Monday Mariners Reacquire Elias

We got the news on Monday morning that the Seattle Mariners reacquired Roenis Elias from the Boston Red Sox. The Mariners traded Elias with Carson Smith for Jonathan Aro and Wade Wiley in December 2015. Neither Aro nor Wiley are with the Mariners. In fact the Mariners traded Wiley to the Baltimore Orioles for Ariel Miranda. Now these two pitchers will be teammates with the Tacoma Rainiers and are both left handed.

Elias started the season in Pawtucket the triple A team for the Boston Red Sox. He has been working out of the bullpen however the Mariners are hoping to use him as a starter once again. This certainly gives them depth at the spot just in case they desire another lefty in the rotation. Right now they have James Paxton how has started outed struggling and not looking like the ace the Mariners are hoping for. I am sure he will find his way back to being at the top rotation guy.

Whether they go into the rotation or not Miranda and Elias both will be guys that could work out of the bullpen as long relievers or pitching for an inning or two if necessary. Miranda already made a start for the Mariners as the fifth starter than was sent back to Tacoma when Erasmo Ramirez was given the chance to start on Sunday.

Mike Leake pitched on Monday for the Mariners however he struggled right off the bat (no pun intended) giving the Chicago White Sox batting practice. By the time the first inning was over he had given up five runs. He ended up going four and a two-third innings. When he left the game the Sox had scored eight runs on twelve hits including two home runs. His control was over the plate so much that he didn’t even give up a walk and struck out only one batter. You could say it wasn’t his day.

Wade LeBlanc who is the primary long reliever was able to pitch the rest of the game which was good since the Mariners had to use the bullpen on Saturday and Sunday as well. LeBlanc gave up six hits and two runs so he actually allowed the Mariners to have some chance to get back into the game though the likelihood wasn’t good. It was amazing because the White Sox offense has struggled for the season but this time they let the Mariners pay for it.

The Mariners were blank 8-0 going into the fifth inning when Mike Zunino hit his first homer of the season to make the score 8-2. Mariners scored a run in the seventh inning and then Mitch Haniger who is hotter than blazes hit his eighth homer of the season to give the Mariners four runs in the 10-4 loss.

The Mariners go again this evening with Marco Gonzales who pitched well for four innings in his last outing before getting into little trouble. The Mariners are hoping that he can go at least five if not six innings in this game.

Felix Hernandez will take the mound on Wednesday in an afternoon game before the Mariners go off for Cleveland to play the Indians between Thursday thru Sunday. At this time  Felix is the Mariners most consistent starter though he hasn’t been able to pitch beyond the sixth inning. We hope that Wednesday’s game will be the one that help the Mariners win two out of three games.

It is important that the Mariners take care of the White Sox who have been struggling early on this season. The White Sox are 5-14 a half-game ahead of the Kansas City Royals in fourth place while the Cleveland Indians are first place in the American League Central at 12-8. So we say once again Go M’s.