Mariners notes: Seattle shut out 4 times in homestand, still searching for consistency
The Mariners will depart for a six-game road trip this week still searching for answers on offense.
Sunday afternoon at a crowded T-Mobile Park, hours after losing consecutive games of a nine-inning doubleheader to the visiting Angels, the Mariners dropped yet another contest.
“I guess the best way to put it is, when it rains it pours,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said postgame Sunday. “We’re in a slump right now. We have not played good baseball.”
The Mariners (29-39) have now dipped to 10 games below .500, continuing to fall back in the standings after entering the spring projected as a postseason contender.
They were shut out for the second consecutive game Sunday, the fourth time during this disappointing 11-game homestand, and 10th time in 68 games so far this season.
They have not scored a run in the past 21 innings played, dropping four of their five games against their American League West rivals to conclude the weekend.
“Not being able to get anything going offensively, again, remains our issue and our problem that we have to solve,” Servais said. “We have an off day tomorrow. Hopefully that helps clear our head a little bit. We go out on the road trip and we’ve got to turn it around. It’s the players in this clubhouse, coaches, everybody involved that has to work to get it back on the right track again.”
The Mariners entered the weekend looking to regroup after losing a pair of series against the Red Sox and Twins to open the homestand.
The five-game series against the Angels — who arrived at T-Mobile Park having lost 18 of their past 20, including enduring a lengthy 14-game losing streak in recent weeks — seemed an opportunity to make up some ground.
The weekend opened on a promising enough note, when Seattle ended a two-game losing streak with its best offensive performance of the month in an 8-1 victory over the Angels in the second game of the series Friday.
Four Mariners tallied multi-hit games, and the club jumped out to an early lead, while ace Robbie Ray carried a no-hitter into the seventh in his second consecutive quality outing.
But, any momentum built faded during Saturday’s frustrating doubleheader and Sunday’s finale.
For Seattle, a familiar antagonist was at the center of each of the four losses to the Angels at the end of this concerning homestand, during which the Mariners finished 3-8.
Mike Trout became the third player to launch five home runs against the club in a single series — joining Boston’s Trevor Story (2022) and Toronto’s George Bell (1987) — during the five-game set.
Four of those home runs were game-winners.
The Mariners never rallied during a 4-1 loss Thursday after Trout blasted the decisive two-run home run in the third inning of the series opener.
Trout launched a go-ahead two-run home run again in the first game Saturday, breaking a tie in the 10th to put the Angels up 4-2, and homered again in the third inning of the second game as Los Angeles tallied the first of their two shutouts with a 3-0 win.
Then, Sunday afternoon, he ended a scoreless tie in the fourth with another two-run shot, and the Mariners never recovered in an eventual 4-0 loss.
Trout now has 52 career home runs against the Mariners — including 33 in Seattle — and became the first player in baseball history to hit four game-winning home runs in a series during the weekend trip.
But, the Mariners’ troubles this homestand extended further than the three-time AL MVP.
After regrouping from a dreary May with four consecutive series wins, Seattle entered this stretch at T-Mobile Park inching closer to .500, but both the Red Sox and Twins took two games of their three-game sets against the Mariners, each shutting the club out once.
The Angels then held the club scoreless in each of the final two games of the homestand, and limited the Mariners to only two runs during the final three of the series.
“You have to make adjustments in this league,” Servais said following the back-to-back losses during Saturday’s doubleheader. “If we don’t, this is going to continue to happen, and it’s unacceptable. We have a better team than this. We really do.
“We did have a bad day. We’ve had bad days here before, and you have to bounce back, but we have to start making some adjustments.”
Following another shutout loss Sunday, the Mariners will have look to make those needed adjustments on the road against a pair of division rivals.
Seattle enters the week as one of five teams in the majors averaging less than four runs per game with 3.9 per contest. The club’s 264 total runs through 68 games rank tied for 25th in baseball.
QUALITY STARTS
While Seattle’s offense struggled, the club’s starting rotation continued to turn in quality outings the past week.
Ray matched his season-high with 10 strikeouts during Friday’s win, delivering his second straight quality start, and had tossed 17 consecutive scoreless innings across three outings before allowing the one run in the eighth inning that night.
Logan Gilbert tossed his seventh consecutive quality start in six innings against the Angels during Sunday’s finale.
Marco Gonzales added his seventh quality start of the season, allowing one run through 6 2/3 during Wednesday’s loss to the Twins, while rookie George Kirby added his fourth of the season during Thursday’s loss to the Angels, allowing two runs in his six innings.
“I think our starting pitching here the last couple weeks has been awesome,” Servais said postgame Friday. “Really, really good. Consistent. Gives us a chance to win. But, it’s going to take more than just that to put us on a good roll.”
SHORT HOPS
▪ Seattle added four-time All-Star Justin Upton to the active roster Friday, and the 34-year-old outfielder made both his season and Mariners debuts that evening after signing with the club as a free agent on May 21 and playing 12 games with Triple-A Tacoma.
Upton exited Friday’s game in the fifth inning after he was hit in the helmet by a pitch, but was cleared to return ahead of Saturday’s doubleheader, and played in the final three games of the series against the Angels.
He recorded his first hit with Seattle during Sunday’s finale, sending a leadoff double down the left field line in the fifth against his former team.
Upton played in parts of five seasons for the Angels from 2017-21, and previously played for the Diamondbacks, Braves, Padres and Tigers. He has appeared in 1,832 games during his big league career from 2006-22.
▪ Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez continues to lead the AL in stolen bases with 18 after adding another to his tally Saturday afternoon. He is tied for the major league lead with Miami’s Jon Berti.
ON DECK
The Mariners have a scheduled off day Monday before beginning a six-game road trip to California on Tuesday. They play both the A’s and Angels in three-game sets.
This story was originally published June 20, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Mariners notes: Seattle shut out 4 times in homestand, still searching for consistency."
