToTheBlue?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TrueToTheBlue</a> <a href="https://t.co/OCNIX8sYX6">pic.twitter.com/OCNIX8sYX6</a></p>— ROOT SPORTS™ | NW (@ROOTSPORTS_NW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ROOTSPORTS_NW/status/1040044567720951808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So a 5-0 Padres lead was cut to 5-3.
James Pazos followed by stranding the bases loaded in the top of the sixth inning. So maybe there’d be some Mariners momentum. A three-run fifth, standing the bases loaded in the sixth …
Instead – nine consecutive Mariners struck out in the same game their defense committed three errors.
Seager’s throw in the top of the fifth short-hopped to first base and Healy was unable to pick it out of the dirt with two outs. The error was charged to Seager, the second on him, before Hunter Renfroe followed one batter later with a two-run home run.
So that Mariners’ ensuing three-run inning would have tied the game had Healy picked that throw.
“You look at how good we were going early in the season and for it to flip like it did and not be able to stop it and somebody just put their foot down and say, ‘No, no, no. We’re going to turn this back around.’ You start to see glimpses of it, but we needed to have a good homestand here and it didn’t happen.
“At this point of the season, where you’re at whether you’ve had a good season or a disappointing one, you are a professional and you have to take a lot of pride in going out and being ready to play.”
This story was originally published September 12, 2018 at 6:47 PM.