CLEVELAND — With the Mariners scheduled to face two more right-handed pitchers against Cleveland and two more in this weekend’s three-game series at Anaheim, two left-handed hitters each have the opportunity to break out of early slumps.
Third baseman Kyle Seager had his first multi-hit game of the season in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss at Cleveland, while first baseman Adam Lind contributed a double to a paltry six-hit attack.
“Definitely better,” Seager said. “I was able to take better swings tonight. That was a positive.”
Baby steps. Seager entered at night with a .119 average; it’s now up to .152. Lind gained 10 points from .172 to .182.
“I thought (Lind) swung the bat better (last weekend in New York),” Servais said. “He’s still not quite controlling the strike zone as much as he would like. He does have a track record of doing it.”
Lind has a .331 on-base percentage throughout his 11-year career, including a .364 mark over the three previous seasons.
Servais said Seager is “kind of searching for something” at the plate.
“As crazy as it sounds,” Servais said, “it can be one at-bat. You take a couple of pitches, or you foul a pitch off, and you feel it. It gets you going. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a double off the wall or a home run.
“It can happen at any point, you get locked in. He’s going to stay in the middle of the lineup. I’m not worried about that one.”
Olerud honored
First baseman John Olerud, a Seattle native who spent 41⁄2 seasons with the Mariners, was picked by the Pacific-12 Conference as its “Player of the Century” for his accomplishments from 1987-89 at Washington State.
A 36-member panel selected Olerud along with Mark Prior of Southern California as its pitcher of the century and Southern Cal coach Rod Dedeaux as coach of the century.
Olerud batted .434 in his three years at Washington State while also going 26-4 with a 3.17 ERA as a pitcher. He spent 17 years in the big leagues for five clubs; he played for the Mariners from 2000-04.
Two other notable former Mariners were picked to the Pac-12 All-Century team for their achievements at Southern California: left-handed pitcher Randy Johnson (1983-85) and second baseman Bret Boone (1988-90).
Clutch failures
The Mariners entered Tuesday with a .214 average (18-for-84) with runners in scoring position. Sound bad? (It should.) It got worse. They were 0-for-10 in Tuesday’s loss, so that average is down to .191.
Prior to Tuesday, the Mariners were still head of four American League clubs and tied with Oakland. Baltimore led the majors, though Monday, with a .321 average with runners in scoring position. Texas was second among AL clubs at .308.
The four AL clubs worse than than Mariners prior to Tuesday: Kansas City (.213), New York (.210), Houston (.186) and Minnesota (.144).
Early WAR ratings
Second baseman Robinson Cano and right fielder Nelson Cruz are each off to fast starts, according to the WAR (wins above replacement) ratings compiled by www.Baseball-Reference.com.
Cano ranks seventh among American League batters through Monday at a plus 1.0 rating, while Cruz is 11th at 0.9. Boston third baseman Travis Shaw leads all AL players at plus 1.1.
Right-hander Felix Hernandez ranks third among AL pitchers at plus 0.7. The leader is Detroit’s Jordan Zimmerman at plus 0.9.
WAR seeks to compute the number of wins a player would add to his team above what a typical replacement player would provide. It defines a replacement player as a Triple-A player or a borderline major-league player.
Minor details
Right-hander Edwin Diaz delivered a third straight strong start Monday for Double-A Jackson in a 9-3 victory over visiting Birmingham (White Sox).
Diaz, 22, struck out eight while limiting the Barons to one run and two hits in five innings. He is 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA through three starts with 24 strikeouts and two walks in 16 innings.
Right fielder Tyler O’Neill and first baseman D.J. Peterson hit homers in Monday’s victory. O’Neill is batting .317 (13-for-41) with two homers and seven RBI; Peterson is batting .227 (10-for-44) with one homer and six RBI.
Diaz was No. 5 in the TNT Top 10 preseason ranking of the organization’s top prospects. O’Neill was No. 9, and Peterson was cited in the Watch List.
Looking back
It was 26 years ago Wednesday — April 20, 1990 — that Brian Holman came within one out of a perfect game against reigning World Series champion Oakland in front of sellout crowed of 44,911 at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Former Mariner Ken Phelps, playing in his final season, wrecked Holman’s gem with a two-out pinch homer in the ninth inning. Phelps hit Holman’s first pitch over the right-field wall.
Holman then struck out Rickey Henderson to complete a 6-1 victory.
Short hops
The Mariners are 4-0 when scoring at least four runs but were 1-7 when scoring three or fewer…by starting Tuesday, lefty Wade Miley has pitched in every big-league park except Target Field in Minneapolis. The Mariners don’t travel to Minnesota until Sept. 23-25…The Mariners have scored 47 runs and allowed 48 runs. They have been outscored 10-1 in third inning but hold a 46-38 advantage in all other innings.
On tap
The Mariners and Indians continue their three-game series at 3:05 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday at Progressive Field. Right-hander Taijuan Walker (0-0 with a 2.25 ERA) will face Cleveland right-hander Danny Salazar (2-0, 0.79).
The game can be seen on Root Sports Northwest and heard on 710 ESPN.
The series concludes at 9:10 a.m. Pacific time Thursday. The Mariners then head to Anaheim for a three-game weekend series that completes their three-city trip.
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