Matt Calkins: The Astros are coming — and the Mariners might not have the offense to stop them
As of now, it’s three and a half, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist – emphasis on rocket – to figure out what I mean. The Astros have crept to 3.5 games of the first-place Mariners in the American League West standings after a Sunday that featured Houston beating the Mets and Seattle falling 5-3 to the Twins. Minnesota might have made a series of flubs at T-Mobile Park, but it was the home team that fumbled the game away en route to its fourth straight series loss.
That’s right, the Mariners have dropped eight of their past 11 while their surging division rival has put them in a particularly tenuous position. The Astros are coming – and the M’s might not have the offense to stop them. We’ve known about Seattle’s hitting troubles for several months now, as the scoring spurts have been sparse. The Mariners (47-39) are eight games above .500 but have scored just six more runs than they’ve allowed – a common theme since manager Scott Servais came aboard nine years ago. They play one-run games more efficiently than everyone, winning them at an astonishing clip year after year. But it seems whenever Tinkerbell takes a holiday and those timely hits disappear, the Mariners do, too.
Serving as Exhibit A is Sunday, when the Mariners went 4 for 18 with runners in scoring position. Runners on second and third with one out in the first? Two straight strikeouts to keep the inning scoreless. Runners on first and second with one out in the second? A strikeout followed by a fly out for another bagel of an inning. Luke Raley began the fourth with a double, then watched three consecutive teammates get fanned. And even though Raley (3 for 5 with a run and an RBI) had one of the finest games of his career, it was the missed opportunities that kept the right fielder’s face from cracking a smile.
“I mean, the overall day looks good, but it felt like I gave away my first at-bat with runners on second and third – that can’t happen,” said Raley, whose first plate appearance resulted in a two-out strikeout. “We’re kind of grinding right now, so it’s one of those times where you keep showing up, keep working hard and pray that it turns around sooner or later.” Well, if we’re going to talk about prayers, it seemed at least a couple baseball gods were donning Mariners jerseys Sunday. In the first inning, Julio Rodriguez looked as if he was going to hit into a double play before Twins second baseman Austin Martin bobbled the ball for a Julio “hit.” Four innings later, Rodriguez grounded the ball to pitcher Joe Ryan, who also mishandled it, thus allowing Dylan Moore to score. One at-bat later, catcher Cal Raleigh hit a pop fly to center fielder that Byron Buxton lost in the sun, which led to a run on the next Mariners at-bat.
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