Mariners Analysis: Recent Starting Pitching Success a Big Relief

After several rough starts, the Mariners starting pitching has found a groove against Cleveland.

The past couple weeks for the Seattle Mariners have not been the most fun to watch. Handfuls of runs have been allowed by the starting pitching, resulting in the team being behind for the majority of the last few series.

In the recent 4-game series against the Padres, Mariners pitching surrendered 34 runs. Now in their last 4 games overall, they have allowed just 7 runs.

The Mariners have won their last two games against Cleveland, outscoring them 12-1. Despite losing 3-1 on Monday, James Paxton had a strong outing, allowing just 1 earned run on 5 hits while striking out 10 in 6 innings.

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On Tuesday night Wade Miley had a stellar outing, throwing 7 shutout innings and allowing only 4 hits. And last night Taijuan Walker was magnificent, twirling 8 shutout innings while striking out 11 and allowing 3 hits.

Good pitching wins ballgames, and that has shown to be true over the past couple weeks. While the starting pitching has faltered, so has the team as a whole.

But hopefully this recent success is the start of another strong run for this team. And with Ketel Marte back and Leonys Martin expected back tomorrow, the defense is getting back to what it was at the beginning of the year.

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Each outing isn’t going to be amazing, but this team relies on strong starts. If the staff keeps allowing 5+ runs every start, this team can say goodbye to any playoff hopes.

But this Mariners team is good, and so is the pitching. This recent struggle, I think is out of character for these guys, and shouldn’t be a huge concern moving forward.

Plus Felix is out with a calf injury. While it seems to be unclear how soon he will be able to return, at some point he will come back healthy, and that will be a major boost in itself.

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So to all of those fans out there jumping off the bandwagon and crying “same old Mariners,” be patient. Baseball has a long season, and slumps come along with that. But this truly is a talented team, and these certainly aren’t the same old Mariners. And who knows, if their strong pitching continues into the weekend, they could be back atop the AL west come Monday.