Mariners: 4 takeaways from sweep by the San Diego Padres

3) Errors doom Mariners in middle game

On Saturday, the Mariners were competitive for the majority of the game. However, the chances of winning were undone by their play during the bottom of the fifth.

During a horrendous half inning for Seattle, San Diego collected four hits, two steals and a walk. However, key to the resulting blitz of five runs were three errors by the Mariners, which turned a 1-1 tie into a 6-1 lead for the Padres.

What was frustrating for the Mariners was that they had a chance to limit the damage and get out of the fifth trailing just 2-1. The key at-bat of the inning came after the decision to intentionally walk Tatis Jr. with two outs.

Even though this move loaded the bases, it was perfectly understandable given the opponent at the plate. Unfortunately for Servais and his ball club, what followed couldn’t have gone much worse.

Eric Homer hit a single on a 2-2 pitch from Justus Sheffield, to bring home two runners and increase the Padres’ lead to 4-1. However, there was more to come.

Jarred Kelenic’s poor throw towards Tom Murphy at home went through the catcher’s legs, thus allowing Tatis Jr. to score after sprinting all the way from first base. Then Murphy’s subsequent throw got away from Sheffield, giving Hosmer the opportunity to advance to third base.

Austin Nola then came up the plate and proceeded to hit a single to bring Hosmer home and increase the Padres’ lead again, to 6-1. Sheffield would complete the inning, but his night was effectively already over.

The southpaw pitcher finished his outing allowing seven hits and six runs, including five earned. His lack of command was evident with just 57 of his 91 pitches going for strikes, while also giving up a season-high five walks.

However, it’s a team game and there was plenty of blame to go around, with Murphy’s two errors proving crucial to the outcome. (His other error resulted in the Padres first run in the fifth inning.) Further, the three runs scored in the bases-loaded situation might have been avoided altogether if Kelenic had made a better throw to the catcher.

As far as Sheffield was concerned though, it was on him. Discussing his outing with the media, he said:

“Really it was just a battle pretty much the whole game. I didn’t have my best command, but I was going out there and competing with what I did have.

“I had a chance to get out of it right there at the end (of the fifth inning), and I just misplaced the two-seam to Hosmer and it kind of crushed the out and blew open the game right there … I really wanted to go out there and keep the game as close as possible, so giving up those runs right there in the fifth was, in my book, unacceptable.

“I’ve got to go out there and make the right pitch and I’ve got to be able to get out of that inning and keep it at a 2-1 game. I definitely take full responsibility in that situation.”

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