Mariners: 3 takeaways from disappointing series versus Orioles

We share our observations from the three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, where little went right for the Seattle Mariners.

Before delving into the Orioles series, let’s at least start on a positive note. With a record of 17-15 following Wednesday’s game, the season has so far been successful (and somewhat ahead of projections) for the Mariners.

With that said, Seattle has now lost three of the 10 series they’ve played this year, including two of the previous three. Further, you can make the claim this was the most demoralizing of the three losing series.

It started off on Monday, as a five-run blitz by the Orioles in the eighth clinched a 5-3 win. The Mariners at least managed to bounce back on Tuesday night, with four runs — also in the eighth — powering them to a 5-2 victory.

However, the series ended on a low note, as Orioles’ pitcher John Means barely missed a perfect game on the way to a 6-0 series clincher for the visitors. Let’s get to the takeaways from the three-game set:

3) Offensive issues highlighted against the Orioles

We’ve written previously about the Mariners’ hitting woes. However, if there was ever a series to highlight these issues, it was this one against the Orioles.

A lot of people will focus on Wednesday’s game understandably, thanks to Means’ no-hitter. The only reason it wasn’t a perfect game, was because Sam Haggerty reached base on a dropped ball following a strikeout in the third inning.

Certainly there is is a lot of frustration about such offensive ineptitude, accentuated by being no-hit. However, Means had something to do with the outcome, courtesy of a phenomenal performance.

It was clear early on that the 28-year-old was in a zone. Everything went right for him as he tied his career-best of 12 strikeouts, while throwing a career high of 113 pitches (including 79 for strikes).

At least Means is a quality pitcher though, despite the success Seattle had against him the first time they met this season. (Five hits, three earned runs and two walks in 5.0 innings.) He entered the game with a 3-0 record and outstanding 1.70 ERA in five appearances this year.

What was more concerning, was how the bats performed — or more to the point didn’t — against Baltimore’s other two starters in this series. First up, Seattle faced Dean Kremer on Monday, who entered the contest with a 0-2 record and 8.40 ERA in three appearances.

Further, Kremer had not lasted more than 4.1 innings in any game this season. This changed against the Mariners however, as he allowed just two hits and one earned run in 6.0 innings of action.

On Tuesday, the Mariners encountered similar struggles against Jorge Lopez, who came in with a 1-3 record and 7.48 ERA in five appearances. However, he allowed just three hits and only one earned run against Seattle.

Some will point towards this outing only lasting 4.2 innings. However, the start length was comparable to the other five games by Lopez, with the one earned run representing a season low for him.

One of the few offensive bright spots during the series was Kyle Lewis, who seems to be getting back into his grove. Prior to Wednesday afternoon, he had seen his batting average improve from .136 to .196 on the back of a six-game hitting streak.

The highlight of Lewis’ series was undoubtedly Tuesday night, when he hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. It was just the spark the Mariners needed, to give them an insurmountable 5-1 lead.

It was also a significant moment for the 25-year-old, as he tied the franchise mark as the fastest player to reach 20 home runs. (Alvin Davis, 88 games, 1984.) He is also one of just 54 players all-time to reach 20 career Major League home runs within their first 90 games.

Lewis’ heroics aside though, the offensive has to find more overall productivity if the Mariners are to continue winning with any kind of consistency. Following the Orioles series, the numbers do not look very good.

The ball club now find themselves on the verge of falling below the Mendosa line, with a Major League worst team batting average of .201. In addition, they rank 29th for OBP (.280) and 27th for slugging percentage (.359).

There is some positivity in that when Seattle does actually make contact they are quite productive, as evidenced by ranking 18th in the Majors for both home runs and RBI. The question is can they find a way to get more hits moving forward, as the current rates do not translate to long-term sustainability.

NEXT: CONTRASTING FORTUNES FOR TWO OUTSTANDING PERFORMERS