SEATTLE — Viewed from the long-term perspective, which is what the Seattle Mariners are clinging to at this point, it’s possible to see the last few days as a hiccup in a generally upbeat run over the last six weeks.
Yes, closer Edwin Diaz blew a save Wednesday afternoon in a crushing 5-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Safeco Field. Yes, the Mariners just got swept in a a two-game series by baseball’s worst team.
And, yes, this makes four straight losses that, effectively, erases the momentum built from a six-game winning streak. All true. Also true: the Mariners are 18-12 since late May, and the season still isn’t yet half over.
Even so…
“Very disappointing,” first baseman Danny Valencia said. “I felt we were in control of that game the entire day. That one stings. Tough loss.”
Diaz (2-3) inherited a 4-3 lead to start the ninth inning after two perfect innings from James Pazos and Nick Vincent in relief of Felix Hernandez, who steadied after a three-run third inning.
The Phillies, at that point, didn’t have a hit since the third inning.
Diaz started the ninth by working the count full on Tommy Joseph before going with a fastball, a 98-mph fastball, and…well, let him tell it.
“I missed down and in,” Diaz said. “He was ready for that fastball. Everybody knows what happened. No, it wasn’t a good pitch. I was trying to go down and away. I missed that location completely.
“That was bad, that whole inning (was bad).”
Joseph tied the game with a 373-foot drive to left.
Diaz seemed to steady by striking out the next two hitters before issuing a walk to Cameron Perkins, a .111 hitter, after being ahead 1-2 in the count.
“We talk about grinding out at-bats,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said, “and that’s exactly what (Perkins) did.”
A balk by Diaz moved Perkins into scoring position. Diaz didn’t like the pitch call by catcher Mike Zunino but flinched rather than making a standard shake-off move.
It became a crucial mistake when Andrew Knapp lined another fastball into right for an RBI single. The Phillies led 5-4, which is how it ended after Hector Neris blew through the Mariners later in the inning.
“Eddie made some mistakes today in executing and pitch selection,” manager Scott Servais said. “Just not a good day. The balk certainly hurt as well. A disappointing two-game series here with Philadelphia.”
Servais stopped short of a full endorsement when questioned regarding Diaz’s status as the closer.
“We’ll see,” Servais said. “Eddie’s got electric stuff. But in that role, you’ve got to lock it down. He just didn’t get it done today.”
The prelude to Diaz’s collapse offered some encouraging signs.
Hernandez recovered from some early wobbles and finished with a quality start: three runs in six innings.
The Mariners erased a 3-1 deficit by pulling even on homers by Kyle Seager and Valencia in the fourth against Phillies starter Mark Leiter Jr., before Robinson Cano made it 4-3 with a leadoff homer in the fifth.
That’s how it stayed until the ninth.
“We had been playing better,” Servais said. “Certainly, we didn’t put enough separation between us and them today to give us much of a breather. But a one-run game, you’re leading in the ninth, Eddie Diaz out there…
“You feel pretty good about that.”
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