Gonzales drops 5th loss of month, Crawford injured, Rangers tag Mariners with double-digit runs again
The Seattle Mariners were already on their way to another frustrating finish.
Ace Marco Gonzales, who won five games between March and April without recording a loss, dropped his fifth loss in the month of May without recording a win, and exited after four-plus innings. Texas tagged the Mariners with double-digit runs again, this time in an 11-4 drubbing Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.
And, to make an already forgettable loss worse, up-and-coming shortstop J.P. Crawford, who is a big piece of Seattle’s future, and has been a bright spot in this step-back season, sharply turned his left ankle in a rundown in the eighth, when the Mariners were already trailing by seven runs.
“J.P. is playing great, and not just tonight,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Tonight might have been one of his best games since he’s been up (from Triple-A Tacoma), so very disappointing. Unfortunately he rolled the ankle, is what he did. He’s getting X-rays right now and we’ll know more in the morning. Hopefully it’s just an ankle sprain, and he’ll be back soon, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
After rookie second baseman Shed Long recorded his first major league RBI with a single in the eighth that scored Omar Narvaez, center fielder Mallex Smith promptly hit a grounder to first, and beat it out for a single. But, Long overshot second base, causing Crawford to start inching toward home to try to avoid a rundown.
Crawford switched directions to go back to third when Asdrubel Cabrera started chasing Long to second, but Cabrera swung back and beat Crawford back to the bag. Crawford turned his ankle trying to avoid the tag, fell to the ground in pain, and had to be helped off the field. He had two hits in the game, including an RBI single, and a walk, and is hitting .279 since his call-up from Tacoma earlier this month.
“Can’t say enough about the way he has been playing,” Servais said. “You can just see the confidence starting to come out of him. Made a couple of really nice plays at shortstop tonight. Swung the bat great. Just unfortunate. He’s trying to dodge, get out of the way of a tag there, trying to get back to the base on the base running error in that inning. (Stuff) happens. There’s no other way to explain it.”
Earlier on, Gonzales (5-5, 3.96 ERA), who made his second-shortest start of the season before being pulled, allowed a season-high eight runs (and season-high six earned). He left partway through a disastrous seven-run fifth inning, during which Texas sent 10 batters to the plate, without recording an out. This was his second loss to the Rangers in a week.
“We know that going in, we’re going to face a lot of teams a lot of times,” Gonzales said. “My next two starts are against (the Angles), it’s the same thing, so I’m not going to use that as an excuse.”
The trouble started for Gonzales in the opening frame, and he never quite regrouped, serving up eight hits, just one shy of his season-high allowed. Shin-Soo Choo and Hunter Pence each singled in the first, and after completing a double steal, both scored on catcher Narvaez’s errant throw to third base, which skipped past Kyle Seager.
Narvaez leads American League catchers with five errors this season. The Mariners (24-33) continue to add to their MLB-leading total, which is now at 60 in 57 games.
Gonzales pitched two scoreless frames in the second and third, but Texas continued to string together hits the next two innings. Six of the Rangers’ nine starters recorded at least one hit off of Gonzales. He said he thought his command was “spotty.”
“I thought I threw some of my best fastballs this year, a little inconsistent with my changeup,” he said.
Joey Gallo opened the fourth by ripping a liner to right — which Long nearly snagged — before Nomar Marzara cranked an 0-2 fastball over the center field wall to make it 4-0. Gonzales retired the next three in order, but the Rangers again jumped on him in the fifth.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa opened the inning with a double, Choo singled, and Gonzales hit Elvis Andrus with a pitch to load the bases. Pence finally broke the game open with a double to left center that scored two. Gonzales was pulled at that point, after throwing 80 pitches, but was tagged with two more runs when Cabrera singled off reliever Brandon Brennan, pushing across Andrus and Pence. The eight runs Gonzales allowed matched a career-high.
Brennan, who has been one of Seattle’s more consistent reliever, recorded two outs in the fifth before Ronald Guzman launched a three-run homer to right center to push Texas’ lead far out of reach at 11-0. In four of the nine games the Mariners have played against Texas this season, the Rangers have tallied double-digit runs.
Rangers opener Jesse Chavez struck out the side in a scoreless first inning before Adrian Sampson, a Skyline High School product, took over in the second. Sampson (3-3, 4.53) pitched into the seventh, allowing three runs (all earned) on eight hits, while striking out six and walking one on 97 pitches. He recorded his third consecutive win, and second in the past week against the Mariners.
Seattle out-hit Texas, 12-11, but scored its four runs after the Rangers had already built their 11-run cushion. Jay Bruce singled to lead off the fifth, J.P. Crawford doubled, and Mallex Smith — who finished 3-for-5 and made a pair of impressive catches in center — drove in both with a one-out double off the wall in left center. Crawford singled in another run in the sixth.
ON TAP
Mariners lefty Wade LeBlanc (2-2, 7.33) is scheduled to oppose Texas lefty Drew Smyly (1-3, 6.15) in Wednesday’s series finale. Game time is 12:40 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Root Sports Northwest and 710 ESPN radio.
This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 10:27 PM.
