State of the Mariners: What stands out at All-Star break

After such a promising start to the road trip, the Seattle Mariners are skidding into the All-Star break on the heels of maybe their most frustrating series of the season.

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The Mariners began their Southern California trip last week with a two-game sweep of the San Diego Padres and an 11-0 thrashing of the lowly Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night.

But things quickly turned after that.

On Friday night, the Mariners lost 6-5 on a walkoff two-run home run by Willie Calhoun in the 10th inning. On Saturday night, they fell 2-1. And on Sunday afternoon, they blew a late lead and lost 3-2 after Jo Adell hit a three-run homer in the eighth. Three games, three agonizing one-run losses to one of the worst teams in baseball.

Here’s a look at what stands out for the M’s heading into the All-Star break.

Seattle Mariners standings update

Remember back on June 19 when the Mariners held a massive 10-game lead atop the American League West? That sure seems like a long time ago now. Seattle (52-46) enters the break with just a one-game division lead over the Houston Astros (50-46) and a five-game advantage over the Texas Rangers (46-50). Buckle up, because the final two and a half months could be quite a race in the AL West.

Hitting woes continue

The Mariners had two big offensive outbursts this past week, racking up eight runs and 13 hits against the Padres on Tuesday and 11 runs and 15 hits against the Angels on Thursday. However, those performances came with some major caveats: Seattle scored nearly all of those runs against a Padres rookie starter who entered with a 7.52 ERA, an Angels rookie who was making his MLB debut and an Angels long reliever who was making his season debut.

In their other four games this past week, the Mariners mustered a total of just 10 runs. On Wednesday, they managed just two runs and four hits against the Padres. And over the final 25 innings of their weekend series against the Angels, the M’s totaled just four runs against a pitching staff that has the third-worst ERA in the majors. The series ended with a dismal showing on Sunday, when Angels long reliever Carson Fulmer struck out seven of the 17 Mariners he faced in his season debut. Seattle was no-hit through five innings and finished with 15 strikeouts. It was the eighth time this season that the Mariners have struck out 15-plus times.

Heading into the All-Star break, Seattle ranks 28th in runs per game (3.87), dead-last in batting average (.219), 25th in on-base percentage (.300), 28th in slugging percentage (.367) and 28th in OPS (.667). The Mariners also have far and away the highest strikeout rate in the league at 28.1%, which is two full percentage points higher than the next-closest team. Seattle has been held to three runs or fewer in 50 of its 98 games, including 14 times in its past 23 games.

Julio heating up

Julio Rodríguez is finally starting to look like Julio Rodríguez. After a perplexing first half of the season, the Mariners’ 23-year-old slugger seems to be rediscovering the superstar form that made him one of baseball’s brightest young talents over his first two MLB seasons. Since July 4, Rodríguez is batting 16 for 30 with three homers and three doubles. To put that in context: He has six extra-base hits in his past 30 at-bats. Prior to that, he had just 13 extra-base hits in 344 at-bats this season. If this is indeed a turning point for Rodríguez, that would be a major boost for Seattle’s struggling lineup.

Cal’s massive week

The other bright spot for the Mariners’ offense this past week was Cal Raleigh. The 27-year-old catcher blasted five homers over the first four games of the road trip, twice homering from both sides of the plate in the same game. During that four-game span, he went 8 for 17 with six extra-base hits. He also picked up his fifth stolen base, making him a perfect 5 for 5 on stolen-base attempts this season after swiping only one bag combined over his first three MLB seasons.

Raleigh has 20 home runs at the break, which ranks 13th in the majors and is three more than any other catcher in baseball. He also has throw out an MLB-leading 23 base-stealers, which is three more than the next-closest catcher. His five stolen bases are also tied for the MLB lead among catchers.

Gilbert caps first half in style

One week ago, Logan Gilbert was named to his first All-Star Game. The 27-year-old right-hander then backed up his selection with two more brilliant outings. Last Tuesday against the Padres, Gilbert took a shutout into the seventh inning and finished by allowing just three runs and four hits in 7 2/3 strong frames. He then tossed seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball against the Angels on Sunday, while racking up nine strikeouts and no walks en route to his MLB-leading 16th quality starts.

Gilbert has posted a 2.79 ERA and an MLB-best 0.87 WHIP in 132 1/3 innings this season, while totaling 124 strikeouts and 25 walks. He leads the majors in innings pitched, ranks fifth with a .191 opponent batting average and is 10th in ERA. He has allowed one earned run or fewer in 10 of his 20 starts and has thrown seven-plus scoreless innings four times, including three times in his past six outings.

Seattle Mariners’ one-run magic has flipped

Seattle had excelled in one-run games earlier this season, but it’s been the opposite over the past 10 days. The Mariners have lost five consecutive one-run games, dropping three straight one-run games to the Angels this past weekend and back-to-back one-run games to the Toronto Blue Jays the previous weekend. Seattle is now 19-14 in one-run contests this year.

Up next

After the All-Star break, the Mariners open the unofficial second half of the season on Friday with a massive three-game against the Astros at T-Mobile Park. It will be the third of four series between the AL West rivals this year and could go a long way to determining the division title. Seattle is 5-2 against the Astros this season.

More on the Seattle Mariners

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• How Mariners prospects did in MLB Futures Game
• The Mariners player who doesn’t want All-Star break to happen
• Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz added to AL All-Star team
• Seattle Mariners Trade Targets: Three bats from within AL West

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