SEATTLE — If Wade Miley was pitching Tuesday to hold onto his spot in the Seattle Mariners’ rotation, as seems likely, a final grade is tough to assess.
There was much to like from Miley through six innings before he stumbled in the seventh in a 6-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Safeco Field.
Miley’s final line showed three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. Pretty similar to what the Mariners got Monday from Wade LeBlanc: three runs and nine hits in seven innings.
The only real difference is the Mariners, on Monday, found late magic by scoring four runs in ninth inning for a comeback victory. There no comeback on Tuesday.
Chicago starter Jose Quintana (8-8) didn’t dazzle like Chris Sale did Monday, but he held the Mariners to one run in six innings.
The White Sox’s bullpen then did over three innings what closer David Robertson could do for one inning Monday behind Sale; it protected the lead.
Todd Frazier’s two-run homer in a three-run ninth against a still-struggling Joaquin Benoit served as the knockout punch.
The loss dropped the Mariners back to .500 at 47-47. Miley lost his fifth straight decision and fell to 6-7 with a 5.36 ERA.
Manager Scott Servais previously indicated the Mariners will shift temporarily to a four-man rotation because they have three open dates in a span of eight days after Wednesday’s series finale against the White Sox.
Miley, LeBlanc and Mike Montgomery appear to be battling for that fourth spot behind Hernandez, James Paxton and Hisashi Iwakuma.
That competition effectively narrows to who gets the final spot, period, in the rotation because right-hander Taijuan Walker appears poised to return from the disabled list by the time the rotation returns to five starters.
As for Tuesday, the Mariners had just squandered a pair of two-out chances to take the lead when Miley started the seventh inning by yielding a tie-breaking homer to Melky Cabrera on a full-count curve.
Cabrera pulled the ball 370 feet on a line over the left-field wall for a 2-1 lead. Miley then gave up a single and a one-out walk before the Mariners went to the bullpen for Tom Wilhelmsen.
J.B. Shuck lined an RBI single into center that made it 3-1, which is the margin that Quintana handed to the White Sox’s bullpen. Zach Duke, Neal Jones and Carson Fulmer closed out the victory with little drama.
The two clubs exchanged early homers.
Brett Lawrie jumped a curve-on-a-tee from Miley for a two-out blast in the second inning that gave Chicago a 1-0 lead. It was Lawrie’s 12th homer of the year but first since June 29.
The Mariners got even on Robinson Cano’s one-out drive in the fourth inning. Cano turned on a first-pitch curve on the inner half for his 22nd homer of the season.
Nelson Cruz followed Cano’s homer with a single and went to second on a walk to Dae-Ho Lee. But Quintana steadied and retired Kyle Seager on a fly to left and Chris Iannetta on a grounder to short.
Quintana also won his next round against Cano, which came with two on and two outs in the fifth inning. A three-pitch strikeout.
The Mariners had another chance in the sixth when they loaded the bases with two outs. Cruz led off with a single and, with two outs, Quintana walked Iannetta and hit Leonys Martin.
But Daniel Robertson flied to center on a 3-1 fastball down the middle.
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