Mariners Try Losing, Succeed in 10-1 Loss to Giants

Well, at least they can still go 160-2?

It looked like the Mariners would pick up where they left off tonight. But oh boy, were we wrong to think that.

Before Dave Sims could finish his opening sentence, Dee Gordon was already on first base with a lead-off single. Mitch Haniger walked, but the M’s were unable to put someone across home in the first inning versus Johnny Cueto.

Gordon and Haniger were able to recreate their first inning success again in the third, once again sitting on third and first base respectively. Kyle Seager, who has struggled early on, was fruitless in his attempt to get the M’s on the board.

After dominating Cleveland last Thursday, Felix Hernandez struggled to even throw a strike. In his first two innings, Felix had allowed four runs on four hits and three walks.

It also didn’t help that home plate umpire Lance Barksdale was calling an incredibly inconsistent strike zone.

In the second inning, Mike Marjama notched his first hit of the year with a double down the left field line. With a chance to drive Marjama in, Ichiro was rung up looking on a pitch clearly high out of the zone.

For comparison, Giants outfielder Gorkys Hernandez took a pitch at a lower location that was ruled a ball by Barksdale before hitting a solo shot off of Felix.

But the brunt of the damage was due to Felix’s lack of command. Simply put, Felix dug the Mariners into a hole they couldn’t climb out of.

Felix was inevitably forced to leave the game in the fifth inning after allowing a three-run blast to Pablo Sandoval.

I didn’t even know Pablo Sandoval was still in the league until tonight.

Felix finished his awful outing allowing eight earned runs on six hits and five walks. Three of those hits were home runs. He falls to 1-1 in the early season.

But the bleeding wouldn’t stop with Felix’s exit. James Pazos stepped in and saw his first pitch to Brandon Crawford sail into the right field stands. 9-0 Giants.

As exhibited from the first inning on, the Mariners offense could not produce with runners in scoring position. Despite six hits in the first five innings, the M’s lacked the lumber when it mattered most.

Cueto wasn’t as sharp as it would seem by judging the box score, but he was good enough to get out of trouble. The M’s appeared uncomfortable all night in dealing with Cueto’s varying deliveries. Soft contact was the theme for a considerable amount of the Mariners at-bats.

But why sulk when we can talk about DANIEL VOGELBACH GETTING HIS FIRST RBI OF THE YEAR!!!!

The big man ripped a long single off the left field wall to earn the Mariners their first and only run of the game in the sixth. Our lovable Vogey had a nice two-hit day in his second start of the season. Yay! Bright spot!

Wade LeBlanc checked in with his first appearance of the year since being reacquired towards the end of Spring Training. The 33-year-old southpaw also fell victim to the big offensive day for the Giants. Brandon Belt banged out an RBI single off LeBlanc to finish his 3-for-4 day and put the Giants in double digits.

Okay, I don’t want to talk about this terrible game anymore. I’m salty, you’re salty, we’re all salty. For those of you that are #madonline, have a beer. You’ll feel better. You know what, grab me one too. I deserve it for having to write about this.

But in all seriousness, games like this happen to every team. It doesn’t change how fun the team has been to start the season.

The beautiful thing about baseball is that you get the chance to redeem yourself the next day. The Mariners will look to do just that when they open a four-day, three-game series versus the Minnesota Twins tomorrow. James Paxton (0-1, 11.57 ERA) is getting the nod as he aims to recover from his poor debut last Saturday. The Twins will field Kyle Gibson (1-0, 0.00 ERA) to oppose him.

Next: Kyle Seager is Good: A Mariners Fan's Yearly Reminder

Keep an eye on the weather for that one, though. Reports out of Minnesota expect a high of 39 degrees with a chance of snow tomorrow. If the game does take place, however, first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM PT on ROOT Sports.