Eight Losses in a Row at Home

The Mariners continue having awful starting pitching early in the game again on Thursday night against the Oakland A’s. It certainly puts pressure on the hitting. The Mariners do have good hitting however it is hard to think that they can score enough runs when the pitchers give up three runs or more in the first inning.

Sam Gaviglio who has done a solid job since he was called up because of innings had a poor outing. He was only able to go four and two-thirds innings. He gave up three runs in the first inning before giving up four more runs in the fifth inning. He gave up a three run homer off the bat of Kris Davis in the fifth that sealed his demise. Davis has had a history of hitting a lot of home runs off of Mariner pitching. On the bright spot Yovani Gallardo came in and pitched the remaining of the game giving up one hit in four and a third inning. It wasn’t enough to get the Mariners back into the game. Gallardo has done an excellent job pitching out of the bullpen so far and has saved the rest of the relievers having to throw too many innings.

Right when things look good when the Mariners came home for a long home stand they decided to go on a slide primarily to do with the starting pitching.

Paul Blackburn who the Mariners had acquired last year when the also picked up Daniel Vogelbach for Mike Montgomery than was traded to the A’s for Danny Valencia pitched an excellent game for them. He went seven and two-third innings giving up one run on a homer to Mitch Haniger in the fifth inning. It was the second start of the season for Blackburn. We do know the Mariners offense struggle against pitchers they have never faced before in a regular season game but in this case he had a three run lead before the Mariners came to the plate.

On his Thursday radio show general Jerry Dipoto said that he was going to go out and get some starting pitching. I am sure that goes for the bullpen as well. The pitching he will go after will not be just for the remaining of this season but for 2018 and beyond. The Mariners may have to give up some youth whether they are hitters or pitchers. It would not surprise me if they trade off outfielder Tyler O’Neill who is hitting very well of late. The Mariners don’t want to trade off any of their outfielders on the major league roster unless it is Jarrod Dyson who will be a free agent at the end of the year or Boog Powell. Dipoto I am sure will not show his hand and make at least one move. In the meantime Mariners we need to see you win the remaining of the series against the Oakland A’s.