By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – For the first time since June 19th, the Seattle Mariners were shutout. San Diego starting pitcher Yu Darvish went eight phenomenal innings, blanking the Mariners and dealing them the series opening loss. Seattle had no answers for Darvish and Padres reliever Josh Hader, as the Mariners were held to only two hits on the day. Seattle, now in the third Wild card spot in the American league, will look to bounce back in game two (and the series finale) tomorrow.
Matt Brash picks up the ball as a Padres batter races to first (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Gilbert does his part, but it isn't enough
Mariners sophomore starting pitcher Logan Gilbert was solid for Seattle in this game, but the effort was not enough across from Padres pitcher Yu Darvish. Gilberts issue in this one was his pitch count, climbing to 107 pitches through five innings. Logan only allowed four hits on the night, but his pitch count shortened the starters night. Seattle didn’t do anywhere near enough in terms of run support to back their starter.
On the other side of the diamond, Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish was completely lights out for the visiting San Diego ball club. Darvish went eight innings, only throwing 94 pitches on the night. Darvish allowed only two hits, and really never seemed to get in a ton of trouble. Gilbert only allowed the one run, and normally that isn’t an issue, but Darvish out did him by shutting out Seattle.
Logan Gilberts five one-run innings were not enough for the Mariners (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Offense gets blanked
The Seattle offense has found some consistency, to an extent, in the last month or so. Since August 14th, the Mariners have scored less than three runs only three times, including tonight. While this is the case, the Seattle batters do not have the offensively flow that includes numerous base hits, typically relying on the long ball. While there were ten total strikeouts for the Mariners tonight, Seattle did get a bit unlucky in terms of what they were expected to get and what actually took place.
Seattle made hard contact on multiple balls in play against Yu Darvish, and had a high expected batted ball in play percentage. All that means is that considering how things went for the Mariners, they got a bit unlucky in terms of where the ball actually dropped in the game itself. Next year, with the shift banned, nights like this should change. The Mariners will have to deal with the shift for about another month, so until then they will have to just be better hitters.
Jake Cronenworth crosses home for the first run of the night for San Diego (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Quick notes
Julio Rodríguez is the 4th AL player age 21-or-younger to hit 25+ home runs in his first MLB season, joining Joe DiMaggio (1936), Ted Williams (1939) & Eddie Murray (1977).
The last time the Mariners were shutout, June 19th, the season seemed over as Seattle was ten games under .500. The Mariners are now in a much better spot, and should be able to flush this loss easier.
What’s next?
The series (only two games) ends tomorrow, with a 1:10PM PST first time against these Padres. Seattle ace Luis Castillo takes the mound for the Mariners, dueling against San Diego’s Mike Clevinger. The Mariners look to bounce back from being shutout, and will hopefully have outfielder Mitch Haniger back in the starting lineup.
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