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By Art Thiel

SPNW Staff
BY SPNW Staff 03:19PM 06/14/2015

Game recap: Astros 13, Mariners 0

Takeaway

Houston led 11-0 before the Mariners had a hit, never mind a run — that despite the fact the Mariners received leadoff walks to start the second through the fourth innings. Another Seattle debacle, coming two days after a 10-0 shellacking, ended with a near-record 13-0 defeat Sunday at Minute Maid Park. The Astros didn’t require anywhere near 13 runs since Seattle scratched out only two hits. Houston could have won 2-0 merely on the basis of scoring twice on bases-loaded walks (box score).

Essential moment

After pushing across three runs in the first and two in the third, the Astros erupted for five in the fourth for a 10-0 lead. At that point, Houston’s Evan Gattis was 3-for-3 with three runs scored, more than enough to beat the Mariners all by himself. By the time 29,153 filed out of Minute Maid Park, the Astros, with 14 hits, including a 4-for-4 by Gattis, scored in every inning except the second and seventh.

Hitters

The Mariners (28-35), losers of four of their past six, didn’t get their first hit until Austin Jackson opened the sixth with a double to left.Kyle Seager collected Seattle’s only other hit, a single in the seventh. Robinson Cano went 0-for-3 before he was lifted for Willie Bloomquist and is hitting .237.

Logan Morrison went 0-for-4, snapping a streak of 18 consecutive career games of hitting safely at Minute Maid Park. The Mariners have been outscored 48-23 at Minute Maid this season.

Pitchers

Elias never got going, consistently falling behind hitters (six of 23 first-pitch strikes) and allowed eight runs (seven earned) in 3.1 innings. Elias fanned two and walked four in his worst start of the year. His ERA jumped from 2.79 to 3.67.

Three of Seattle’s latest four starting pitchers — J.A. Happ (2.1), Felix Hernandez (0.1) and Elias (3.1) have worked a combined total of 5.2 innings. Through five, Elias, Danny Farquhar and Mark Lowe went to full counts on 16 batters.

The Mariners optioned Farquhar, who allowed two runs on two hits after replacing Elias, back to AAA Tacoma immediately after the game. They will make a corresponding roster move before meeting the Giants Monday. Houston starter Lance McCullers had a no-hitter through five, but left after throwing 90 pitches.

Words

“He just didn’t have much command. It was a tough day in a lot of different ways. His fastball wasn’t there and his breaking ball wasn’t there. He didn’t have much” — Lloyd McClendon on starting pitcher Roenis Elias.

Noteworthy

The 13-run defeat came within two of matching the worst loss in franchise history, 15-0 to Minnesota in 1977. Twice previously the Mariners lost 13-0 . . . With the defeat, the Mariners fell 7.5 games behind the Astros in the AL West . . . The Mariners are 3-3 on the road trip, 14-14 against the AL West, including 2-8 against the division-leading Astros, and 7-11-2 in series played . . . Since the Mariners reached .500 May 29 (24-24), they are 4-11 . . . The Mariners held Mark Trumbo out with back spasms. He was originally slated to start, but was scratched and his status is day-to-day.

Next

The Mariners launch a four-game set with the San Francisco Giants with the first two at AT&T Park and the final two at Safeco Field. Taijuan Walker (3-6, 5.40) will toss for the Mariners Monday (first pitch 7:15 p.m.) against RHP Tim Hudson (4-5, 4.60).


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YourThoughts

  • Rj Smith

    13-0?! Another stellar performance all around by the hapless Seattle Mariners. I said I wasn’t going to get mad anymore, but when you plan your day off like a fool around M’s baseball, I get what I deserve. What we are looking at, despite the record, is the worst team in the AL. These clowns will lose 90 games. They are plain awful all around. Once again like Friday & every other game where they get down 3 runs, they totally fail to produce any sort of attempt at a comeback & allow more runs throughout the game. Z needs to go & an overhaul is needed. There is no help on the way in the farm system, the numbers in AA are astonishingly poor, just like at the big league level. Mr Single Cano is so finished, it’s beyond ridiculous. Every single AB he takes 2 fastball strikes, not even attempting a swing & then flails away at a pitch out of the zone or takes a breaking pitch for strike 3. The hard times will continue with the 4 games vs SF. FYI, Felix will definitely get out pitched by Bumgardner, a REAL ace & he will dominate the pathetic M’s. After they lose the next 3 of 4, they should be sellers, but we don’t need any more awful deals from trader Jack Z. These guys are absolutely done.

    • ll9956

      So far this season, I think your first sentence says it all: ” . . . hapless . . . ” I think the probability of significant improvement during the rest of the season is virtually zero.

  • coug73

    Lloyd McC is the perfect manager for this team. Otter Pops all around.

  • Rj Smith

    Just a little more reality for those who foolishly think the M’s will magically turn around this disaster….. The AL west leading Houston Astros have absolutely clobbered the M’s the past 2 seasons. This season they have been outscored SIXTY-FIVE to thirty-three, that is absolutely pathetic. The Astros who basically rely on slugging, still have some speed & an on base guy in Altuve. They are 6th in runs scored, FIRST in HR’s AND SB’s. The young SP has been decent & they have the farm system to acquire more help, which they will. The M’s on the other hand, have NO farm system, so what you see is what you get. The Astros also have the luxury of getting to pile up the runs a few more times against the awful M’s. Did anybody else notice how their 7, 8, 9 hitters destroyed the M’s all series while our awesome Ackley’s, Zunino’s, Sucre’s, Miller’s, Bloomquist’s did nothing as usual? The M’s are done. Worst team in the AL west.

  • jafabian

    So much for making a statement. I don’t know if this series says more about the Astros or the M’s. At this point you have to take a queue from Pedro Martinez and tip your hat to the Astros and call them daddy. Not very confident about rolling into SF with a rotation that has two rookies and a second year player. Maybe that’ll work in the M’s favor.

    This season reminds me so much of the 2010 season. Much like this season the team was coming off a promising winning season (85 wins). They were a dark horse favorite to win the AL West. Made a big trade that netted them one of the best players in the majors in Cliff Lee and signed free agent Chone Figgins. Then the team promptly went to the AL West cellar. This team can still turn things around but I’m not seeing anyone stepping up to fire up the team beyond what Lloyd has already done.

    • RadioGuy

      The difference between this year and 2010 is that 2009 was a year of smoke-and-mirrors and the team wasn’t nearly as good as their record that year indicated (as we learned in ’10, when people’s expectations were much greater than the M’s deserved).

      Last year seemed more legit because the pitching WAS excellent, Cano delivered as a player and a team leader and it was just a matter of batters hitting to their potential. What we’ve seen this year is a more fragile pitching staff, a serious drop-off from Cano and mounting evidence that this collection of players as a whole simply cannot hit major league pitching…potential can only take you so far.

      Of even greater concern is that there appears to be, to borrow a phrase from a Jimmy Carter speech, a crisis of confidence: “We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose…”

      • jafabian

        It can be said 2009 was smoke and mirrors but the team was still selected by some in the media to win the AL West due to their strength in pitching. A top of the rotation troika of Felix/Lee/Berdard with Jason Vargas and Doug Fister rounding things our was solid. The bullpen had League, Aardsma, Lowe, Garrett Olson, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Shawn Kelley among others. They had pitching and defense. But losing Beltre and Johjima’s offense, as well as the offensive downturn of Griffey, Figgins and Kotchman was too much. It could be said that Cano’s slide is affecting the hitting. With Rodney having problems there’s no Brandon League ready to step up and take his place. if this slide continues I predict Jack will fire Lloyd but since Wakamatsu was not the problem of the 2010 club is Lloyd really the problem for 2015? Especially with his resume? And who hired both of them?

  • Lodowick

    Bizarrely, I do think they’ll improve. But only because baseball is such a crazy funny game that winds up being so unpredictable. They look terrible in their inability to bring a shred of momentum to the stadium the day after a big win. Where’s the fight? That suggests they won’t be able to produce a winning streak of 7 or 8 games and I think they’re going to need that to climb back in. Look how Toronto has put the big streak together. Lots and lots and lots of runs. Pitcher’s game, huh?

    The income disparity could be a motivational problem on a nearly subconscious level. I’m just sayin’…lots of talent on the team but not lots of TEAM on the team. I like the ‘crisis of confidence’ idea floated by RadioGuy. I believe it’s team for a Knute Rockne speech.

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