Mariners shut out again, lose ground in wild card race

The Seattle Mariners had a tough night Tuesday. The pitching was servicecable, the bats only notched five hits and the defense did not play to its usual sterling standard. When combining all of those factors, it’s no surprise we wake up Wednesday seeing the M’s further back in the standings.

The Mariners held well against the Braves early, but Nick Markakis got the scoring started when he took Marco Gonzales deep in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Markakis made his presence known again when he knocked a single to center and Freddie Freeman scored. The Mariners limited that damage, though, with Mitch Haniger gunning Matt Kemp down at third.

Yes, on a single to center, Mitch Haniger threw Matt Kemp out at third.

The reason Haniger was playing center was due to Servais’s decision to put Cruz in the lineup in right field. The hope was by sacrificing defense to put Cruz in the starting lineup, they’d keep his hot bat hot and position themselves better for the rest of the season.

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Cruz went 0-for-4, but ultimately, he didn’t make any big errors in right, and the only error Haniger made did lead to a run, but it only made a three-run game a four-run game, so it wasn’t as costly as it could’ve been.

The worst part about Tuesday’s game was that the M’s didn’t have any huge things that made the loss happen. There was no grand slam, no five-run inning, no one moment that really killed the Mariners shot at winning.

It was just a whole bunch of the little things that wound up sinking Seattle, and nights like Tuesday are ill-afforded as this team tries to make its way to the playoffs.

The lone really good thing the M’s can take away from the second game in Atlanta was Marco Gonzales is really starting to come along. He’s starting to show more poise and look like a legitimate starter. He only made it 4.2 innings on Tuesday, but that is his longest start as a Mariner, and he only surrendered one run and was responsible for another.

Next: Mariners win without Cruz thanks to Mike Z's arm

All in all it is encouraging to see that in his last three starts he’s averaging under three runs a starts. As he builds endurance and pitches deeper into games, he could really be a decent rotation man for this team.

The Mariners will look to rebound from Tuesday’s tough loss on Wednesday night. First pitch is 4:35 Seattle time, and the Mariners will send out Erasmo Ramirez against R.A. Dickey.