Mariners fall to Rays, miss opportunity to gain on Astros in AL West
SEATTLE – The storyline to defeat wasn’t unfamiliar to Dan Wilson.
He’d watched it from his couch during the early days in the season. He’d analyzed it from the television booth as the color commentator of several Root Sports broadcasts.
But this time he had endure it as the new manager of the Mariners.
That was a little different.
Wilson watched as his team got a brilliant pitching performance from Logan Gilbert and provided him with minimal run support and then see the middle relievers unable to keep the opponent scoreless.
Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Rays was like so many this season. Quality starting pitching, abysmal offense and a loss by the slimmest of margins.
With the Astros losing in Philadelphia, the Mariners had a chance to reduce their deficit in the AL West standings. Instead, it remains at 3½ games.
Gilbert delivered a strong outing, pitching six scoreless innings and allowing four hits, with no walks and a career-high 10 strikeouts.
It was Gilbert’s 21st quality start (six or more innings pitched, three runs or fewer allowed), the most in MLB for a starter and the Mariners’ 81st quality start of the season. The Phillies’ rotation is a distant second with 68.
Tampa Bay starter Jeffrey Springs was almost as good, pitching five scoreless innings while allowing only one hit with two walks and nine strikeouts. The lefty didn’t throw a pitch harder than 92 mph, but he used two variations of breaking balls and a nasty change-up, keeping Mariners hitters off balance or putting them away with two strikes. Seattle swung at his change-up 16 times and whiffed on 10 of them.
The Mariners finally broke through when Springs exited the game after 79 pitches and the Rays not wanting to him to face the top of Seattle’s order for a third time.
Victor Robles looped a single to center off Springs’ replacement, Edwin Uceta.
Seeing the Rays right-hander had a high leg kick out of the stretch and a slow delivery home, Robles stole second with Cal Raleigh at the plate. After Raleigh worked a walk, Robles was still looking to be aggressive on the bases. He broke for third on Uceta’s first pitch – a slider away – to Randy Arozarena.
Rays catcher Alex Jackson made a hurried throw to third base to try and get Robles, but it sailed past third baseman Junior Caminero, allowing Robles to race home with the first run of the game.
But the lead didn’t last.
J.T. Chargois replaced Gilbert to start the seventh inning. He quickly retired the first two batters he faced. But the third out didn’t come without a cost. He gave up Jonny DeLuca’s two-out double to bring up Jose Siri as the go-ahead run.
Siri, who was invited to Mariners MLB spring training in 2020 before the pandemic as a waivers claim and was later designated for assignment, is a talented but unpredictable player who can hit a ball 400 feet or look overwhelmed while striking out.
Unfortunately for Chargois, it was the 400-foot homer version of his former Rays teammate.
Chargois got up quickly with a pair of sinkers, but couldn’t put Siri away. He fouled off three straight sliders and then hammered the fourth slider over the wall in center for a two-run homer.
The Rays added a big insurance run in the top of the eighth when Yandy Diaz sent a line drive into the Mariners’ bullpen off Collin Snider for his 11th homer of the season.