With anger and disappointment emanating from him, Cal Raleigh searched for the right words as he tried to answer questions about all that had gone wrong for the Seattle Mariners over the last nine games.
He’d just caught 10 innings in the Sunday afternoon sunshine and his towering fly ball to deep center field that didn’t have quite enough carry was caught on the warning track for the final out in a disheartening 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays.
After listening to a throng of visiting fans celebrate their defeat at T-Mobile Park, he swapped his sweat-stained uniform for workout gear and headed to the weight room.
It was a workout for strength maintenance but also offered an outlet for his frustrations after what was a horrendous homestand for a team trying to maintain a lead in the AL West. Still breathing heavy and dripping with new sweat and also cognizant of the television camera recording his comments, he tried to offer some insight into how the Mariners had lost all three three-game series at home and looked so bad in the process.
“It’s never good when you lose a series, much less three in a row,” he said, stopping short and pausing for a moment. “You need to have a short-term memory and forget about it.”
But it was obvious this most recent defeat would linger. They didn’t lose the game, but essentially gave it away, with a series of failed and unproductive at-bats late, many of them strikeouts, against one of the worst bullpens in all of baseball. The Mariners went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left a small village of runners stranded on base — 15 to be exact.
“We just didn’t do anything,” Raleigh said. “There’s nothing really to say at this point. We didn’t come through. You’ve got to find a way. It falls on us, nobody else but the players. When we’re in the box, it’s on us. We have to make adjustments and we’ve got to find a way to get it done.”
Seattle came into the homestand with an impressive 27-12 record at home but lost six of the nine games to drop to 30-18. Since they swept the Rangers in a three-game series in Seattle on June 14-16, the Mariners have lost six straight three-game series.
“I think we pitched very well on this homestand,” manager Scott Servais said. “We were in all the games. We were right there. It was a matter of getting the big timely hit. We had opportunities to win a lot of these games late, but we just didn’t execute. We didn’t come through late in the game. If you don’t come through late, you aren’t going to win, I don’t care how good your pitching is. You’ve got to do something offensively and we haven’t done it consistently.”
The Mariners were 10 for 77 (.130) with three homers, 16 runs scored and 28 strikeouts with runners in scoring position over the homestand, which is atrocious production. Since being shut out in Cleveland on June 19, the Mariners are 21 for 127 (.165) with runners in scoring position with four homers, 35 runs scored and 43 strikeouts.
The Mariners got a usable start from George Kirby. He held the Blue Jays to just one run over the first six innings. His teammates gave him better than expected run support, scoring four runs off Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios via the home run.
Victor Robles, who was starting in place of Julio Rodriguez in center field, made his first homer as a member of the Mariners a memorable one. He smashed a solo homer into the upper deck in the third inning for a 1-0 lead.
In the fifth inning with the scored tied at 1, Mitch Garver took advantage of a misplaced changeup from his former Twins teammate, sending a fly ball into the Blue Jays’ bullpen for a three-run homer.
“I thought when Garv got the big homer it was going to be enough,” Servais said.
It wasn’t
Kirby started the seventh inning, but didn’t record an out. He allowed back-to-back singles to the first two batters he faced — Alejandro Kirk and Leo Jimenez.
With the top of the order looming and not wanting them to face Kirby for a fourth time in the game, the Mariners went to right-hander Ryne Stanek.
He made quick work of Kevin Kiermaier with a strikeout. But an 0-1 fastball to George Springer stayed up in the zone and out over the plate. Even at 98 mph, it was a pitch that Springer could handle. He hammered the mistake, sending a fly ball over the wall in deep right-center for a game-tying three-run homer. It was Springer’s 25th career homer against the Mariners and 15th at T-Mobile Park. The only opposing park where he’s hit more homers is Angel Stadium (17).
The Blue Jays looked like they might add more when two more runners reached, but Stanek managed to work out of the inning without allowing any further damage.
With the scored tied at 4, the Mariners had ample opportunity to take a lead. Berrios walked Robles and gave up a single to J.P. Crawford to start the bottom of the seventh. Toronto brought in right-hander Nate Pearson. He got Garver to pop out in foul territory, Raleigh to fly out to right field and Luke Raley to strike out to end the threat.
In the eighth, Seattle loaded the bases with two outs when Zach Pop hit Rodriguez, who was pinch hitting for Robles, with a pitch. But Crawford, who came into the game hitting over .600 with the bases loaded, grounded out to second off lefty Brendon Little.
In the ninth against Blue Jays closer Chad Green, Raleigh singled with one out and Raley hit a line drive to left-center that bounced over the wall for a double. Had it hit off the wall instead, there’s a good chance Raleigh scores the winning run on the play. Green struck out Ty France, intentionally walked Josh Rojas and got the slumping Jorge Polanco to pop out in foul territory to end the inning.
The Mariners looked like they might get through the top of the 10th without allowing the automatic runner to score when Collin Snider retired Justin Turner and Bo Bichette with fly outs to right. But Daulton Varsho singled with two outs to put Toronto up a run.
With pinch-runner Ryan Bliss at second to start the inning, Dylan Moore got one of the two hits with runners in scoring position in the game with a one-out single off the chest of Vlad Guerrero at third. Bliss and Moore moved up a base on a double steal, meaning the Mariners had two of their fastest runners as the tying run on third and the winning run on second. But lefty Genesis Cabrera got Crawford to pop out into foul territory for the second out. Garver worked a walk to bring Raleigh to the plate. But the big catcher, who has tormented the Blue Jays in the past, couldn’t deliver.
“Every situation is different based who they have on the mound,” Servais said. “We had pitches to hit or get in play and we weren’t able to execute. You’ve got to execute late in games. That’s something we’re typically pretty good at. It doesn’t always happen for us. But when you have that many chances, it’s frustrating. Everybody goes home tonight shaking their head. It’s a game that we should have won.”
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