Mariners split series with Padres, But not much has changed

The Mariners stumbled into San Diego licking their wounds after getting obliterated in Texas over the weekend. Seattle came in with a 29-30 record, while the Padres had a 28-32 record. The Padres were big-time World Series hopefuls coming into the season, but they have struggled out of the gate so far.

The Padres are filled to the brim with starpower, but that has not translated into wins in 2023. Fernando Tatis Jr. is back from his P.E.D. suspension, but has started slow. After Wednesday's game, he has just a .798 OPS, well short of his .942 career OPS. Juan Soto leads the majors in walks, and that is inflating his OPS. Manny Machado has been injured and absolutely struggling this year, with a .650 OPS.

Game 1: Mariners 4, Padres 1

Logan Gilbert (4-3, 3.80 ERA) brought his "A" game with him in game one, going 7 strong innings. Walter only gave up 1 run on 3 hits, walked 2 and struck out 6. Logan and company held the Padres big 3 I mentioned above to just 2 hits, a walk, and 4 strikeouts in 11 at bats. Paul Sewald came in in the 9th and shut it down, striking out two.

The Mariners also welcomed back Andres Munoz from the Injured List, an he came into the ballgame in the 8th inning. He was his old self, throwing over 100 MPH right out of the gate. He struck out 2. Dylan Moore was also activated ahead of game 1, but he did not see any action in that contest.

The offense was carried by home runs from Julio Rodriguez and Teoscar Hernandez. Teo's bomb came in the 6th inning off of Brent Honeywell Jr, while Julio's came in the 8th inning against Steven Wilson. J.P. Crawford deserves a lot of credit as well, seeing 25 pitches against Padres starter Joe Musgrove. Joe could only go 5 innings after throwing 102 pitches. Then the Mariners piled it on the Padres bullpen, and came away with the win.

Game 2: Padres 10, Mariners 3.

Mariners give up double digits for the 5th time in their last 8 games. Juan Soto was the star of the show, going 5-5, all singles. He also drove in 4 runs. Newly aquired catcher Gary Sanchez hit a 3-run home run off of Mariners starter George Kirby. George could'nt get out of the 4th inning, giving up 5 runs on 11 hits. He did not walk anybody, and struck out 3.

Matt Brash, Tayler Saucedo, and Chris Flexen all gave up runs from the bullpen. If there was one bright spot to point to in a 10-3 loss, you can point to Dylan Moore. Moore got into the action hitting in place of Eugenio Suarez, walking twice, and scoring a run.

Padres starter Michael Wacha was nearly untouchable in this one. He went 6 shutout innings, only giving up 2 hits and walking 1. He struck out 7, earning his 6th win of the season. Maybe unlucky, but the Mariners had to face the AL and NL pitchers of the month this last week. Wacha won the NL award, while Nathan Eovaldi of the Texas Rangers won the AL award.

All in all, a series split is much better than getting swept. The Mariners did get 2 off days this week before heading to Anaheim to face the Angels. Friday's pitching matchup will be a must watch. Luis Castillo will face Shohei Ohtani. The game will be an Apple+ exclusive, so you will need to have an Apple+ subscription to watch. As always, go Mariners!