Mariners Game Recap: M’s bullpen falters in 8-7 loss to Rays

The Mariners traveled to St. Petersburg on Tuesday, ready to face off with the Tampa Bay Rays and looking to recover from a tough stretch to start off the month of June.

Taijuan Walker (3-6, 3.48 ERA) was on the hill on Tuesday night, hoping to start off the Mariners’ East Coast road trip on a positive note. The team’s starting pitching has hit a rough patch in the last couple weeks, and the M’s looked to their young arm to help turn that around. Things got off to a fantastic start for Walker, striking out the side in the bottom of the first.

The Mariners came out firing in the second inning, scoring four runs. Kyle Seager hit a two-run homer to center, and Leonys Martin followed up with his own two-RBI double to give them a solid lead early.

It was looking as if the Mariners might run away with this one early, but the Rays immediately responded in the bottom half of the second with Corey Dickerson hitting a two-run home run to cut the Seattle lead in half.

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Nelson Cruz had his own response in the top of the third, hitting a solo homer to extend the Mariners lead to 5-2.

The comeback continued in the fourth though, with Steve Pearce hitting a solo shot and Dickerson scoring again on a passed ball. Things took a turn for the worst in that inning when Walker had to leave the game with an injury to his right Achilles tendon. No word on the effects, but the Mariners have expressed optimism that he will be back when his turn rolls around in the rotation.

For a couple innings, things went quiet and the Mariners bullpen was holding down the fort. In the seventh inning, the M’s looked poised to run away with it yet again. Adam Lind drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Nori Aoki tacked on another with an RBI on a groundout, pushing the score to 7-4.

Just when things seemed to be coming together for the Mariners to get a important road win, the Rays came roaring back once again. Curt Casali got on with a line drive single with one out. It looked like Nick Vincent might get out of it, but he walked Brad Miller on a crucial full count with two outs. Evan Longoria pounced at his opportunity in the next at bat, and hit a three-run shot to tie the game at seven.

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Mike Montgomery came in to replace Vincent, but he ran into some command issues of his own, walking both Pearce and Logan Morrison with two outs. The Mariners’ worst fear was recognized when Dickerson came through for the Rays yet again, driving in the go-ahead run with a single. The Mariners finally got out of the inning, but the damage was done.

Though the game was still in reach, the Rays managed to shut down the Mariners in the final two innings. Alex Colome‘s save was topped off with Lind grounding into a double play to end the game.

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The loss drops the Mariners to 34-30 — just four games above .500 — and the Rays move to 30-32. The team will have to have a short memory to bounce back tomorrow and recover from a rough start to the road trip.