Mariners Lose Late

The Mariners lost in the opening game of the series on Friday night to the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3. The game was tied going into the 9^th inning 2-2. Marco Gonzales had pitched a good game leaving in the 7^th inning with one out. He had given up seven hits, the two runs, walked two and struck out nine. He was going after his 13^th win on the season.

The two runs Gonzales gave up were in the second and third innings. He was able to get the Rays to hit the ball on the ground but was not able to complete double plays in both instances.

The Mariners tied the score by getting a run in both the 3^rd and 4^th innings. All together the Mariners had nine hits but not able to muster any more runs.

The Mariners final run came in the bottom of the 9^th when Ryan Court hit a home run with one out. It was Court’s first major league home run. This all happened after the Rays scored three runs in the top of the 9^th.

Anthony Bass who right now is the Mariner’s closer walked three batters along with a hit. A fielding error by JP Crawford contributed to the Mariners scoring as well. Though Crawford has done a fine job fielding on the most part the Mariners defense still continues to be a trouble spot. The Rays ended up scoring three runs before the Mariners came to the plate. Always hard undertakings try to comeback to win. Two of the three runs were earned.

Anthony Bass had pitched well in his previous eight outings so like most closers it is going to happen this way on occasion. It is always hard when the team is struggling to win games and they haven’t had a lot of saved opportunities.

I hope Bass can bounce back to continue pitching well. The problem in recent months both Austin Adams who is still on the injured list and Brandon Brennan recently came off the list had been pitching well almost right up to the time where they were hurt  resulting  of having some poor performances. We hope Bass doesn’t have the same fate.

Saturday night the Mariners will have an opener going before Tommy Milone enters the game. Milone had done his best pitching coming in the second inning. Saturday is the big night to celebrate Edgar Martinez induction in Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. It will be a great night for all the fans being there. We hope to the Mariners will able to win the game for the fans and Edgar. The emotions will be running high for the home crowd and team. Go M’s.