After losing 2 of 3 in Washington, and then 2 of 3 in Boston, you start to wonder, “What’s the point?” Yet, here we are, one win away from a 2-game sweep of the Rockies, thanks to a hard-fought 6-5 victory yesterday.
The Mariners had hits up and down the lineup, even Sam Gaviglio with a single that would come around to score. Ben Gamel had a couple hits and a couple runs scored, Danny Valencia had 3 hits and an RBI, Mike Zunino had a couple hits and a walk, Kyle Seager had a double and 2 RBI. And, once again, the Mariners left a bunch of runs out on the table, going 2 for 13 with RISP. I would anticipate a huge breakout any day now.
Gaviglio was more or less rolling, giving up 3 runs in 5 innings, with a very low pitch count, before coming back out for the 6th. He gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the inning before being pulled; both would come around to score. Nevertheless, the Mariners had already scored their 6 runs by this point, and the bullpen would prove masterful in locking down the victory.
Pazos went 1.1 innings, Zych went 0.2; Vincent, Scrabble, and Altavilla mixed and matched and each got an out in the 8th inning, and Edwin Diaz looked downright dominant in closing things out in the 9th.
After a promising start to the month, where the Mariners went 6-2, they’ve been in a nosedive, winning only 4 of their next 16 games. The Mariners have won 2 in a row here and time will tell if it’s just a blip in a much longer, more painful losing stretch, or if this is the beginning of the Great Turnaround.
On the plus side, James Paxton returns tomorrow. The rotation for the next five days looks like this: Miranda, Paxton, Gallardo, Bergman, and Gaviglio. That’s obviously far from ideal, but Miranda has made great strides this year, as has Paxton before he got hurt (and Paxton was starting much further ahead than Miranda to boot, so it’s really saying something to say that Paxton has made a lot of strides); and Bergman and Gaviglio have looked semi-competent at times this season. It’s encouraging to see Felix start to throw the ball pain-free (it’s less encouraging to see Iwakuma not-so-pain-free; and I’ll believe it when I see it for Smyly). I don’t want it to sound like I’m getting my hopes up here or anything. The REAL Great Turnaround for this season might not hit its stride until July or August, at which point it might be too late to mean anything as far as the playoffs are concerned. I’m just looking for baby steps right now. I’m looking for this team to not have to make daily roster moves between Seattle and Tacoma. Then, I’ll be happy if Scott Servais can simply settle on a back-end of the bullpen that’s based on merit, and not based on whose arm is the freshest. It’s got to be discouraging for someone like Jean Machi – who was solid for Seattle before he had to be sent back down, only to never get a repeat opportunity – or someone like Pagan, who had a wonderful 4-inning scoreless outing before going back to Tacoma.
Then, once we’re able to lock down the bullpen, wouldn’t it be nice to start getting guys back from injury without immediately seeing other guys have to go on the DL? The Mariners will never be at 100% full strength, but wouldn’t it be nice to see them at 90 or 95% full strength, for like a full month or more? I KNOW, look at the big dreamer over here; next thing I’ll be asking for is fresh air and clean drinking water!
This is why I don’t feel even remotely sorry for Angels fans for Mike Trout going on the DL for 6-8 weeks. Talk to me when you’ve had to start Chase De Jong FOUR TIMES.