Bats Can’t Back Erasmo Ramirez’s Best Outing Of The Year

The Seattle Mariners didn’t have a lot in the way of expectations for Erasmo Ramirez tonight. It’s not that the team was publicly saying “we think Erasmo is going to get shelled,” it’s that the team waited forever to name him the Tuesday starter before saying they didn’t want to take Tom Wilhelmsen out of a strong bullpen. Erasmo made this start to keep a reliever fresh.

But Erasmo Ramirez led the way in this game, throwing by far his most impressive start of 2014. For the first time since his season debut, he pitched seven innings. He struck out ten batters, tying a career high. He allowed two walks and five hits, good for only two runs.

Travis d’Armaud’s second inning RBI triple was the only extra-base knock allowed by the Mariners starter. Ramirez was simply fantastic, by his or anyone’s standards. This would have been a perfectly terrific Felix Hernandez start. The M’s got that on Erasmo Ramirez Day.

Jacob deGrom wasn’t quite as good as Ramirez, but he was good enough to totally shut down the M’s for seven innings. Dustin Ackley had an RBI double in the fifth which accounted for the only Seattle run and the only non-single Seattle hit. With a walk and a hit, Kyle Seager joined Ackley as the only other Mariner to reach base twice on the night.

Of course, Tom Wilhelmsen didn’t start today and won’t start tomorrow. Taijuan Walker, who looked crappy and broken in Tacoma last time around, will start for Seattle tomorrow. But the Bartender did throw two innings of relief, in which he allowed a mammoth home run to Lucas Duda. Aside from that, he induced a K while walking one. Wilhelmsen looks fixed, except when he’s allowing mammoth home runs.

Taijuan Walker vs. Bartolo Colon tomorrow at 12:40. A series win would be huge for the M’s, who can’t really afford to lose ground on days when they’re playing the Mets. Unfortunately Colon is still an excellent pitcher, so the offense will have work hard to avoid a repeat of tonight’s embarrassment. Mariners Baseball: Keep Your Fingers Crossed!