Three Things: Mariners inconsistent both on the mound and at the plate
Sep 6, 2016, 9:13 AM | Updated: 9:14 am
The Mariners come out of the holiday weekend with an impressive 14-6 win over the American League West-leading Rangers on Monday, but there’s more concern than optimism surrounding the team as it’s still five games out of a wild-card spot with the window rapidly closing.
Here’s three things to keep in mind this week about the Mariners:
1. Pitching matters. Monday’s win snapped a stretch in which the Mariners had lost 10 of 12 games. Those losses came at a very inopportune time as they were pushing the Orioles for the second wild-card spot when the skid hit, and the biggest problem during the swoon has been a rotation that just looks worn out. The starters have been hit hard by injuries in 2016, and the pitchers who have returned from said injuries look like they’re either not fully recovered or dealing with fatigue. James Paxton has pitched just five innings in each of his two starts since coming back from the disabled list, Felix Hernandez’s ERA jumped from 3.14 to 3.75 after his last two outings, and Taijuan Walker couldn’t even make it out of the first inning in Saturday’s 10-3 loss to the Angels. With three pitchers in the rotation struggling, including the ace, the Mariners have little to no chance of getting back in the playoff race unless that changes almost immediately.
2. All or nothing. The flip side of the Mariners’ pitching woes is that in the rare times they have gotten a quality start, the offense hasn’t always done its part. That was the case on Sunday when Hisashi Iwakuma threw seven innings of three-run ball and was saddled with his 11th loss of the season as the Mariners scored just two runs. Whatever was going through Iwakuma’s head on Monday must have been interesting as Seattle’s offense scored 14 runs, including seven off Rangers ace Cole Hamels in the first two innings. The Mariners have flexed their muscles at the plate fairly often this season and even recently, scoring seven or more runs in three of their last seven games. But they’ve been by and large inconsistent in recent weeks, as they’ve scored three runs or fewer eight times over their last 13 games.
3. A new look for September? With the postseason looking less and less likely, the Mariners may soon start giving more playing time to September call-ups who could be regular players in 2017. That’s already happening in the outfield with Ben Gamel and Guillermo Heredia, although their athleticism on defense is certainly helpful for the pitching staff and giving the duo playing time is hardly waving the white flag. The same could be said for the most intriguing candidate yet to be called up that still could join the team: Triple-A slugger Dan Vogelbach. He might not be much of a drop off (if at all) from Adam Lind, whom Vogelbach would likely take playing time away from as the lefty half of the platoon at first base.
