Mariners swept in San Francisco, allow double-digit runs to Giants in finale
The Mariners rolled into San Francisco this week looking to continue their recent trend of quality outings by their starting pitchers.
Entering this two-game series against the Giants, they had strung together six consecutive wins on six consecutive quality starts.
But, that streak ended Tuesday, when Ljay Newsome made an early departure after being struck on his pitching wrist by a line drive in a game that eventually resulted in a loss for Seattle.
The trend didn’t get back on track Wednesday night either. Nick Margevicius lasted only 4 2/3 innings, allowing a season-high seven runs, and the bullpen didn’t fare much better, in another Mariners loss, this one a 10-1 rout by the Giants.
Seattle (19-24) was swept in San Francisco under the ominous orange sky, and remains 2 1/2 games back of the Astros, who also lost across the Bay in Oakland, for second place in the American League West.
“Rough ballgame,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said on a postgame video call. “We haven’t had one of these in a while. We’ve been playing very consistent and our starting pitching especially has kept us in the ballgame, but not the case tonight. It just got away from us a little bit. But, these games happen. Over the course of a season you’re going to have a few clunkers, and that’s what tonight was.”
Pitching for the first time since Aug. 28, due to the postponement of Seattle’s scheduled three-game series against the A’s last week, Margevicius looked like he hadn’t missed a beat through his first two innings.
He struck out the side in the first, and collected two more strikeouts in the second, retiring the first six batters he faced with ease.
“I thought he had really good stuff early on, certainly with the first couple innings,” Servais said. “Super, super sharp locating all of his pitches.”
But, the outing unraveled quickly in the third. Margevicius allowed back-to-back singles to open the frame, and Mike Yastrzemski ripped a misplaced fastball over the wall in right for a three-run homer, giving the Giants a lead that was never threatened. Evan Longoria tacked on another run for San Francisco in the third on a single off Margevicius.
He eventually finished having allowed a season-high seven runs on six hits with three walks and six strikeouts.
“It’s part of pitching, and it’s frustrating when you feel like you had your good stuff, but there’s going to be days where you don’t have your stuff and you’ll look like you threw a gem,” Margevicius said. “It’s just kind of how baseball balances itself out over the course of a season.
“But, obviously it’s pretty frustrating for me. I’m going to go back and look at the process and kind of see what I was really doing, like how well was I executing my pitches and things like that.”
Three of the runs Margevicius was charged with scored after he was lifted from the game. He worked two quick outs in the fifth, but couldn’t get the third, allowing a double, intentional walk and another walk to load the bases, and was pulled at 101 pitches.
Walker Lockett came on in relief looking for the final out to keep the Giants’ lead at a manageable four runs, but Longoria sent a single to left to drive in two more runs. Joey Bart then singled in another.
The sixth brought more trouble for Lockett, when an Alex Dickerson base hit scored a run, Wilmer Flores doubled to push another across, and Brandon Belt made it 10-0 on an infield grounder.
Aaron Fletcher and Jimmy Yacabonis pitched scoreless frames for the Mariners in the seventh and eighth, but the game was far out of reach by then.
The Mariners managed only five hits, and their only run came on a sac fly from Kyle Seager in the eighth, which scored Dylan Moore, who led off the inning with a double.
Seattle has an off day Thursday before heading to Arizona for a three-game series against the Diamondbacks to end this short road trip.
“Opportunity for our players to get it back on track,” Servais said. “We’ll regroup after the off day. I feel very confident about that. These guys come to play every day. They work their tail off. It’s always upbeat around here. We just had a bad game tonight. It happens.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 9:58 PM.
