Mariners fall behind big early, drop series opener to Giants
The Mariners departed Seattle on Wednesday in search of cleaner air. Their short two-game series against the Giants had been postponed a day earlier due to the smoke-filled haze that has blanketed the Pacific Northwest the past week, and it was relocated to the Bay Area.
They did find clearer skies Wednesday night down in San Francisco. They did not find a win.
The Mariners (22-27) remain winless in Oracle Park this season — they lost a pair of games in San Francisco last week — after dropping a disappointing 9-3 loss in the series opener against the Giants.
“A long day, a lot of travel, but we’ll get back at it tomorrow and try to figure these guys out,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said during a postgame video call.
There wasn’t much contest after Seattle’s pitchers spotted the Giants an eight-run lead in the first four innings.
Ljay Newsome made his second start in San Francisco in eight days, looking for more favorable results after exiting early last week when he was hit in his pitching wrist by a line drive.
But, the 23-year-old right-hander’s second go-around against the Giants didn’t last long. He allowed five runs on eight hits with one walk and one strikeout in his three complete innings on 63 pitches.
“He never really got into a good rhythm tonight like he typically does,” Servais said. “He’s usually a quick worker, ahead in the count, controlling counts, and just wasn’t able to do it tonight.”
Newsome allowed the leadoff batter to reach base in each of his three innings, and each time the runner scored. Mike Yastrzemski opened the first with a walk and later scored on a Donavan Solano single. Brandon Crawford led off the second with a double and scored on a Mauricio Dubon base hit. Alex Dickerson ripped a double to lead off the third and scored on Brandon Belt’s two-run homer. Evan Longoria added a solo homer later that inning to send Newsome to the dugout trailing 5-0.
“I just didn’t have it tonight,” Newsome said. “ ... I was more middle of the plate than being on the corners commanding it. I was just over the plate more.”
Making his first appearance since returning from the injured list, Mariners reliever Erik Swanson didn’t fare much better. He recorded only one out in the fourth before he was pulled, eventually getting tagged with three runs on four hits with a walk. Dubon doubled to open the frame and scored on a Yastrzemski double. Dickerson singled in a second run and the Giants loaded the bases to push Swanson out of the game, but he was charged with one more when a passed ball eventually scored Dickerson.
The Mariners limited the damage over the final five innings, but the 8-0 lead was more than enough for San Francisco.
“Wasn’t the ballgame we were looking for tonight,” Servais said. “We’ve struggled trying to work through the Giants’ lineup the three games we’ve played them this year. Those guys have been swinging the bat really well, and we just haven’t been able to slow them down at all.”
Seattle scored its only three runs in the fourth. Luis Torrens doubled to end the shutout before Phillip Ervin and J.P. Crawford both eventually walked with the bases loaded to cut the lead to 8-3.
Despite causing traffic the rest of the way, the Mariners couldn’t add on. Seattle stranded 11 runners in the game, and seven of them were left on base when the final batter of the inning struck out looking. Mariners batters struck out 17 times.
Mariners utility player Dylan Moore was hit in the head by a 99 mph sinker in the seventh which knocked his helmet off. Servais and trainers from both clubs hustled out to check on Moore, but he eventually took his base.
He was removed from the game following the inning as a precaution, Servais said, and replaced at second base by Dee Strange-Gordon, but he remained in the dugout. Servais said the Mariners would continue to monitor Moore overnight.
Casey Sadler, who has yet to allow a run since the Mariners claimed him off waivers from the Cubs earlier this month, was one of the few bright spots in the loss, stabilizing the game after San Francisco’s eight-run outburst and tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings. He retired all eight batters he faced and at one point struck out five straight in his third appearance for the club.
“Sadler did a really nice job kind of settling the game down there as we tried to work our tail off to get back in it,” Servais said.
Brandon Brennan, also returning from the IL, allowed the Giants’ final run in the seventh on a Crawford home run, but nothing else across his two innings of work. Walker Lockett pitched a scoreless ninth.
The Mariners remain two games back of the Astros (24-25) for the second playoff berth out of the American League West. Houston dropped a 1-0 contest to the Rangers earlier Wednesday evening.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 10:18 PM.
