Mariners: 3 takeaways from another disappointing series against Detroit

While the Mariners improved on their previous three-game set versus the Detroit Tigers, it didn’t mean much as they still lost the series.

If you’re an optimistic and positive person, this series was an improvement on the previous one against the Tigers. On that occasion, the Mariners were swept by their most recent opponent – at home no less.

In reality though, it is tough to justify losing both series this season to one of the poorer ball clubs in the American League. Even allowing for Seattle still being in the final stages of their full rebuild, one win out of a possible six overall versus Detroit just seems unacceptable.

In the opening game on Tuesday night, the Mariners had genuine opportunities to begin the series with a victory. They had a bases-loaded, no outs situation in the eighth inning, but had to settle for two runs.

This was followed in the ninth inning by bringing the tying run to the plate — again with no outs — but failing to score even once. Ultimately, Seattle lost 5-3.

The situation improved dramatically the following night, after an early 3-0 deficit through five innings. However, the Mariners rallied to force extra innings and subsequently won 9-6 thanks to a five-run blitz in the 11th.

With a chance to take the rubber game on Thursday afternoon, Seattle surprisingly fell flat with their weakest performance of the series. It’s possible they were exhausted after their comeback heroics the previous evening; regardless, they lost 8-3.

Next up for the Mariners are three games in Cleveland, to end their 11-day, 10-game road trip. Before then though, here are three takeaways, together with other notes and stats from the series in Detroit:

3) Gonzales’ poor first inning proves costly

Marco Gonzales was surprisingly effective in his previous start, which was his first since returning from a month-long absence with a left forearm strain. In this respect, his second outing had more positives than negatives.

Unfortunately for the Mariners though, Gonzales’ first inning was a bad one as he allowed three hits and – more crucially — three earned runs. This would ultimately prove the difference in the 5-3 loss on Tuesday evening at Comerica Park.

The 29-year-old struggled to get going early on, resulting in poor control on his pitches. He allowed another two hits and a further run in the second inning, as the Mariners fell behind 4-1.

This contributed to 71 total pitches during Gonzales’ four innings of action, in contrast to the 50 he threw in his previous outing of the same length. There was still plenty to be encouraged by though, especially for someone who did not undergo a rehab assignment prior to returning to the team.

The southpaw did not give up any more hits or runs after falling behind 4-1, as he pitched 1-2-3 innings in both the third and fourth. He had just one walk on the night, even allowing for his initial command issues.

Overall, 43 of Gonzales’ 71 pitches were called strikes, including 11 first-pitch strikes to the 17 batters he faced. He was able to induce six swings and misses, while also recording two strikeouts.

The 2013 first round draft pick admitted he wished he could have pitched longer, but this was never likely to happen. The Mariners are quite rightly taking a cautious and patient approach in building up his game stamina.

Afterwards, Gonzales discussed his tough start to the game against the Tigers. Speaking to the media, he said:

“My rhythm was a little off coming out in the first inning. I think I came out with not as much fire as I usually do.

“I tried to settle in quickly after that and was happy to put up a couple of zeros on the back end. (However), the first couple of [innings] certainly were a little bit off my rhythm and tempo.”

It is worth considering this was Gonzales’ first poor outing following four consecutive starts of allowing no more than two earned runs, albeit with his long layoff between the third and fourth games. Regardless, he was tagged with the loss despite his short appearance.

As a result, the Fort Collins, Colorado native is now 1-4 in seven starts this season. By comparison, he was 7-2 in 11 starts during last year’s shortened 2020 campaign.

Ultimately, some ups and downs are to be expected from Gonzales at this stage, but he should be back to his best soon enough. His is scheduled to start again next Monday at home against the Minnesota Twins.

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