Late bullpen miscues cost Mariners, who head into off day after loss to Rangers
The Mariners are one-third of the way through this 60-game sprint, and will get a needed rest Thursday after opening the season with games on 20 consecutive days.
But, the rest will be more uneasy than it should have been.
For most of Wednesday’s finale against the Rangers at Globe Life Field, it appeared the Mariners were headed into their first off day with a victory, their second series win, and some momentum as this very young team continues to navigate this pandemic-shortened season.
Instead, they stumbled into the off day with a 7-4 loss in Arlington after an eighth-inning meltdown by their bullpen, and dropped to 7-13.
“Giving young guys opportunities in those spots is really, really valuable, and they will learn from it and we’ll benefit from it down the road,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said during his postgame video call with reporters.
“It’s just a little painful tonight when you don’t get the W after I thought we were in control of that ballgame.”
The Mariners entered the eighth with a two-run lead, and Erik Swanson picked up a quick strikeout, but everything unraveled from there.
Swanson allowed a single, a double and hit Todd Frazier with a pitch to quickly load the bases. Jeff Mathis then hit a bloop single to score one run. Shin-Soo Choo followed up with a sac fly to tie it at 4-4.
Swanson couldn’t get the third out, and hit another batter before he was pulled with the bases loaded for a second time.
“Going through those experience, sometimes you make good pitches, they get hits, and you’ve got to get back up there and continue to execute,” Servais said. “He lost a little bit at the end, you know the hit by pitch and the bloop single that Mathis got in there.
“Sometimes luck is not on your side. We needed to catch a break there, and just wasn’t able to get it done tonight.”
The inning went from bad to worse. Taylor Williams, who has been one of Seattle’s most reliable back end options, came in to try to sort out the mess, but a wild pitch promptly gave the Rangers the decisive one-run lead. Willie Calhoun tacked on two more with a single to left.
The Mariners went down in order in the ninth to close out perhaps their most defeating loss of the season so far, especially considering how productive the early innings were.
“Some nights we’re going to get it done, other nights we’re not going to be as fortunate, but we are going to learn every time out there,” Servais said.
There were several bright spots before the late collapse. Mariners starter Taijuan Walker regrouped from a short, troubling start his last outing to collect his second quality start of the season, and looked again like the pitcher who shut down the A’s for seven innings in Seattle’s home opener in July.
“It was just dominating right from the beginning,” Servais said. “ … He just kept pouring it on tonight, which is great to see. He’s a big presence out there.
“I kind of got on him early in the ballgame, ‘Let’s just get after it tonight and then let the chips fall where they may,’ and he really did. I was happy to see it. He threw the ball outstanding.”
Walker completed six innings while allowing one unearned run on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts on 97 pitches.
“I think just being aggressive and going right after them definitely helped me out,” he said.
He worked smoothly through the first three innings before running into a small jam in the fourth, when he allowed a single to Nick Solak followed by a double to Derek Dietrich with one out, but recorded a pair of swinging strikeouts to end the threat without damage.
“I feel like so far this year I’ve noticed if I’m in the zone then I’m going to get outs,” Walker said. “I feel like I had four pitches working today, and I was able to throw all four for strikes, and was able to get big swings and misses when I needed, and was able to get the two strikeouts there when I had second and third with one out. I thought that was really good.”
Walker’s only allowed run came in the sixth. He hit Dietrich with a pitch, and Dietrich then stole second. He scored when J.P. Crawford sent an errant throw to first base on a routine grounder to short. Dylan Moore couldn’t dig the throw out of the dirt, allowing the Rangers to scratch the run across.
Crawford atoned for the error a moment later, when he made a diving stop and a glove flip to second for the final out of the inning, preserving what was then a 4-1 lead.
Texas added another run in the seventh on a Calhoun single, but Walker remained in line for his second win until the Rangers pieced together the five-run eighth.
The Mariners took their early four-run lead in the second. Catcher Austin Nola continued to rake, knocking his second homer of the season to make it 1-0. He added a double later, finishing 2-for-4.
Shed Long Jr. walked following the solo shot and Daniel Vogelbach crushed his second homer of the season moments later, a two-run shot to right, to push the lead to 3-0.
Tim Lopes singled after that and eventually scored on a Kyle Lewis sac fly.
Though the lead eventually collapsed, and the game ended in a deflating loss, Walker, one of the few veterans on the team, noted the importance of pushing forward as the Mariners gear up for a three-game series in Houston beginning Friday.
“Honestly, I think we just keep going,” he said. “It was a tough loss. We’ve been playing really good baseball, we’ve been hitting, the pitching’s been pretty good.
“I just think we keep going. … Off day tomorrow is going to be huge for all of us. Just kind of reset and get after it again in Houston, and just keep going out there and attacking.
“We do have a lot of young guys, but I think we do have some good veterans on this team, and I think we’re doing a pretty good job of telling them to continue to keep your head up and continue pushing forward.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 9:28 PM.
