Nick Margevicius gives Mariners start they need, but bats cold in loss to Astros
Nick Margevicius did everything the Mariners needed him to in six innings Saturday at Minute Maid Park.
A night after Seattle scratched scheduled starter Yusei Kikuchi an hour before game time, and the Astros burned through four Mariners relievers, leaving the bullpen somewhat short-handed, Margevicius acted as a needed stabilizer.
Making only his second start for the Mariners this season, the young left-hander delivered six quality innings in perhaps his best start since last April as a rookie with the Padres, when he posted a 1.69 ERA across his first three big league starts as a 22-year-old.
But, it wasn’t enough.
Margevicius allowed just two runs through the six efficient frames, but the Mariners managed only three hits, losing their fourth consecutive game, 2-1, in Houston. Seattle dropped 7-15 despite holding the Astros to their lowest run total in the clubs’ past nine meetings.
“I can’t say enough about the job Marge did,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said during a postgame video call with reporters. “He was awesome. He threw the ball really, really well against a good lineup. ... To get six complete innings out of him tonight was a heck of an effort.
“I really like the way he’s throwing the ball. He’s got a ton of confidence and really a good demeanor about him. He keeps making pitches.”
Inning after inning Margevicius coolly and effectively worked through Houston’s formidable lineup. He faced the minimum in three of his six innings, and allowed nothing more than a single to Alex Bregman in three cycles through the top of the Astros’ order.
Though he was eventually tagged with the loss, Margevicius allowed only the two runs — one on a fielder’s choice, one on a Yuli Gurriel solo homer — on four hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out three on 94 pitches six days after throwing 61 in his first start of the season.
“I think just getting through six innings kind of helped me,” he said. “It’s kind of a stepping stone for me in building innings and building pitch count and volume, stuff like that, so to do it here against a pretty good lineup over there is definitely a bonus for me.”
Houston scratched across their first run in the second. Yordan Alvarez singled to open the inning, and Gurriel doubled behind him. Margevicius retired the next three batters to get out of the jam, but the Astros managed to make it 1-0 on a Jose Altuve grounder to short that scored Alvarez.
Their only other run came on the solo homer by Gurriel in the fourth that scraped just over the wall in center, beyond the outstretched glove of a leaping Kyle Lewis.
Margevicius recorded two outs in the sixth before reaching his planned pitch count of about 80-85, and got unlucky on a liner from Bregman that deflected off his shin. Servais made a mound visit following the base hit, but Margevicius stayed in the game.
“He came out, he said, ‘You alright?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ I told him I tried to kick it over to Evan (White) to let him make a play,” Margevicius said. “But, he said, ‘You alright? Do you want this guy?’ I said, ‘I want him.’ And he said, ‘Last hitter, go get him.’ And I said, ‘I got it. Don’t worry.’ And that was it.”
It took only three more pitches for Margevicius to get a grounder to short to retire Alvarez and finish the frame.
“You want to leave the ballgame on a positive note, knowing he did everything he could do to help us win the ballgame,” Servais said. “ ... It is a really good lineup that they throw out there, a very deep lineup. Again, I can’t say enough about that one and, unfortunately, I wish he would have got him some support because he earned a win tonight, we just didn’t get enough runs.”
Margevicius has proved more than capable in two starts after replacing injured Mariners starter Kendall Graveman, who is on the 10-day injured list with neck spasms, in the six-man rotation. He made three appearances out of the bullpen for Seattle early on this season, and allowed three runs in his five innings, but has posted an impressive 1.93 ERA since returning to his natural role as a starter.
“He’s just got a good way about him and his stuff plays,” Servais said. “There’s no doubt. ... He knows how to pitch. He’s a perfect addition in our rotation right now.”
The Mariners narrowed the gap Saturday with two outs in the eighth, when rookie first baseman White unloaded on a fastball for a 439-foot solo homer to center field, but it was one of only three hits.
“Obviously I just wanted to be in attack mode and make something happen,” White said. “Fortunately he put a pitch in a spot where I could do some damage.”
The homer was the second of White’s young career, and one of two extra-base hits he’s collected in the past two games — he had a double in Friday’s loss — to help him break out of a slow start at the plate.
“Really happy for him,” Servais said. “He put a heck of a swing on that ball and that’s a long ways in this ballpark. You don’t see many right-handed hitters go there.”
Seattle also got a pair of dazzling defense plays from shortstop J.P. Crawford for the final two outs of the eighth to keep the Astros’ lead at 2-1, but the Mariners were retired in order in the ninth to end the game.
This story was originally published August 15, 2020 at 6:44 PM.
