BRENT STECKER

Mariners notebook: Scott Servais hopes James Pazos builds confidence after scoreless outing

Jul 26, 2017, 12:26 PM | Updated: 12:51 pm

James Pazos stranded two runners in scoring position in a scoreless 11th inning Tuesday. (AP)...

James Pazos stranded two runners in scoring position in a scoreless 11th inning Tuesday. (AP)

(AP)

Mariners manager Scott Servais is hoping James Pazos’ appearance in Tuesday night’s extra-innings win over the Red Sox will be the start of another run of effectiveness for the 26-year-old reliever after a rough stretch this month.

Pazos had a season ERA of 2.91 after a scoreless inning of work on July 3, but it ballooned up to 4.10 as he allowed six earned runs over his next six outings.

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Tuesday’s outing wasn’t an easy one for Pazos, as the southpaw needed 24 pitches to put away Boston in the 11th inning. He had to work around a walk and an error, getting a key second out in a long at-bat by Red Sox catcher Sandy Leon then following up with a strikeout to strand a pair of runners in scoring position.

Servais said it was encouraging to see Pazos work his way out of a jam.

“Hopefully it’s a confidence builder,” Servais said. “We were in a situation last night, kinda had to let him go. … Hopefully it is a step in the right direction.”

Servais indicated that he’d like to get Pazos a multi-inning appearance soon to work out some kinks, much like the Mariners did for closer Edwin Diaz earlier in the season when he was dealing with problems of his own.

“He just needs to work,” Servais said of Pazos. “I think that sometimes when you’re kinda spraying it around, if you can get an inning-plus or a two-inning outing, sometimes it calms you down. You see we did that with Eddie Diaz at times, and it does allow you to work on a few things.”

Segura heeds Servais’ request

Servais had made it a point of emphasis this week with leadoff man Jean Segura to watch more pitches, and Segura responded with three walks in over the last two games – his first bases-on-balls since June 27. That wasn’t the only thing Segura took to heart from his skipper, as his infield single up the middle that allowed Seattle to walk off on Boston on Tuesday night was also a request from Servais.

“Last night I said to him (in) about the ninth inning, ‘Can you just give me one good swing tonight?'” Servais recalled. “He said, ‘What do you want? I got two walks.’ I said, ‘I just want one good swing, like hit a ground ball up the middle.'”

That’s exactly what Segura did to give the M’s the win in the 13th inning. Impatience at the plate has factored into Segura going just 3 for his last 26, but two of those hits came over the last two days along with the three walks.

“You gotta still control the strike zone,” Servais said. “I don’t care how talented you are, you can’t swing at everything. He did a good job. He laid off some pitches last night that he’d been chasing.”

Notes

• David Phelps made his third appearance out of the bullpen for Seattle on Tuesday night, and he’s started his Mariners career with three scoreless innings. Servais said Phelps has “fit in nicely” since being acquired from the Marlins last week. “Certainly having another quality kind of a veteran guy down there has helped a ton. … Just having another veteran arm down there, a guy you can fire in those late-inning spots, it’s valuable. It’s really valuable.”

• Jarrod Dyson, out since hyperextending a toe on Saturday, is out of the lineup again Wednesday. Servais hopes to have him back in action for Friday’s series opener against the Mets following an day off for the M’s on Thursday.

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