Mariners need to use implosion in San Diego as a wake-up call

As demoralizing as the 7-6 loss was on Wednesday night to the Padres, the Mariners must make positive use of this proverbial kick up the ass.

It was all looking so good for the Mariners on Wednesday evening at Petco Park. The Mariners were leading the Padres 6-0 through five innings, highlighted by Emerson Hancock continuing to prove that perhaps his start to this young season is indeed the real thing.

Sure Jackson Merrill had robbed Julio Rodríguez of an all-but-guaranteed two-run homer with a spectacular Jo Adell impression in the top of the third, but this didn’t figure to matter. And even when the Padres finally managed to penetrate Hancock’s dominant display with a two-run homer that did count in the bottom of the sixth, the Mariners still seemed firmly in control with a 6-2 lead.

Luke Raley was in the midst of a tremendous performance. And even though his career-high fourth hit didn’t result in any more runs in the top of the ninth, the Mariners figured to be all but home and safe when Andrés Muñoz entered the game in the bottom half of the inning.

The worst kind of career night for Andrés Muñoz

What followed however, was the stuff of nightmares for the Mariners and their fans. As much as Muñoz does seem to often produce one or two nervy moments when he pitches, it doesn’t usually get as bad as loading the bases with just one out, but that’s exactly what he did on Wednesday evening.

Fernando Tatis Jr. proceeded to pull the Padres to within 6-3, but with it coming via a sacrifice fly to Raley in right field, the Mariners only needed one more out to escape dodge city. Unfortunately for the Mariners, that final out would never come.

Muñoz continued to flounder, and two consecutive RBI singles pulled the Padres to within 6-5 before he was finally pulled, with two runners still on base. He was replaced by Jose. A Ferrer, who then allowed a walk-off two RBI double to Merrill, to steal the game for the home side 7-6.

As a final indignity to Muñoz, he was charged with the two runs due to Ferrer inheriting them, with the added painful element of “What if?” due to Merrill’s hit only just being fair. However, fair it was, and the Mariners’ two-time All-Star set a new career-high of allowing five earned runs in a game, versus his former team of all opponents.

Dan Wilson and Emerson Hancock rally around Andrés Muñoz

Mariners manager Dan Wilson was sympathetic about what happened to Muñoz, when discussing the fateful bottom of the ninth postgame. As per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com, Wilson said:

“He’s had some outings where he’s thrown some pitches, and typically, when you don’t get ahead as much, that’s what happens. But he’s been able to get through it. And again tonight, I thought, with what he did, and I think it’s accentuated a little bit with some of that weak contact, but we’ll continue to keep pounding it.”

One bad outing doesn’t suddenly make Muñoz a bad pitcher or undo all that he’s achieved during his time in Seattle. Hancock effectively spoke for the whole team, when he said:

“I mean Muni, he’s our guy. It’s a long season. All of us are going to mess up at some point. We’re all a team, we’re all family. He’s going to turn the page, and then we’ll be back going again. But sometimes it’s just baseball. That’s how things go. But tomorrow’s a new day, and I know the next time he gets in there, he’ll be ready to go.”

Hancock is indeed correct about everyone messing up at some point, such is the nature of baseball and the sheer volume of games in a season. However, this has been happening far too often so far in this young season as a whole, for a Mariners team which has genuine World Series aspirations and the talent to back this up.

Even at this point the Mariners can’t be throwing away games

As much as it is still way too early to worry about the Mariners despite their uneven 8-11 start to this season, even at this point each loss means something. Last year, while the Mariners got within eight out of their first ever World Series berth, you wonder how different it would have been it they’d had homefield advantage throughout the playoffs?

The reality is that yet another slow start to the season cost the Mariners in this respect. In fact in early September they were only five games above .500 at 73-68, before going on a sensational 17-1 streak to secure their first AL West title since 2001.

This season has already seen the Mariners do poorly in close contests, as evidenced by a record of just 2-6 in one-run games including Wednesday night. Making this even tougher is that in three of the losses they only scored a combined three runs, to also give you some idea of the offensive consistency specifically so far in 2026.

Mariners need to get warmed up earlier than usual

Again, we will continue to acknowledge it is still early, and the Mariners always get things going in the end, as evidenced by being one of just four teams to win 85+ games in each of the past five seasons. However, this is now about looking at the bigger picture and having aims grander than just winning 85 or more games.

Let’s not forget the Mariners have only been to the playoffs twice in those past five seasons, with two times finishing just one game out of a postseason berth. This is why losses like the one against the Padres cannot happen, especially when it’s a game they had firmly in hand.

Making this even more frustrating is that it’s not even as if the American League is looking particularly strong as a whole up to this point. Heck, despite their losing record, the Mariners are one of only five AL clubs with a plus run differential.

This is a deep Mariners roster, which has more than what it takes to make that first World Series appearance in franchise history this season. However, they need to be turning these unnecessary tight losses into valuable wins otherwise it will cost them come September, so we can only hope the 7-6 loss to the Padres provides the necessary kick up the ass to make them wake up and get going.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography

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