Hisashi Iwakuma Struggles, Mariners Fall To Tigers

After this teeter-totter ride back and forth over and under the .500 mark, the Seattle Mariners fell to two games under the even mark as Hisashi Iwakuma struggled again. ‘Kuma allowed five earned runs in six innings, including homers to Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez as the Tigers beat the M’s 6-3.

To be fair, ‘Kuma didn’t necessarily struggle. He allowed five earned runs on eight hits, he walked two and struck out five. Take away two bad pitches and you can erase all five of the runs.

The Mariners couldn’t quite figure out Justin Verlander. In 7.2 IP, the right-hander allowed three runs, including a two-run homer by Kyle Seager. Verlander struck out seven and walked only one.

Detroit jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third on Cabrera’s 9th homer of the season. But the Mariners tied it up in the bottom of the 4th with Seager’s homer, his 8th of the season.

In the 5th, Iwakuma allowed a one-out single to Ian Kinsler before getting Torii Hunter to ground out, putting Kinsler at 2nd with two outs and bringing Cabrera to the plate. IN yet another questionable decision by manager Lloyd McClendon, they opted to intentionally walk Cabrera and pitch to Victor Martinez.

Now, I understand that decision if there had been one or zero outs. You set up the force play and hope to turn two. But there was two outs. Even if Cabrera had homered again, that is two runs. Instead, the decision was made to pitch to V-Mart, who is arguably having a better season than Cabrera so far, and Martinez hits a 3-run homer to regain the lead at 5-2.

Rajai Davis led off the 7th with a homer off Charlie Furbush and the Mariners added a run in the 8th on a Michael Saunders RBI-double.

Seattle was without second baseman Robinson Cano for a second straight game with a minor contusion on his hand. He said Friday that he was feeling better. Hopefully that means he can play tonight, even if only at DH.

Since May 17, the last time the Mariners were two games under .500, they have been on this back and forth ride between a game under and a game over the even mark. They hope to avoid being three games under .500 for the first time since May 2 with a win later tonight.

BOX SCORE

Batting

Detroit

Batting

2B – N Castellanos (8, H Iwakuma)

HR – M Cabrera (9, 3rd inning off H Iwakuma 1 on, 2 Out), V Martinez (13, 5th inning off H Iwakuma 2 on, 2 Out), R Davis (4, 7th inning off C Furbush 0 on, 0 Out)

RBI – M Cabrera 2 (48), V Martinez 3 (34), R Davis (17)

2-out RBI – M Cabrera 2, V Martinez 3

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out – A Jackson 2

Team LOB – 3

Running

CS – A Romine (1, 2nd base by H Iwakuma/M Zunino)

Seattle

Batting

2B – E Chavez (1, J Verlander); M Saunders (5, I Krol); K Seager (11, J Verlander)

HR – K Seager (8, 4th inning off J Verlander 1 on, 1 Out)

RBI – M Saunders (21), K Seager 2 (33)

2-out RBI – M Saunders

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out – J Jones 1, J Smoak 2

Team LOB – 5

Running

SB – J Jones (5, 2nd base off J Verlander/A Avila)

CS – M Zunino (2, 2nd base by J Verlander/A Avila)

Fielding

E – H Iwakuma (1, throw)

Pitching

Detroit

Seattle

WP – I Krol

IBB – M Cabrera (by H Iwakuma)

HBP – M Zunino (by J Verlander)

Pitches-strikes – J Verlander 120-78; I Krol 8-5; J Chamberlain 23-14; H Iwakuma 98-69; C Furbush 14-12; Y Medina 11-8; T Wilhelmsen 9-7

Ground balls-fly balls – J Verlander 9-8; I Krol 0-0; J Chamberlain 0-1; H Iwakuma 11-3; C Furbush 1-2; Y Medina 1-1; T Wilhelmsen 1-0

Batters faced – J Verlander 29; I Krol 2; J Chamberlain 4; H Iwakuma 26; C Furbush 4; Y Medina 3; T Wilhelmsen 3

Game Details

Game Time: 3:05.

Umpires: HP–Mike DiMuro. 1B–Mike Estabrook. 2B–Hunter Wendelstedt. 3B–Jerry Layne.

Weather: 67 degrees, Clear.

Wind: 2 mph, Out to Right.

Attendance: 29,000.