Another Loss

The Seattle Mariners are having a hard time winning lately especially against the Texas Rangers, although they did win on Monday.  It is tough to keep on watching or listening to the game when the score gets lopsided early on. 

The Rangers scored two runs in the first inning off of Marco Gonzales though it really wasn't his fault.  The only part he played was allowing two runners on base. He had a zero and two count when the Rangers decided to pull off a double steal. Catcher Omar Navarez tried to gun down the lead runner at third base but the ball went off the glove of Kyle Seager so both runners scored. I almost knew it was going to be a long night.

The Rangers scored another two runs in the fourth inning so now the score was 4-0. The fifth inning was the real killer when the Rangers scored seven runs against the Mariners. Marco Gonzales left the game giving up eight runs. Brandon Brennan came in for Marco and surrendered a three-run homer making the score 11-0. The Marines scored their two runs in the bottom of the fifth.

I am not sure why the Mariners didn't take Marco Gonzales out before the fifth inning started. It may not have changed a thing when it came for them to win or lose but may have given them a better chance.  I have found that the fifth inning is often a bad inning for the starting pitcher if he survives the first four innings. In this case, Gonzales had already given up four runs. I guess we could say Servais was trying to save the bullpen one inning. Often when to take the starting pitcher out of a game is hard to decide.

The Mariners ended up scoring a single run in the sixth and eighth innings to make the final score 11-2. The sad news shortstop JP Crawford injured his ankle in a rundown between second and third base. No news how long he will be out but likely he will go on the injured list for ten days. More news will come forward sometime on Wednesday. The Mariners will probably call Dylan Moore up once again to take the role of utility player and we will see Tim Beckham back at playing shortstop most of the time until Crawford returns. 

The Mariners have moved Yusei Kikuchi back a day and they are starting Wade LeBlanc in the final game of the series against the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon. Hopefully, LeBlanc and the Mariners will be able to bounce back for a victory. Go M's.