Putrid offense, shaky bullpen doom Mariners in ‘inexcusable’ loss to Angels

Scott Servais walked into the small interview room and sat down. He didn’t have his Mariners cap or jersey on, just a long sleeve dri-fit shirt. His hair was standing up from clearly rubbing his head in bitter frustration. The normal lineup card that he carried that featured jotted notes for his postgame remarks was absent.

In the aftermath of a dismal 3-1 loss to the Angels on Monday night where his team was deservedly booed from what was left of the crowd of 22,528 fans after the final out — fittingly a strikeout — Servais felt disgusted by what he had just watched.

Then he had to watch his longtime first baseman pack up his stuff and say goodbyes as a roster casualty due to the team’s putrid offense and aggravating inconsistency. He was also informed that his starting shortstop had suffered a fractured pinkie finger and would be out indefinitely, and his starting center fielder has a mild ankle sprain and is day to day, but was also limping as he walked through the clubhouse.

The frustration and emotion.

“No other way to put it, that was a brutal, brutal ending to that ballgame,” Servais said. “Don’t want to lose sight of what Bryce Miller did. He pitched a heck of a game for us to give us a chance in the ballgame. It’s as good as he’s been at any point all year, so I tip my hat to him and the effort he gave us to keep them off the scoreboard.”

And that was the end of his positives.

“We have gifted them the game there at the end, walking some guys,” he said. “No way to sugarcoat it, we just handed them a ballgame tonight and the situation we are in, every game is really important. I’m disappointed.”

Perhaps against his true feelings, Servais has maintained a stoic support while being patient and protective of his players and their performances, to a fault. And while it raises ire with the fan base, he will rarely be openly critical or negative of his team and players. Instead of calling them out in the media, he addresses them in face-to-face meetings.

But every person has a tipping point. Servais’ came after watching relievers Ryne Stanek and Trent Thornton each walk a pair of batters in their appearances, turning a 1-0 lead into their fourth straight loss to a bad Angels team.

Why now?

“Because I’m tired of watching it,” he said with his voice cracking with anger. “I stand up for our guys, believe in them. Some nights it’s not Major League Baseball. We handed them the game.”

Servais called the team’s effort, performance and game result “inexcusable.”

“I thought yesterday’s game that we competed very well,” he said of their 6-4 win over Houston. “We got after it. It didn’t show up and it didn’t happen tonight.”

But even he would admit that his words and frustration can’t fix the problems. Does he need a player or players to start doing it, or at least addressing it?

“Well, it depends where we want to be 60 games from now,” he said. “Do you want to be playing playoff baseball or do you want to be driving home? Sixty games. We talk about it being a marathon. It’s getting close to being a sprint. It’s 60 games to go out and compete and be ready to take it every night. If you don’t, this league doesn’t care. It will just walk on by.”

Brought in to pitch the ninth inning of a 1-1 game, Thornton retired the first two batters without incident. But he issued back-to-back walks and then gave up a single to Jo Adell that scored a run. Victor Robles’ throw home got away from catcher Cal Raleigh allowing another run to score.

The Mariners got a brilliant effort from right-hander Bryce Miller in his first outing after the All-Star break.

Miller tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits with no walks, two hit batters and five strikeouts. It was his 10th quality start of the season. Miller hasn’t allowed a run in his last two starts and has worked his last 16 innings without allowing a run.

It was also the Mariners 10th quality start in their last 11 games.

But Miller didn’t factor into the decision.

The Mariners went to Stanek to pitch the eighth inning. Similar to his last two outings, he walked the first batter he faced. In fact, he walked the first two batters of the eighth to put the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on the first. He was able to come back and strike out Nolan Schanuel looking to get an out. Schanuel was ejected by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook for arguing the call. It was the second ejection of the game by Estabrook, who also tossed Angels hitting coach Johnny Washington in the second inning.

With Stanek having reached the three-batter minimum, manager Scott Servais went to Andres Muñoz to clean up the mess.

The Angels took advantage of Muñoz’s slow delivery to home, executing a double steal to move up to second and third. The extra 90 feet mattered as Taylor Ward hit a deep fly ball to left-center that allowed Adell to tag up and tie the game.

Angels starter, and one-time Mariner, Tyler Anderson pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

His one run allowed came in the first inning. On his second pitch of the game, Anderson hit Crawford with a changeup on the top of his right hand. In obvious pain, Crawford remained in the game and went to first base. He moved to second on Robles’ infield single and then scored on Raleigh’s line-drive single to center.

From there, Anderson retired the next 15 batters in a row, including eight strikeouts. His run of consecutive outs ended when Robles singled up the middle with one out in the sixth. Anderson then lost a 10-pitch battle with Raleigh, issuing his only walk of the game.

With right-hander Mitch Garver coming to the plate, Angels manager Ron Washington went to his bullpen. Right-hander Hans Crouse struck out Garver looking to end the inning.