Bartolo Colon Almost Perfect As M’s Drop Series To Mets

Maybe you’re a history buff. Are you a history buff? Do you love history? Do you love when history is made right before your eyes? Then maybe, just maybe, Robinson Cano‘s seventh inning single was exactly what you didn’t want to see. Maybe you’re okay with the Mariners being the victim of a perfect game, because that’s history being made. Sorry to be blunt, but if that’s you, I’m glad you didn’t get your wish.

Bartolo Colon, the agelessly spherical New York Mets pitcher, retired all three batters he faced in the first inning. And the second. And the third. And the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth. It wasn’t until Cano’s two out single in the seventh that Colon’s perfect game bid was officially thwarted. From that point on, the M’s made things interesting. But not interesting enough.

Having fallen behind 3-0, the Mariners almost stole this one in the late innings. Colon put Corey Hart and Dustin Ackley on board in the eighth before allowing an RBI double to Brad Miller. The double was inches away from being a homer, but it still put the M’s on the board. Colon was then pulled in favor of Jeurys Familia. Pinch hitter Willie Bloomquist lost his infield single on replay review, but still drove in the second Seattle run.

Jenrry Mejia closed out the ninth, but not before putting the potential winning run on base. Singles from Cano and Hart gave the M’s a real shot at winning this one in walk-off style, but unfortunately Mejia got it together and struck out Logan Morrison to end the game. From almost perfecto’d to almost winning, the Mariners at least made the tail end of this game exciting.

Taijuan Walker had another sketchy start for the Mariners, and it wouldn’t be too surprising to see him head back to AAA soon. Through five innings he allowed two runs on five hits and six walks. Six walks? Six walks. That’s utterly unacceptable, and casts a dark shadow over his five strikeouts. On the year, Walker’s barely thrown half his fastballs for strikes. That’s unthinkably terrible, and even a slight velocity spike today isn’t necessarily going to convince anyone that Walker isn’t broken. Remember, those shoulder concerns are still lingering. And there’s still nothing scarier than young pitchers with shoulder concerns.

So that’s that: the Mariners lose two of three to the Mets, who we’d like to think are a much worse team than Seattle. That sucks, of course, and puts the Mariners in a vulnerable spot. Toronto and New York are really closing in now, and the gap between Seattle and Anaheim/Oakland is still tremendous. The first place Baltimore Orioles are in town tomorrow, with Wei-Yin Chen and Hisashi Iwakuma facing off at 7:10. Mariners Baseball: Keep Your Fingers Crossed!