HIGH HEAT

Wrapping up the Mariners’ stellar month of June

Jul 1, 2014, 1:39 PM | Updated: Jul 15, 2014, 4:02 pm

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The Mariners finished June with 18 wins, tied for most of any MLB team during the month. (AP)

The page on the calendar makes the turn today as another month of the 2014 MLB season passes by. The Mariners will take the field for the first time in July as they look to keep the momentum from a special June churning.

Seattle’s 18 wins in June were tied for the most during that month along with the Reds, Dodgers and Brewers. Entering Tuesday’s game, the Mariners have won eight of their past 10 and are currently nestled cozily in the second wild-card spot.

Sublime pitching has been the fundamental reason for the Mariners’ sensational June as their staff posted a 2.53 ERA for the month. It is their best ERA for any single month in team history.

• June 2014: 2.53
• July 1991: 2.80
• May 2011: 2.82
• July 2012: 2.82

Bill Swift (1.15 ERA), Bill Krueger (1.19), Mike Schooler (2.00), Rob Murphy (2.08), Brian Holman (2.16), Russ Swan (2.70) and Randy Johnson (2.97) paced the Mariners in July of 1991 and the mark held for nearly a quarter of a century.

It took a mammoth effort from the entire staff to take down the long-standing low. Seven different pitchers finished June with an ERA under 2.00.

• Joe Beimel, 0.00
• Yoervis Medina, 0.00
• Brandon Maurer, 0.00
• Charlie Furbush, 1.04
• Felix Hernandez, 1.22
• Fernando Rodney, 1.54
• Tom Wilhelmsen, 1.96

Seattle’s bullpen as a unit combined for a ridiculous 1.64 ERA. Not surprisingly, it is also the lowest ERA for a Mariners bullpen for a single month in club history. It is also the 12th-lowest number an MLB bullpen has boasted since 2000. They fanned 75 hitters while only walking 19 in 76 2/3 innings pitched. They only yielded 47 hits.

However, Seattle’s success in June is not isolated to pitching alone. The Mariners finished 10th in MLB by scoring 117 runs. They finished eighth in batting average (.262), eighth in slugging percentage (.412), ninth in OPS (.721) and fourth in home runs (29).

Kyle Seager slashed .309/.350/.536 for the month with four homers and a league-high 22 RBIs. Robinson Cano hit .307 while launching four homers and driving in 17 runs. Brad Miller surged to an impressive .298/.355/.512 line while bashing a team-high five home runs. James Jones hit .292 and finished third in stolen bases with 12 behind only Billy Hamilton (14) and Jose Altuve (17). Endy Chavez hit .277 with seven extra-base hits and Logan Morrison hit .262 with four homers.

A fantastic June has come to an end. Will July be similar?

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