Mariners Split With Rockies At Home

The Seattle Mariners went into Thursday night game with winning four games in a row including three against the Rockies. The Mariners with James Paxton on Wednesday made his return coming off the disabled list after about a month. Paxton was dominating for five and one third innings. The Mariners went on to win 5-0. I am not sure anyone was expecting Paxton to be that good coming back. He left with two runners on the bases a single and a walk. The bullpen took care of the rest.

On Thursday night Yovani Gallardo started the game however he only lasted three innings. He has been doing well when he is ahead of batters on the count while doing poorly when he gets behind. In this game however he had trouble even when he got ahead. He got in trouble in the second inning when he gave a two-run homer to Mark Reynolds. In total he gave up four runs in the second inning.    He gave up another home run without anyone on base in his final inning the third.

Gallardo was replaced by Casey Lawrence who went five innings. He gave a single run in the fifth inning however he only allowed three runs in the five innings. He did walk three batters however was dominating because he struck out nine batters as well. Tony Zych finished off the game pitching the ninth inning without giving up a hit. The Rockies bet the Mariners 6-3 however Lawrence especially gave the Mariners a chance to come back.

The Mariners are expected to send out Felix Hernandez on a rehab assignment next week. It is hard to know who he will replace in the rotation. I would think that Gallardo will have a better performance next time to keep his spot. If it is not Gallardo the likely pitcher Felix will replace is rookie Sam Gaviglio.

Christian Bergman who goes to the mound against the Tampa Bay Rays Friday night likely will stay in the rotation until at least Iwakuma returns which may be a week or ten days after Felix.

It is interesting now to say that James Paxton is the ace of the Mariners even when Felix returns. It has been quite a few years since anyone other than the King has been the ace. This will be true even if Felix gets back close to the form we are used to seeing. I expect that we all hope that he does a good job and the same goes for Iwakuma.

Drew Smyly who was injured during spring training is not expected back until around the All-Star break. He likely will make at least two starts in rehab assignment before making his Mariners debut. Outfielder Mitch Haniger is expected to take batting practice over the weekend. If all things work out he will go out on a rehab assignment. So he could be returning to the lineup in a couple weeks. At that point the Mariners will likely have a rotation outfield of Haniger, Dyson, Heredia and Gamel. This looks like a good rotation however on Thursday Nelson Cruz was hit by a pitch on his right hand. As of now no one knows how serious it is and how long he could be out. Also shortstop Jean Segura injured an ankle in the fourth inning. How long he will be out will be found out sometime on Friday too. If he has to go on the disabled list Taylor Motter who replaced him in the game will take over for him at shortstop. Tyler Smith who had a good spring training and has been playing shortstop primarily in Tacoma will probably be the one called up to be the backup. This will be tough if either Cruz or and Segura have to go on the disabled list. If Cruz is out for a few days and doesn’t have to go on the disabled list most likely Boog Powell who went in for him will take his spot unless they decide to bring up first baseman-designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach instead.

How things will go in June will depend on the return of Felix, Iwakuma and Haniger along with the status of both Cruz and Segura. In the meantime let’s hold our breath. Go M’s.