Mariners Noon Number: 6.19

Seattle Mariners starter Yovani Gallardo, in three starts this season, is pitching to a 6.19 ERA.

Now, three games is a mighty small sample size. But allowing 11 earned runs over 16 innings isn’t a good trend.

Another not-good trend: Gallardo (0-2) has coughed up 24 hits in those 16 innings, with nine of those coming in Tuesday’s 5-0 loss to the Miami Marlins, in which the Mariners needed a one-out-in-the-ninth double from Mitch Haniger to avoid being no-hit.

Gallardo was once a useful Major League starter. He was an All-Star in 2010 for the Milwaukee Brewers and was seventh in the N.L. in Cy Young balloting the next season.

Now 31, his walk rate each of the last four seasons has risen while his velocity sits in the 90-92 range. He’s always given up contact and generated ground balls, but so far this season it’s been hard contact, more walks, and even fewer strikeouts.

The Mariners used a four-game win streak to mitigate some of the damage of the 2-8 start. Finding a replacement for Gallardo – who is barely replacement level himself at this point – should be the next step.

But here’s the two-part kicker: 1) the injury to Drew Smyly really messed with the team’s already thin pitching plans at the big-league level; and 2) The M’s owe Gallardo $9 million this season whether he pitches or not.

At this point, the Mariners just have to hope for now they can outslug teams on the days Gallardo pitches, something they obviously couldn’t accomplish against Wei-Yin Chen and the Marlins on Tuesday.