Mariners: Flexen, Gilbert, and Gonzales all with strong starts

The Mariners wrapped up their series against the Houston Astros with a 2-1 series win, despite losing the finale on Sunday by that same score. That’s not what I’m here to talk about though. I want to talk about how well all the starters pitched in the series.

Chris Flexen took the mound in the first game and turned in his second-best outing of the year. His first came back in April against the Royals, when he turned in a gem of a game with just one ER through seven innings, striking out five along the way for a Game Score of 66. He was nearly as good in the opener on the 27th, going seven innings, striking out six, while walking two and allowing seven hits for a game score of 63.

Even though Flexen was great, he was actually the worst starter through seven innings in the Astros series for the Mariners

Marco had a game score of 65 through seven innings in the finale on Sunday. He had been dominant all afternoon, and sitting at just 84 pitches, Servais made the decision to keep him out there to try and get through the bottom part of Houston’s order, and then Altuve and possibly Brantley. He struck out Siri, then allowed a double to Maldonado that would end his day,  eventually dropping his game score to 61 after Maldonado would score later in the inning.

It was Gilbert in game two that would take the cake, turning in the best outing by any Mariners pitcher this season to date. Three of their top 13 outings came from this series, and it would have been three of the top 11 if Marco was pulled after seven.

Gilbert finished with a line of 7 IP, 5 K, 4 H, and no walks or runs allowed, throwing 100 pitches on the night. The lower K rate on the game kept him from having a special game score, but he still turned in a very strong 74. It was the second-best outing of his career, trailing the gem he threw July 8th against the Yankees in 2021, when he went 7 IP, allowed just one hit, and struck out 8 for a Game Score of 83.

If we can get starts like this from just two of the three every time out, the Mariners are going to be in a great spot for the rest of the season. There’s no argument that things haven’t gone great so far in 2022, but I’m staying positive. There is plenty to be positive about with the Mariners, and these three are helping get the M’s back into the conversation as June rolls around.