Notebook: Getting Leonys Martin, Ketel Marte back to pre-injury form key for Mariners’ offense

It’s been good to see the Mariners’ offense pick it up a little bit the last two days.

One encouraging sign in particular was Leonys Martin’s 3-for-5 night at the plate Saturday. Martin has struggled since coming off the disabled list on June 10, hitting just .212/.255/.346/.601 before Saturday. That’s not the production we were seeing from Martin before he injured his hamstring and not the numbers you want to see from your leadoff hitter, which is where manager Scott Servais would like to put him.

To that end, Servais had a conversation with Martin before Saturday’s game. The message: dial it back a little and know your role.

“We talked to him about his at-bats, controlling his at-bats, maybe taking a little off the gas with two strikes, just choking up, trying to making contact,” Servais said. “Players are smart. You sit down and show them the numbers: here’s what you hit when you hit it on the ground, here’s your batting average when you hit it in the air. Last night he hit three balls on the ground, in a good spot. Hopefully it continues. He’s a key part to our offense; he needs to get on base. Hit, walk, hit by pitch – whatever it is, just get on base.”

Marte is batting eighth today against Cardinals lefty Jamie Garcia. Ketel Marte is at the top of the order, and after a similarly slow start upon returning from his stint on the DL with a thumb injury, he’s upped his numbers to .274/.293/.329/.622. The Mariners would obviously like to see better in the on-base department, but Marte appears to be trending in the right direction.

Getting both Martin and Marte back to pre-injury form at the plate could go a long way to helping this offense.

M’s hope to give bullpen some rest

The Mariners’ bullpen has thrown 50.1 innings the past two weeks and 101.1 innings in the past month, both good for third-most in baseball. The team is going with the extra arm in the pen right now, and with the off day Monday, Seattle has an opportunity to get guys needed rest. According to Servais, Joaquin Benoit and Nick Vincent were not available Saturday and he is hoping to stay away from them in the series finale.

“We may stay away from them again today,” Servais said, “Just try to get them to regroup a little bit, recharge those batteries.”

Wilson on Zunino’s progress

Dan Wilson was my pregame guest, and among other topics I asked him about Mike Zunino.

“Mike’s doing great,” he said. “Everyone knows he started out like a house on fire, really swung the bat exceptionally well early this season, hit a little bit of a slower patch but now really seems to be getting it back and has made some adjustments and has done a nice job.”

Wilson said Zunino’s defense continues to be strong as does his ability to lead a staff.

“I think his standout quality is his leadership ability behind the plate,” Wilson said. “He calls a great game and really works with the pitching staff and is that born leader personality, and that’s the thing that I love about him the most.”

Note

• Taijuan Walker and Wade Miley threw bullpen sessions this morning. Miley looks ready for his start Wednesday and the preliminary report on Walker’s session was good. Servais said they were “leaning toward” starting him Thursday.