J.P. Crawford’s single the Mariners’ only hit in shutout loss to Rockies
With a base hit back up the middle, J.P. Crawford ended Colorado’s bid for a combined no-hitter with two outs in the sixth inning.
But, the Mariners managed nothing else Saturday night at T-Mobile Park in yet another forgettable loss in this 10-game opening homestand. This time, they were shut out by the Rockies, 5-0.
Seattle managed just four base runners. Kyle Seager was the only batter for the Mariners to reach scoring position. He was hit by a pitch in the fifth, and Daniel Vogelbach walked behind him. Crawford reached on the single in the sixth. Kyle Lewis walked to lead off the seventh.
That was it.
“Approach-wise certainly a few of our young guys are struggling right now,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said during his postgame video call with reporters.
In his big league debut, Rockies starter Ryan Castellani completed four hitless innings, walking one and striking out three before reaching his pitch limit of 60.
“Sometimes when a rookie’s making his first major league appearance he will come out there a little jittery,” Servais said. “He did not. He went right after it. He attacked the strike zone, and was really aggressive with a good fastball, and was down for the most part, and had decent breaking ball.
“Not overwhelming. I think we should have been more competitive than we were tonight in the batter’s box, but you have to give their guy credit.”
Jeff Hoffman tossed the next three frames and allowed the only hit to Crawford. Yency Almonte and Phillip Diehl closed the game out with a scoreless frame each.
The Mariners (5-11) have won just two of nine games of their opening homestand, and are in position to be swept by Colorado in their final game Sunday before hitting the road.
“We’ve got to do a much better job — the team — pitching-wise and in the batter’s box of dominating the strike zone,” Servais said. “It’s been a struggle for us recently, and that’s why the results have been bad.
“That’s what it comes down to. The line of scrimmage is at the strike zone and we’ve got to start winning it.”
Mariners starter Nick Margevicius was a bright spot, though. The 24-year-old lefty pitched as well as could be expected in his first start for Seattle considering he had been coming out of the bullpen for the first two weeks of the season.
In his first big league start since last June, when he was with the Padres, Margevicius worked effectively through the Rockies’ lineup in 3 1/3 innings, allowing three hits while walking one and striking out three.
“Marge did a nice job for us,” Servais said. “He did what we need to get back to doing as far as attacking the strike zone. He was ahead in almost all counts. Getting the first-pitch strikes in there is really, really important.”
Margevicius was moved into a starting role earlier this week when Kendall Graveman (neck) was placed on the 10-day injured list, but having made just three appearances out of the bullpen early on, his pitch count was strictly limited.
The Mariners wanted to see him finish somewhere between 60-65 pitches, and he ended up at 61.
“I was going to try and go as deep as I could, but physically I felt fine,” Margevicius said. “I think I’m ready to keep increasing that volume.”
With Graveman likely to miss significant time, Margevicius will likely slot into his role as a regular in the rotation moving forward.
“I thought he did a really nice job with all of his pitches tonight, but I love the back-and-forth combo of the slow curveball, and then the riding fastball off that, and he can make pitches, and he’s certainly not afraid of attacking,” Servais said.
“So, I think he’s going to be a nice fit in our rotation going forward. He’s going to continue to get starts with Graveman being out, so a lot of confidence in him. I like what I’ve seen so far.”
Margevicius got some help for the first out of the inning when Lewis made a rangy play in center to rob Garrett Hampson of what would have been at least a double.
“That was a huge play,” Margevicius said. “Starting out with an out instead of a man on second going through the heart of the order is a big difference. He made a great play. He’s made some great plays just this homestand out there in center field, and it definitely gives me a lot of confidence knowing he’s out there.”
Margevicus later gave up a double to Charlie Blackmon — who leads the majors in hits with 25, and was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a walk and three RBI — in the first, but worked around it.
His only other two hits allowed came on singles in the fourth before he was pulled after reaching his pitch limit with one out. Rookie reliever Anthony Misiewicz retired the next two batters to solidify Margevicius’ scoreless outing.
But, Colorado broke through in the fifth. Ryan McMahon doubled off Misiewicz to open the inning and Garrett Hampson walked two batters later.
Rookie reliever Joey Gerber, who put together two scoreless outings earlier in the week, then replaced Misiewicz and allowed a single to Trevor Story to load the bases.
Blackmon promptly unloaded on a bases-clearing double to deep right center that sent Mallex Smith crashing into the wall.
“Charlie may hit .400 or .500 this year,” Servais said. “He’s a really tough out. He hangs in on lefties. He’s very aggressive when he gets his pitch in his zone. He’s a tough guy to put away with the number of foul balls, and he just keeps hanging in there just because he’s a quality hitter.”
Daniel Murphy eventually singled in Blackmon to make it 4-0.
The Rockies tacked one more run in the sixth when a Story single scored David Dahl.
Mariners rookie first baseman Evan White made an impressive sliding grab on a pop up in foul territory for the second out of the ninth, but it was one of few highlights for Seattle.
This story was originally published August 8, 2020 at 9:02 PM.
