Mariners: 3 takeaways from series loss versus Chicago White Sox

A review of the Seattle Mariners’ frustrating series in Chicago, where they lost two of the three games versus the White Sox.

Starting the season with seven games on the road, the Mariners were hoping to return to Seattle with at least four wins. Instead, they will begin their first home stand of 2022 with a losing record.

The Mariner’ 3-4 mark included losing two of three games versus the White Sox. They started off with 3-2 and 6-4 defeats, before avoiding the sweep by winning the series finale 5-1 on Thursday.

As much as fans may have early concerns about their ball club, it’s worth noting Seattle also started last year with a 3-4 record through seven games (before going on to win 90 games). In addition, that initial stretch of games included six at T-Mobile Park as opposed to playing them all on the road.

Of course there will still be some worry with the powerful Houston Astros coming up in Seattle, starting with the home opener on Friday. However, first things first, we review the White Sox series with some takeaways, quotes, statistics and other notes:

1) Successful debut for Brash despite taking the L:

While there was a lot of excitement surrounding the Major League debut of Matt Brash, this was balanced out by a certain amount of trepidation. No matter how well he pitched during spring training, the Majors is a different beast.

There was the additional curveball of an extremely long pregame ceremony by the Chicago White Sox, with Tuesday’s first game of the series also representing their home opener. In the end though, any concern regardless Brash quickly dissipated once the game began.

The 23-year-old came out firing and showcasing his high-90s fastball. He recorded two strikeouts and allowed no hits, runs or walks, as he quickly retired his opponents in the first inning.

Brash faced his first adversity in the bottom of the third as he allowed his only walk of the game, followed by a single. The usually reliable J.P. Crawford subsequently made an error, allowing the White Sox to tie the game at 1-1.

The young righty overcame this setback and after five innings had allowed just the one earned run and only two hits. Unfortunately, his day finally turned sour in the bottom of the sixth, as he allowed a homer and single by consecutive batters.

It was at this point Mariners manager Scott Servais decided to replace Brash. His final stat line still made for good reading though, allowing just four hits, two earned runs and the aforementioned one walk in 5.1 innings of action.

The 2019 fourth round draft pick also struck out six batters. As a result, he became the sixth pitcher in franchise history to record six-plus strikeouts in his MLB debut since Ken Cloude on Aug. 9, 1997.

As if this wasn’t enough, Brash also had 11 swings and misses on his curveball, for the most in a Major League debut since 2009. And even though he was tagged with the loss, this says more about his lack of run support.

Speaking to the media afterwards, Brash was asked how he felt about his first start. He said:

“I feel good. I mean I competed and I feel like I showed what I’ve got, and I’m just ready to get back out there really. It was a lot of fun out there.”

Servais was understandably excited about Brash’s performance, while Chicago manager Tony La Russa mentioned how special the young pitcher is. Considering La Russa’s resume, his comments carry a certain amount of gravitas.

NEXT: RELIABILITY THE KEY ON OFFENSE