Mariners swept by Giants again in unexpected trip to San Francisco
The Mariners opened this unplanned series in San Francisco looking to avoid repeating the events of their trip to Oracle Park last week.
But, this two-game series, which was relocated to the Bay Area due to the ongoing poor air quality in Seattle, ended up a lot like the last.
Despite being the “home” team this time, the Mariners were swept again, dropping Thursday afternoon’s series finale, 6-4, to the Giants to fall 2 1/2 games back of the Astros in the battle for the second playoff berth out of the American League West.
“Giants had our number this year,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said on a postgame video call. “Can’t really put my finger on it. They swung the bat very, very well against us and we struggled to close out innings against them.”
Seattle (22-28) entered the day hoping to slow down the Giants’ offense long enough to salvage a split, and for a while, it appeared the game might play out that way.
San Francisco grabbed the first lead when Darin Ruf slugged a solo home run to left off Mariners starter Nick Margevicius in the top of the second, but Seattle swiped it minutes later.
Kyle Seager was hit by the first pitch he saw from Tyler Anderson, drawing a few chirps from Seattle’s dugout. The Mariners refocused that energy into four runs in the inning.
Ty France followed up with a single, and Tim Lopes later singled in the tying run. Phillip Ervin pushed across another with a base hit. J.P. Crawford’s two-out double to left scored two more to give the Mariners a 4-1 lead they held until the seventh.
“We were able to get some big, two-out knocks there in the second inning,” Servais said. “We needed it. You’re hoping to create as much separation as possible early in the ballgame. It was nice to see. Obviously we needed a little bit more at the end.”
Margevicius, pitching against the Giants for the second time in eight days, was solid through his first five frames, allowing only the Ruf homer, but wasn’t as sharp as the Mariners have seen him in previous outings, and said he struggled to find consistency in his fastball command and his changeup.
“I walked the leadoff guy. That’s not really me,” he said. “And 0-2 to 3-2 a couple times, that’s not really me either. That’s kind of a good indication that my fastball command is not where it should be.”
Margevicius was pulled after allowing back-to-back singles to open the sixth at 76 pitches. Joey Gerber entered the game in relief and both inherited runs eventually scored on Evan Longoria’s single and a sac fly from Brandon Crawford as the Giants cut the lead to 4-3.
Margevicius didn’t record a decision in his sixth start for Seattle this season, allowing the three runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts in five-plus innings.
“I don’t think he was as sharp as we’ve seen him in the past, but did a nice job to keep us right there in the ballgame,” Servais said. “Thought he was solid only giving up the one run through the five innings.”
San Francisco finally took the lead back in the seventh. Kendall Graveman, who has been one of the Mariners’ more reliable relievers since returning from the injured list in a new bullpen role earlier this month, allowed a pair of runners to reach base and then a two-out triple to Wilmer Flores that drove in two runs. Flores later scored on an Alex Dickerson single after Anthony Misiewicz took over for Graveman, giving the Giants their final 6-4 lead.
Yohan Ramirez and Brady Lail did enough to hold San Francisco there in the eighth and ninth innings, but the Mariners never scored again after that productive second inning.
They weren’t without chances, despite managing just three hits the rest of the way.
Seattle put runners on base in six of the final seven innings, but couldn’t add on. Kyle Lewis drew a leadoff walk in the third which prompted comments from Anderson that eventually ended in an ejection, but the Giants’ bullpen got out of that inning without issue.
The Mariners drew two-out walks in the fourth and sixth, but San Francisco ended those threats quickly. Two more Seattle batters reached in the seventh, but were stranded. The Mariners had runners at second and third in the eighth, but again walked away empty-handed. Two more base runners in the ninth were stranded when Lewis and Seager both flew out to center to end the game.
Mariners batters struck out 12 times and the club left nine on base.
“A lot of really good at-bats in this ballgame, creating opportunities for us to add on to those four runs we had, just couldn’t push anything across which ultimately came back and got us,” Servais said.
The Mariners will now make another unexpected trip to San Diego this weekend for a three-game series with the air in Seattle not projected to clear enough by Friday night’s opener. The club found out not long before game time Thursday that they wouldn’t be heading back home after game’s end.
“It’s certainly got its challenges, there’s no question about it,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said on a postgame video call. “You think you’re coming over here to play a couple games. But, again, crazy season. All of the things that have been thrown at our team — and a lot of different teams, no question — it is very challenging, but these guys are pros, they understand what’s ahead of them.
“We did play very well when we were down in San Diego last time. Hopefully we’ll continue there. We swung the bats well down there, and hopefully we can pick that up here on the remainder of this trip.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 4:47 PM.
