6/7/23
Padres 10, Mariners 3
(San Diego, CA) Once again the Mariners went into a matchup against a red hot pitcher in San Diego’s Michael Wacha to wrap up a quick two-game set with the Padres on Wednesday afternoon. Seattle countered with George Kirby who was coming off of a sensational start in his last outing as well. One of those pitchers would continue to roll while the other had a bumpy outing and it would not go the Mariners way. Seattle once again gave up double digits as they were blown out by San Diego 10-3.
The game started innocently enough but the Mariners caught a tough break in the bottom of the 2nd. Gary Sanchez hit one off the end of the bat softly down the left field line, but neither J.P. Crawford or Jarred Kelenic could get there in time. Kelenic also whiffed try to pick up the ball which allowed Sanchez to reach second with his second double of the season. Jake Cronenworth then moved Sanchez to third with a sacrifice bunt for the first out. After George Kirby got ahead of Matt Carpenter 0-2, he missed with a fastball up in the zone and Carpenter lined it to right field to drive in the first run of the game giving the Padres a 1-0 lead.
One inning later things got much worse. After two quick outs, the Padres started to get to George Kirby. Back-to-back singles by Juan Soto and Manny Machado brought Gary Sanchez to the plate and he hit the ball a lot harder this time. Sanchez crushed a fastball at the top of the zone to left center for a three-run shot and his fourth home run of the season. The two-out rally opened up the lead for San Diego at 4-0. After a couple more singles, the Mariner started got out of the inning without any more damage being done.
San Diego got another two-out rally in the bottom of the 4th. Fernando Tatis Jr. singled and then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Cal Raleigh. Juan Soto then beat the new school shift with a base hit to left to score Tatis and make it 5-0 Padres. Another Machado single chased Kirby after just 3 2/3 innings with San Diego threatening to turn it into a blowout against Matt Brash out of the bullpen. Brash would keep the Mariners in it for the time being by getting Gary Sanchez to chase a slider to end the inning.
The waters only got choppier from there for the M’s. Alfonso Rivas got in on the fun with an RBI single for San Diego and with the bases loaded, Juan Soto continued his breakout day with a two-run single to make it 8-0. Soto also added an RBI double in the bottom of the 7th which made it 10-0. For the fifth time in the last eight games, Mariner pitching had allowed double digit runs and the offense was struggling to get anything going as well.
The last gasp for Seattle came in the top of the 8th. Three straight walks loaded the bases with nobody out. Jose Caballero was then hit by a pitch to score the returning Dylan Moore and get the M’s on the board. Julio Rodriguez kept the line moving with an RBI infield single to make it 10-2 with the bases loaded and still nobody out. Fans started having flashbacks to the Mariners comeback win in San Diego in 2016 when they erased a 12-2 deficit. However, they were brought back to reality when Ty France hit into a double play and while it did score a run, it killed all momentum. Josh Hader came in to pitch the 9th and despite a little noise from the M’s, preserved the Padres win by a final score of 10-3 forcing the teams to split the two-game series.
Seattle (30-31) will now head north on I-5 for a bit to end the road trip in Anaheim with three games against the Los Angeles Angels (33-30). The opening game of the three-game series will be a doozy of a pitching matchup on Friday at 6:38pm. It will be a battle of the aces as Luis Castillo (4-3, 2.55 ERA) will try to continue his solid stretch in his second start against the Angels this season. Castillo went 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball allowing just two hits and striking out six in a win over the Angels in Seattle back in April. It will be Shohei Ohtani day for the Angels as the megastar will start against the M’s for the second time in 2023 as well. Ohtani (5-2, 3.30 ERA) got roughed up by Houston his last time out but got the win in Seattle in his lone start against the Mariners this season.
Matt’s Takeaway
It might be time for the Mariners to rethink the bullpen set-up in these games that go sideways early. When Kirby left the game, it was 5-0. The bullpen giving up five more runs and letting it turn ugly is unacceptable. Chris Flexen should be the guy to eat up innings when the starter can’t go deep into the game. That is what he is there for. He should be the first or second guy out of the bullpen in games like this. I know he gave up a couple of runs yesterday, but he needs to be the one eating up innings. There is a day off tomorrow which lets the relievers have a rest day, but I need to see Chris Flexen eat up innings to save our young guys arms for close games later in the season.
Notable Performances
Mariners
- Julio Rodriguez- 1-4, RBI
- Jarred Kelenic- 2-4, 2B
- George Kirby (L, 5-5)- 3.2 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO
Padres
- Juan Soto- 5-5, 2B, 4 RBI, R
- Gary Sanchez- 2-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
- Michael Wacha (W, 6-2)- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO
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