Mariners’ anemic offense costly as Dodgers score late for 3-0 win
LOS ANGELES – For six innings, the Mariners, specifically starter Bryan Woo, showed why baseball executives, experts, scouts and pundits, all believe that if they can just get into the postseason they could be dangerous.
But for nine innings, the Mariners’ anemic offense once again provided the one major reason why it’s looking more and more likely they’ll be spectators for MLB’s postseason with changes to leadership expected.
After holding one of baseball’s best offenses scoreless for six innings and allowing only one hit – a leadoff single to Shohei Ohtani – Woo gave up a solo homer to Gavin Lux with one out in the seventh inning.
And that one run would’ve been enough to send the Mariners to defeat. But after Woo hit the next batter with a pitch and was lifted, his replacement, Yimi Garcia, made sure a seemingly impossible comeback from a one-run deficit wasn’t even a consideration. Garcia served up a two-run homer to Max Muncy that essentially put the game out of reach.
Everything about the Mariners’ 3-0 loss to the Dodgers had that familiar feeling of the losses not just on this awful road trip, but failures for much of a season that’s steadily trending toward an ending after the regular season.
The starting pitcher gave them a chance to win, the bullpen made it more difficult to win and the offense swung and missed at any chance to win put the game – multiple times.
With the Astros defeating the Red Sox on a walk-off homer from Yainer Diaz for their 10th win in 11 games, the Mariners fell to five games back in the American League West.
Like many other pitchers this season, L.A.’s rookie right-hander Gavin Stone had one of the best outings of his brief career against the Mariners, working seven scoreless innings and allowing two hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts. It was just the third time this season a Dodgers starter had pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 10 batters. The other two came from right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who was recently placed on the injured list.
Stone, who was one of the Dodgers’ top pitching prospects coming into the season, had pinpoint command from the first inning with his arsenal that features seven – yes, seven – different pitches.
The first time through the Mariners’ order, he struck out six of the nine batters he faced while allowing a single to Julio Rodriguez. He tied his career high of seven strikeouts when he struck out the side in the third inning. He had eight strikeouts after the fourth inning.
Stone simply attacked the Mariners without much fear of retribution for misses in the strike zone. It was made easier that he was able to keep most of his pitches on the edges of the strike zone. Of the 24 batters he faced, Stone threw 18 first-pitch strikes.
The Mariners did have some bad luck in trying to break a 0-0 stalemate.
Randy Arozarena worked a two-out walk in the sixth inning then stole second base. But Cal Raleigh’s hard line drive headed for the right-field corner was snared on a leaping grab by first baseman Freddie Freeman for the final out of the inning. Freeman erased other baserunners, turning key double plays.