Mariners Progress Report: Battling Back
By Nick Lee
The Mariners continue to clean up at home, bouncing back from a rough road trip, but they have the scars to prove it.
The Mariners came back home and once again played well at Safeco Field. They won both series against the Los Angeles Angels and the Texas Rangers and finished 4-2. The Mariners dropped the first game of each series but battled back both series to win it two games to one each time. Both opening games were also losses in extra innings.
Seattle did a good job battling back despite more bad news with injuries this week. James Paxton is now on the shelf (again) and will miss at least two starts. Reliever Evan Marshall had a painful end to his outing on Thursday, tearing his right hamstring.
The Mariners have made strides to right the ship. They are two games below .500 and with a good road trip, they can come back home at .500.
Hitting: A-
The Mariners averaged six runs per game this week, the highest in a week’s span this season. Saturday and Sunday’s games ended with the Mariners exploding in the 7th inning of each game, scoring 10 total runs in the 7th inning both nights.
On Thursday, the Mariners broke out for 11 runs. Danny Valencia had easily his best night of the season so far, going 4 for 5 with a home run and three RBI. He hit .360 during the homestand.
Jean Segura just keeps on hitting. He has a seven game hitting streak and hit .481 this week with a homer and five RBI and a 1.178 OPS. He played a big role in evening the series against the Angels on Wednesday when he homered, drove in four runs and stole a base in the 8-7 win.
Nelson Cruz cooled off a bit but still hit .333 with five RBI. Robinson Cano also hit .333 with two home runs, bumping up his average a bit more. He still is well below is normal numbers.
The Seattle Mariners are fourth in team batting at home with a .283 average.
Pitching: A-
The team posted a 3.30 ERA this week, much better than last week. This was with now 60% of the original starting rotation on the disabled list in Paxton, Drew Smyly and Felix Hernandez. Chase De Jong made another spot start on Saturday and was everything the M’s needed. He went six innings, allowing just one run on four hits with zero walks.
Dillon Overton also had to make a spot start on Sunday in place of Paxton. He didn’t have the same success as De Jong but did just enough to keep the M’s in the ballgame. He pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned), four hits, walked one and struck out two. The story on the mound for Seattle on Sunday was Christian Bergman being called up and pressed into action. He did not disappoint. He went 3 2/3 innings after taking over for Overton, allowing just one run on one hit.
The bullpen is still towards the bottom of the league at 27th with a 5.43 ERA. It has been a revolving door for the pitching staff these past few weeks. The Mariners had to scramble several times to get replacements on the mound this week and for that, I give them a break. Especially in a winning week.
Defense: C+
The Mariners committed four errors this week, leading to two unearned runs. Segura had a throwing error Tuesday that cost the Mariners a run and perhaps a chance to win that first game. The Mariners went from -1 Defensive Runs Saved down to -3.
The defense was not all bad. Guillermo Heredia had an amazing catch at the wall, saving multiple runs and likely a home run. Also, Ben Gamel made a “heavy metal” diving catch with his hair flipping everywhere.
Next: How Long will Paxton be Sidelined?
Player of the Week: Danny Valencia, .360 avg, 2 HRs, 8 RBI, .960 OPS