Mariners Game Recap: M’s Drop Series to Texas after 6-4 Loss

The Mariners’ struggles continued on Sunday afternoon, as they dropped the game and the series against the Rangers at Safeco Field.

The Seattle Mariners (34-29) lost the rubber match of a three game series against the Texas Rangers (39-24) on Sunday afternoon at Safeco Field. Cole Hamels (6-1, 3.14 ERA) was the pitcher on record for the win. Wade Miley (6-3, 5.28 ERA) was the losing pitcher for the Mariners.

Wade Miley started today’s game for the Mariners in his normally quick fashion. He pitched three scoreless frames before the Rangers offense got going. The Rangers fourth inning saw an RBI double by Elvis Andrus and he later scored on a Mitch Moreland home run. Miley needed a lot of pitches to get through 5 innings, so Steve Johnson came on in relief for the Mariners and promptly gave up two walks. Andrus added on to his RBI totals on the day and singled home a surprisingly fast, Ryan Rua.

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With none out and two men on base, Johnson was pulled in favor of lefty, Vidal Nuno. After walking Robinson Chirinos to load the bases,  Nuno struck out the always dangerous Mitch Moreland and forced a pop up out of Jurickson Profar to get out of the inning. Nuno ended up pitching three solid innings in relief before giving the ball to Nick Vincent, who pitched a quick 9th inning.

Leonys Martin started the scoring for the M’s with a shot to right-center in the fifth inning. It was a scary moment for Mariners fans right before that, as Martin fouled a pitch off his right toe. Martin was just activated from the disabled list on Friday. The Mariners missed some opportunities to score, including a heartbreaking end to a 7th inning that started with a Kyle Seager single and a Chris Iannetta walk.

Mariners offense got a few runs back in the bottom of the 8th inning. With 1-out singles by Robinson Cano, Seth Smith and Nelson Cruz, the Mariners loaded the bases. Rangers pitcher Jake Diekman took over for Tony Barnette and struck out Dae-ho Lee before hitting Seager to score the Mariners second run. With the bases still loaded, Iannetta worked a walk to make the score 6-3. The ninth saw a rally as well, with a Ketel Marte fan interfered double, the Mariners had a runner in scoring position with 1-out. Seth Smith grounded out to advance Marte to third.  Robinson Cano brought him home with a would be double, but was thrown out by Nomar Mazara to end the game.

Next: Returns Re-Energize Sinking M's

Tomorrow is much deserved off-day for the Mariners. Starting Tuesday the Mariners embark on an important road trip, seeing Tampa Bay, the AL East leading Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers. After a good performance in his last outing against Cleveland, Taijuan Walker (3-6, 3.48 ERA) will kick things off versus the Rays. Jake Odorizzi (3-3, 3.47 ERA) will get the ball for Tampa Bay in the opener.