The Mariners proved to be no match for the Braves on Friday night, as the reigning World Series champions’ strength was on full display at T-Mobile Park.
Friday night offered a chance for the Mariners to show how far they’ve come, matching up with the Braves. Unfortunately for Seattle and their fans, they came up short against last year’s World Series champions.
You can argue that losing 6-4 to the Braves is nothing to be bothered by. A lot of experts believe Atlanta is even better than last year.
However, the Mariners themselves appear to also be better in 2022. In addition, they sent last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner to the mound, to combat the Braves’ bats.
Robbie Ray has been in sparkling form of late, with six consecutive quality starts. In the end though, Atlanta got the better of him.
Bad night at the office for Ray
Almost from the word go the Braves got to Ray, as Dansby Swanson hit a two-run homer on just the fifth pitch of the game. It proved to be an ominous sign for the southpaw.
At least the Mariners showed their usual fighting spirit and struck back in the bottom of the second. Carlos Santana hit a towering two-run blast of his own, to even the score at 2-2.
Atlanta would add further runs in the top of the fourth and fifth innings, to regain the lead 4-2. Even though Seattle pulled to within 4-3 on a J.P. Crawford homer in the bottom of the fifth, Ray’s evening was over.
The 2017 All Star threw 95 pitches, including 61 for strikes, during his five innings of action. He allowed eight hits — his second-most of the season — and four earned runs, while notching six Ks and no walks.
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In reality, Ray’s potential to struggle on the night shouldn’t have been a surprise. After all, Atlanta entered the game ranked second in the Majors for slugging percentage against fastballs and OPS versus lefties.
The 30-year-old also had trouble with his slider and regularly fell behind in the count. He had first-pitch strikes versus just half of the 24 batters he faced on Friday night.
After the game, Ray was open and honest in his analysis of what went wrong for him. Speaking to the media he said:
“With the slider, I need to just be a little more cognizant of when the strike slider is good and it’s gonna play, and when I need to throw it below the zone for a swing and miss, or a chase. I feel like sometimes I get them backwards. I end up throwing the chase slider early and then leave it in the zone late. I think the shape on it, everything was really good. I think maybe just (the) execution was a little off today. This is a good-hitting team. You can’t really be off against them. They’re a deep lineup. They can swing the bat really well. I mean you saw it tonight, up and down that lineup they can hit the ball, so you’ve just got to be on your game.”
A night full of home runs
In fairness to Ray, his replacement Matthew Festa didn’t fare any better. Festa gave up a lead-off home run to Michael Harris II in the top of the sixth.
This was soon followed by another solo blast to make it 6-3 Atlanta, and Festa was removed after just one inning. Seattle did get one run back in the bottom of the seventh courtesy of Santana’s second homer, but that was as close as they got.
Santana was easily the Mariners’ most productive bat on the night, with his two hits and three RBI. Talking afterwards about his approach on the night and in general, he said:
“Working, keep working … and try to be positive. Try to (pass) my energy to my teammates. We’re fighting for the playoffs and for me I never stop, I never stop. Keep working and try to finish our run to the season and help my team however I can.”
The 6-4 loss was not what the 42.114 fans at T-Mobile Park came to see. Although to be fair, it seemed as if at least a third of those in attendance were supporting the Braves.
Manager Scott Servais gave his assessment of Ray’s struggles after the game. He said:
“Certainly they were on Robbie early on. I knew coming into the game (it) might be a challenging lineup for Robbie to get through, just because they’re a really good fastball-hitting team. You really have to have your secondary pitches going and locating the slider. They grinded through, they made him work. He had close to 100 pitches there through five innings. It’s not typically what we’ve seen out of Robbie, he’s being really consistent in getting us deep in ball games. They (just) swung the bats well against him.”
Servais also spoke about the outcome in more general terms. He said:
“They’ve got a good team, we have a good team. They beat us tonight, (and) we’re going to have to make a few adjustments going into the ball game tomorrow, because they do have a very deep lineup. You want to keep your pitch count in check, so you are able to get deep into the ball game. They’re good, they make you grind through it and they’ve got power to make you pay if you don’t locate the ball really well.”
As a result of their second consecutive loss, Seattle dropped to the third AL wild card spot. They still hold a four-game lead over the chasing pack, but nothing can be taken for granted.
On Saturday night the Mariners will send George Kirby to the mound, as they attempt to even the series. For reference, the last time Seattle lost three straight was against Houston following the All-Star break.
Do you see the Mariners getting back into the series and taking at least one game from the Braves? Bigger picture, do you have any concern about Seattle’s wild card hopes with less than a month to go in the regular season? Let us know in the comments section below.
