By Ryan Divish / The Seattle Times
After the Brewers’ five-run fiesta in the seventh inning — powered by six consecutive singles, two off Marco Gonzales and four off reliever Matt Brash — the Seattle Mariners responded by going down in order against Milwaukee starter Eric Lauer.
Teoscar Hernandez hit a hard ground ball to third baseman Brian Anderson on a 2-1 cutter. Even though the ball had a 106-mph exit velocity, it was still an out.
A.J. Pollock tried to ambush a first-pitch cutter that Lauer left in the middle of the plate. The result was another hard ground ball Anderson (101-mph exit velocity) for the second out of the inning.
Jarred Kelenic also got a first-pitch cutter. But the ball was on the outside corner and he rolled over on the pitch and hit a ground ball to second base.
Lauer needed five pitches and about two minutes to post his shutdown inning.
It wasn’t the answer inning that Mariners manager Scott Servais was looking for from his offense, but it also shouldn’t have been surprising considering what transpired in the series.
After Julio Rodriguez’s two-run homer with two outs in the third inning, the Mariners didn’t have another hit until Tom Murphy pushed a ball through the right side on a check swing to start the eighth inning.
“The frustrating thing is just offensively we haven’t been able to get what I talked about before — a rhythm within your lineup and your offense,” Servais said. “Even in the innings you don’t score runs, you want to put pressure on them, make him throw 15, 18, even 20 pitches in those innings and we’re not able to do that.”
Is there a cause for it?
“I don’t know,” Servais admitted. “We’ve got a few guys that maybe aren’t on it right now offensively. But that’s been the frustrating thing. We think we’re about to get over the hump here and start putting something together and it slows down again.”
The Mariners must be nearing a tipping point with the lack of production within the lineup.
Following Wednesday’s 5-3 loss, the Mariners dropped to 8-11. They have scored 85 runs, which is an average of 4.47 runs per game. But that’s a little misleading. Of those 85 runs, 29 were scored in three games. In the other 16 games, they are averaging 3.5 runs per game.
Of the 19 games, they’ve scored three runs or fewer in nine of them.
As a team, they’ve posted a .228/.305.373 slash line with 18 homers, 62 walks and 171 strikeouts. They rank in the bottom third of MLB in every major statistical category. They’ve gotten better-than-expected production from Kelenic, but less-than-expected production from Hernandez and essentially no production from Kolten Wong and whoever is at designated hitter.
“Everybody wants to get that big hit when you get a rally going,” Servais said. “I thought Kelenic’s at-bat in the last inning was great (a bases-loaded single). Just keep the line moving. Keep it churning. Keep the pressure on. But it’s got to be consistently up and down the lineup. We haven’t been able to do that. It’s in there. That’s probably the frustrating thing. We know we’re capable of putting it together, but you’ve got to go do it. It’s the major leagues. It’s about production and doing it.”
Injury updates
— Sam Haggerty (concussion) is expected to return from the seven-day concussion list Saturday when he’s eligible to return. He has been active during pregame workouts, participating in most activities.
— Dylan Moore (oblique strain) played in five innings for High-A Everett in his first game of his rehab assignment. He went 1 for 2 with a walk and a stolen base.
— Andres Munoz (right deltoid strain) threw off the mound with 80% effort on Tuesday.
“It was still 98 mph,” Servais said.
The plan is for Munoz to make one or two rehab appearances before being reinstated from the injured list when he’s eligible on Sunday.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
