Robinson Cano Sits Again As Mariners Lose To Tigers
Robinson Cano missed his first game as a Seattle Mariner on Thursday, as an illness kept him out of the lineup. On Friday he missed his second game as a Seattle Mariner, in part due to the illness and in part due to a “minor hand contusion,” in the words of his manager. So there you go – Cano hurt his hand, and now we are back to Nick Franklin, starting second baseman. The Cano-less Mariners are now an unencouraging 0-2. Here’s hoping he’ll be back really, really soon.
Last night’s 6-3 loss is not Cano’s fault, of course. He didn’t even play, so of course it’s not his fault. Hisashi Iwakuma struggled against the powerful Tigers lineup, giving up five runs over six innings. The first two runs came on a Miguel Cabrera homer, with a Victor Martinez blast accounting for the other three. Rajai Davis had a solo shot off of Charlie Furbush in the sixth to cap the Tigers scoring. The Tigers are gnarly.
Iwakuma struck out five and walked two to go with the two dingers, so it’s not like he was worthlessly bad or anything. This was just a case of great pitcher vs. great lineup, and you can’t expect the pitcher to prevail every time. The loss ballooned his ERA to… 3.09. He’s fine. Does he give up a lot of homers? Yeah, he does. But when you run strikeout and walk numbers like he does, it’s not the end of the world if a few of your fly balls leave the yeard.
Endy Chavez made his 2014 debut, taking the place of Brandon Maurer on the active roster for at least the next three or four days. Why is Endy here? Good question. There is absolutely no reason, is my guess. Chavez is terrible. He could never hit at any point in his career, and still can’t. He doesn’t take walks, and had a sub-.300 on-base percentage in AAA this season. His power? None. He used to be a fine defensive outfielder, but he also used to not be 36 years old. The M’s just signed Xavier Nady, who at least mashes left-handed pitching. Weird move. Hopefully it doesn’t last long. Endy’s line after one day is .250/.250/.250, which sounds about right.
Drew Smyly vs. Chris Young tonight, 7:10pm, Safeco Field. Young could really use a good outing to boost our confidence in him, as usual. Smyly is good. All the Tigers are good, except for Nick Castellanos. Hey Tigers, remember how your top prospect is struggling to keep his OPS over .600 as an everyday player? Haw-haw! Good thing stuff like this never happens to the Mariners.