ANAHEIM, Calif. — Too early for the Seattle Mariners to hit the panic button as their new-and-(supposedly)-improved lineup continues to throw oil? Probably. It’s just five games.
Tiresome, maybe, but true. It is just five games. Even so, the Mariners might want to at least locate that panic button for future reference after Friday’s 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
The Mariners are 1-4 though five games, which is — check the standings — the worst record in baseball. They have scored nine runs in five games, and just five runs in their four losses.
“The track record will play,” third baseman Kyle Seager insisted. “When we look back on the season at the end of the year, the numbers are going to be there. Everything is going to be there.
“Everything is going to be right where it’s supposed to be. It’s not the stretch we want, but it’s five games.”
Perhaps, but the Mariners paid a price in 2014 and 2016 for slow starts late in the season when they were eliminated on the final weekend from postseason consideration.
More than a slow start, they got schooled Friday by Angels right-hander Jesse Chavez, whom they have long treated as a punching bag.
Chavez is in his 10th season, a legitimate accomplishment, largely because of his rubber arm and the ability to eat innings by filling any number of roles on a staff.
Two years ago, Chavez made 26 starts in 30 appearances for Oakland. Last year, he made 63 relief appearances for Toronto and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Angels have him slotted as the fifth guy in their rotation.
Before Friday, though, Chavez was 0-6 with a 5.84 ERA in 17 appearances against the Mariners, including seven starts. Further, he’d been battered by Robinson Cano (10-for-22) and Nelson Cruz (6-for-14 with three homers).
These stats weren’t ancient history, either. Chavez pitched for American League West-rival Oakland from 2012-15.
“I would say nothing was different,” Cano said. “He was the same guy. You have to give him credit. Even if you go out and make (someone) look better than they are, you still have to give him credit.”
Maybe it was just the law of averages catching up when Chavez held the Mariners to one hit for 5 2/3 suffocating innings before the smoke cleared from his mirrors.
Three straight hits by Mitch Haniger, Cano and Cruz trimmed the lead to 2-1 and put runners at first and third before the Angels could get lefty reliever Jose Alvarez into the game.
Alvarez struck out Seager on three pitches.
Mariners starter Yovani Gallardo then gave that run back immediately when Cameron Maybin opened the bottom of the inning with a homer.
When Andrelton Simmons followed with a single, the Mariners went to the bullpen for Casey Fien, who ended that inning without further problems. But Fien served up a two-run homer to Kole Calhoun in the seventh.
That made it 5-1, and that’s how it ended. The Mariners mustered little over the final three innings against Bud Norris, Andrew Bailey and Blake Parker.
Gallardo minimized damage in his five-plus innings. He gave up three runs and eight hits but kept the Angels hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position. He also should have escaped the third inning without a run.
It didn’t start well for Gallardo, who yielded a leadoff line single to Yunel Escobar before Calhoun painted the left-field line with a drive that hopped into the stands for a rulebook double.
Mike Trout delivered a sacrifice fly to center for a 1-0 lead, but Gallardo stopped the damage at that point by retiring the next two batters on grounders to third.
Gallardo breezed through a one-two-three second inning but found trouble again in the third when Martin Maldonado and Escobar opened the inning with singles.
Calhoun struck out but an intentional walk to Trout loaded the bases for Albert Pujols, who hit what should have been a double-play grounder to Seager at third.
Except Seager fumbled the glove-to-hand exchange. A run scored, everybody was safe, and the bases were still loaded with one out. Again, Gallardo limited the damage by retiring the next two batters.
“I don’t know,” Seager said. “I caught it clean. I went to grab it, and the next thing I know, it’s flipped over my head. That was the pitch (Gallardo) needed to make. He did his job. He got the ground ball with the bases loaded.”
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