Mariners notes: Quiet all week, bats explode Sunday in Toronto to avoid road sweep
After striking out Sam Haggerty and stranding a pair of runners aboard, Toronto starter Kevin Gausman could exhale. Ahead 0-2, Gausman unleashed what was Seattle’s kryptonite all afternoon: a confounding, frustrating, and deceptive sinker that fell beneath bats all Saturday.
Gausman had completed seven scoreless innings and struck out 13 total Mariners in the process. He generated a whopping 28 whiffs, 20 of which came from the splitter he used nearly half of the time. No starting pitcher in baseball has induced more swings-and-misses on a single pitch all season.
Seattle, as a team, finished 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. The Mariners and Blue Jays took a scoreless tie into the tenth inning before Toronto’s Daulton Varsho walked-off the contest on a right-field single.
Gausman was spectacular, yes. But his heroics spotlighted a deeper issue – Seattle’s recent inability to hit and create runs. For the second time in three days, the Mariners were shut out. And for the fourth consecutive game, they had lost by a single run.
“(Gausman’s) split finger looks exactly like the fastball,” said manager Scott Servais. “You’ve got to get on him early. We had some chances there in the first and second inning, and weren’t able to cash in.”
The silent bats erased the efforts of Seattle spot-starter Easton McGee, who tossed seven scoreless innings in his first-ever big league start. He retired Toronto’s first dozen batters and took a no-hitter into the seventh, eventually broken up on a double by Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman.
But for each opportunity Seattle received, in came Gausman’s devastating splitter.
“You’re trying to lay off that ball,” Servais said, “but it’s really hard to pick up.”
Entering Sunday, Seattle’s team OPS of .580 across the last seven days ranked 28th in MLB. In a pair of road series in Philadelphia (April 25-27) and Toronto (April 28-30), the Mariners were 2-4 despite its pitchers boasting a 2.79 team earned run average in the last seven days (fourth in MLB).
“These one-run games are not going our way,” Servais said Friday. “We’ve been in a number of them, especially here lately… getting a big hit has been tough for us.
“We’re used to coming through in those spots, and it hasn’t happened… yet. It will.”
Perhaps Servais prompted the resurgence himself, at least for a day; Cal Raleigh mashed two home runs Sunday -- the second in extras -- and helped Seattle avoid a sweep in Toronto. Outfielder Taylor Trammell, activated hours before the contest from the injured list (right hamate fracture), added a first-inning grand slam in his season debut.
Down to his final strike in the ninth, shortstop J.P. Crawford dropped a run-scoring single into right field to tie the game. Seattle went on to win in 10 innings, 10-8.
Seattle broke its four-game losing skid and moved within 4.5 games of division-leading Texas (16-11). The Mariners erased a four-run deficit and clawed back using a double-digit scoring day, a promising reversal to a frustrating trend earlier this week.
“We just kept rolling,” Trammell told Root Sports. “We just said, ‘keep going. Chip away, chip away.’”
ROBBIE RAY OUT FOR SEASON
After nearly four weeks on the injured list, new images Tuesday revealed the worst – damage to Robbie Ray’s left flexor tendon that will require season-ending surgery.
Ray will not pitch again for the Mariners in 2023, a sudden and early end to the 31-year-old’s second season in Seattle.
“Robbie’s not going to pitch for us for quite a while,” Servais said Wednesday as he broke the news in Philadelphia. “He’s down. He loves being a part of what we’re doing here, and he’s a big part of what we’re doing.”
The southpaw’s season ends after just one appearance – his season debut March 31, a home start against Cleveland. Ray felt arm tightness by the second inning that night and soon left the game in the fourth; he issued five walks and failed to maintain pitch velocity and spin rates from a stellar spring training.
A day later, on April 1, Ray hit the 15-day injured list. He shut down all throwing for two weeks and treated areas of discomfort daily.
“I take care of my body. I take care of my arm,” he said April 1. “I’m in the training room almost every day, doing maintenance… there’s not much you can do to prevent it.”
Ray’s departure from the rotation leaves the number-two slot available. Recent substitute Chris Flexen has struggled in the role, though 25-year-old Easton McGee’s spot start Saturday (seven scoreless innings) was perhaps the team’s best audition yet.
More pitching options reside in Seattle’s farm system. Double-A Arkansas righties Emerson Hancock and Bryce Miller are both top-four prospects in the organization, the latter ranked 89th on MLB’s Top 100 Prospects list. Servais said the organization continues to work through “the best course of action,” the decision for Ray’s replacement likely influenced by “long-term” thinking.
Ray signed a five-year, $115 million contract with Seattle in Nov. 2021, on the heels of securing that season’s AL Cy Young Award with Toronto. He struck out a major league-leading 248 batters in 2021 across a league-best 193 ⅓ innings before striking a deal with the Mariners in free agency.
In 2022, Ray wasn’t again the league’s best pitcher, but provided 2.1 fWAR in his first season with the Mariners and struck out 212 batters across 32 starts (3.71 ERA).
“It’s really hard for Robbie,” Servais said. “He’s a really good competitor. We miss not only what he does every fifth day when he takes the ball, but (he’s) certainly a really good teammate, and… a guy we can really lean on.
“That squashed all of the lineup questions, didn’t it?”
SHORT HOPS
– Seattle revealed its Nike City Connect uniforms on Friday morning, an official reintroduction to the famous gold trident of the 1980s. Drawing inspiration from past uniforms of the Pilots and Steelheads, a royal blue jersey and cap complements black pants for a uniquely-Seattle color scheme that will debut on-field at T-Mobile Park on May 5.
The trident graces a royal blue cap, matching the jersey. Mount Rainier appears on the left sleeve, inside a circular, gold ‘PNW’ patch. ‘Seattle’ is spelled in font “evocative of the Seattle Pilots,” and ‘my oh my’ lettering stretches atop the lower shirt tag.
“It’s great. Since the first day I saw it… it’s really good,” said outfielder Teoscar Hernandez. “I can’t wait to be back (in Seattle) and wear it.”
– Star outfielder Julio Rodriguez exited Saturday’s contest in Toronto with lower back tightness, stemming from a headfirst slide into second base in the third inning. J-Rod was absent from Sunday’s lineup but aims for a return to action Tuesday, following an off-day Monday.
“I think he’s going to be fine,” Servais said.
– Seattle’s weekend series in Toronto marked Tesocar Hernandez’s return to Rogers Centre, the outfielder’s home ballpark from 2017-22. The Blue Jays sent the two-time Silver Slugger to Seattle in a trade for relievers Erik Swanson and Adam Macko last November.
Hernandez reunited with teammates like first baseman Vladimir Guererro Jr., one of the league’s best hitters. Toronto’s star told reporters he regularly tunes into Mariners games to watch Hernandez, and the pair stay in regular contact.
Hernandez’s first at-bat in Friday’s series opener began with a standing ovation from some 41,000 in attendance. Toronto starter Alek Manoah, his former teammate, stepped off the mound to allow for the moment. Hernandez soaked it in, looked to the crowd, and tipped his helmet before digging in the box.
Sunday brought another shining moment -- an opposite-field homer to right field, mashed 374 feet off Blue Jays reliever Trevor Richards in the sixth inning. Some Toronto fans gave Hernandez, now their opponent, another ovation.
“It’s good to be back, and see the boys,” Hernandez said Friday. “I spent so much time with that group. … I want them to do great.”
ON DECK
Seattle departs for Oakland to complete a three-city, nine-game road trip. The Mariners meet the Athletics for the first time this regular season, an opportunity to make up divisional ground against a club poised for a finish in the cellar.
The Mariners enjoy an off-day Monday and return to action in Oakland on Tuesday, the first of three with the A’s. First pitch is slated for a 6:40 p.m. at the Coliseum.
