Rays sting Seattle pitchers, sink Mariners across three straight in Tampa Bay
One of baseball’s best pitching staffs has faltered.
Perhaps they ran into Tampa Bay – a true contender in the American League – but the Mariners now board a flight home losers of three straight.
The Rays knocked around Seattle for 20 runs across three wins – good for a series victory and three of four after the Mariners won Thursday’s opener. Seattle’s rotation stumbled, the club’s undoubted strength that still appears poised to carry them into the postseason.
But hopes for a divisional crown faded when Seattle lost Sunday and Houston won, pushing the Astros’ lead in the AL West to 2.5 games. Both Texas and Toronto won, too, pushing the Mariners into third in the wild card chase, just a half-game ahead of the Rangers.
“There’s a reason Tampa Bay has the record they have,” manager Scott Servais said of the 88-win Rays. “Their pitching shut us down.”
Seattle began Sunday’s finale immediately from behind. Bryce Miller allowed the first four Rays to reach, and Tampa Bay plated three runs in the first inning before Miller recorded an out.
Miller flashed an improved changeup that he said he trusts more than ever, an important pairing for his plus-fastball. It pushed him through five full frames, and he faced the minimum in the fourth and fifth innings. His final line – nine hits, five earned runs, one walk, and seven strikeouts.
“The hits that fell, I feel like, were good pitches,” Miller said. “I think (Josh) Lowe was 3-for-3 on me, and I don’t know if any three of them were strikes. It’s just one of those days.
“I felt like I made good pitches. It just didn’t go my way.”
It was a continuation of uncharacteristic starts by Luis Castillo and George Kirby, plus a flurry of relievers that threw Saturday’s bullpen game. And it marks a clear regression from where its rotation has resided on league leaderboards, essentially, for the entire season.
Seattle’s team ERA across the last week (5.52) ranks 21st in MLB. Mariner arms surrendered 37 runs in that span, fifth-most in MLB, and opposing hitters are batting .270.
After winning five consecutive series from Aug. 14 on, the Mariners dropped three straight sets (Mets, Reds, Rays) across a 10-game road trip. Just 19 regular-season games remain, and a homestand at T-Mobile Park begins on Monday night.
J.P. Crawford doesn’t sound worried.
“We all know what’s at stake here,” Seattle’s shortstop said. “There’s nothing we can do about these games now. They’re in the past. We’ve just got to learn from them, and try to win at our house. We’re going to focus on that.”
“Oh, we’ll be energized tomorrow,” Servais added. “Us, and about 40,000 of our dearest friends. … And we need it. We’re dragging a little bit. It happens this time of year. But we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
SHORT HOPS
– OF Teoscar Hernandez owns a 25-game on-base streak, the longest active streak in MLB.
– The Mariners’ blazing-hot August was headlined by a pair of monthly award-winners: Julio Rodriguez was named Player of the Month, and Andres Munoz was named Reliever of the Month for the American League.
The J-Rod Show peaked in August with video-game numbers – Julio led all American League hitters in batting average (.429), hits (45), doubles (10), RBI (30), stolen bases (11), on-base percentage (.474), slugging percentage (.724), OPS (1.198), total bases (76) and fWAR (2.4), per Mariners PR. He became the first Mariner to win AL Player of the Month since Nelson Cruz in April 2015.
Munoz, meanwhile, inherited August’s high-leverage innings in the absence of the traded Paul Sewald and thrived. The 24-year-old with a triple-digit fastball and whiff-inducing slider led the American League with nine saves, posting a 1.93 ERA without a home run allowed in 14 appearances. He’s just the second Mariner to win Reliever of the Month since the award began in 2017 (Edwin Diaz).
– There’s a new Rainiers all-time strikeouts leader. Darren McCaughan fanned five for Triple-A Tacoma on Friday, up to 404 career strikeouts over 82 appearances.
McCaughan, 27, becomes the “Rainiers” all-time strikeout leader, which began with the team’s Seattle affiliation in 1995. He ranks third in franchise history behind Ron Herbel (443) and Steve Luebber (431), also the only pair of Tacoma pitchers to face more batters than McCaughan in Triple-A Tacoma history (since 1960).
ON DECK
The Mariners return to T-Mobile Park for a six-game homestand against a pair of Los Angeles clubs. Seattle concludes their season series with the Angels (Sep. 11-13) and hosts the powerhouse-Dodgers for three games over the weekend (Sep. 15-17).
This story was originally published September 10, 2023 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Rays sting Seattle pitchers, sink Mariners across three straight in Tampa Bay."
