Mariners Look to Split Series

 

The Seattle Mariners after beating the Texas Rangers in the opening game of the four game series in Safeco Field behind the pitching of Marco Gonzales have lost the last two games in a fashion that we have seen before but I believe more in the past then in the present.

 

The Mariners had the lead both on Tuesday and Wednesday night however the bullpen wasn't able to survive letting the Rangers off the hook. Both games the Mariners were leading 4-2 when Felix Hernandez and James Paxton left the games. The difference though when Hernandez left the game the bases were loaded with no outs while Paxton didn't come out to pitch the sixth inning. The reason that Paxton was lifted he threw over thirty pitches in the fifth inning without giving up a run. Altavilla gave an unearned run in the sixth inning but it was the seventh inning where everything went badly. The Mariners scored a single run in the sixth inning to lead 5-3 but  Ryan Cook and  Marc Rzepczynski each gave up two runs. Juan Nicasio came in to keep the lead at 7-5 for the Rangers. He pitched the remaining of the seventh along with the eighth. Chasen Bradford pitched the ninth to give the Mariners a chance.

 

 

Ben Gamel pinched hit for Guillermo Heredia and hit a double. Nelson Cruz who seems to get his hitting eye back hit a hard ball to score Gamel but wasn't able to be driven in himself for the Mariners losing in the end 7-6.

 

 

We know that the pitching isn't going to be there every game and so with the offense but we hope that they can work together on occasion. We hope Thursday night is one of those nights. The Houston Astros lost again to the Yankees on Wednesday night so the Mariners had another chance to tie or take the lead in the American League West.  We will know later on Thursday whether Dee Gordon will be activated as expected. I hope that the Mariners can find a lefty specialist out on the market in the same way they picked up Alex Colome and Denard Span who by the way got his first two hits as a Mariner Wednesday Night.

 

 

Chris Herrmann who made a start when called up had to go on the disabled list because of a oblique strain happening during batting practice so David Freitas was called up to be the backup catcher. We hope that Herrmann isn't out too long since he could be valuable as a left handed hitter who could play first base well as catch. Wade LeBlanc takes the mound once again for the Mariners. We hope that he will pitch like he has in his last five outings. He is getting his pitch count up so hopefully he can go six or seven innings. Both Colome and Diaz didn't pitch Wednesday night so they should be available. We hope that these last two games were just hiccups in the schedule. Go M's.