Mariners’ road woes continue in miserable loss to Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – This was more than the early “punch to the gut” they endured in the loss to close out the series in Miami.
Watching Bryan Woo limp off the field with a trainer two batters into the fourth inning felt like an emotional haymaker to the jaw, leaving them jelly-legged and reeling.
And just about the time, they had recovered enough to take a lead and position themselves to pick up a much-needed win on what has been an awful road trip, a bad night turned miserable. The back of their bullpen couldn’t hold a two-run lead in the bottom of the eighth with their best reliever, Andres Munoz, giving up a go-ahead two-run single to Yandy Diaz on a groundball that took an unexpected hop past first baseman Ty France and into the outfield.
Winning a game on the road is difficult in Major League Baseball for any team, but the Mariners have found ways to make it almost impossible at times.
But Seattle may have suffered more than defeat in Monday’s 4-3 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field.
The postgame mood was sour, reeking of sweat and disgust. They’ve been beaten before, but this felt like they lost it. Julio Rodriguez sat in front of his locker in his uniform staring blankly ahead. Most players barely spoke to each other in the aftermath of the defeat.
“We’ve got two big games coming up,” said catcher Cal Raleigh. “We’ve got to find a way to get it done and hopefully kind of salvage the rest of this road trip.”
The possibility of being without a member of their starting rotation for at least two weeks if not longer made everything about the loss feel just a little worse.
In a season already sidetracked due to health issues, Woo exited the game in the fourth inning due to hamstring tightness. He was not available to the media postgame and manager Scott Servais didn’t want to provide anything firm about the injury.
“Hopefully it’s just a strain and he won’t be out too long,” Servais said. “He’ll get a MRI tomorrow. It’s hard to project to anything there. He’s never had any lower body issues at all. It’s all new to him. I don’t want to speculate or get ahead of ourselves.”
Asked if Woo would need a trip to the injured list, Servais was non-committal.
“I have no idea at this point,” he said. “We’ll wait and see what the tests show tomorrow.”
Having given up a leadoff single to Richie Palacios to start the fourth, Woo attacked Taylor Walls with a fastball to get ahead. He grimaced after the pitch and walked behind the mound, grabbing at the back of his right leg.
Catcher Cal Raleigh, who provided a 1-0 lead for Seattle with a solo homer in the top of the fourth, immediately saw Woo’s reaction after the pitch. He notified Servais that there was an issue. Servais and trainer Kyle Torgerson made their way to the mound to meet with Woo.
After a brief discussion, Woo tried to stretch the hamstring and attempt a warmup pitch. But the hamstring grabbed as he tried to simulate his delivery home. Woo stared at the dirty white ceiling of the dome and put his glove to his face, trying to hide his dejection, but it couldn’t be missed as he limped off the field. Part of his frustration stemmed from how well he was pitching in the game. His fastball was up to 97 mph and he was locating it with precision.
“He looked great,” Servais said. “The ball was just jumping out of his hand. You can tell from the first pitch tonight that he had his A stuff, which he didn’t have last time out. I know he’s really disappointed because he was excited with how he was feeling early in the game. He had it going with the fastballs.”
Servais called on lefty Tayler Saucedo to replace Woo. But he allowed Palacios to score without a hit. A bad pickoff throw to first that got past Ty France at first allowed Palacios to advance all the way to third. Saucedo then uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the run, which was charged to Woo, to score.
Trent Thornton cleaned up the mess left by Saucedo, retiring the next two hitters to keep the Rays to just one run in the inning. Thornton came back out for a scoreless fifth inning. Seattle got a scoreless frame from Mike Baumann in the sixth.
Mitch Garver put the Mariners ahead in the seventh. He clubbed a two-run homer to left field off reliever Chris Devenski to put Seattle up 3-1.
Ryne Stanek gave Seattle a 1-2-3 seventh inning against one of his former teams. It appeared Austin Voth would do the same in the eighth. He retired Isaak Paredes and Palacios on fly balls. But Voth never got the third out. Up 0-2 on Taylor Walls, he walked him on the next four pitches. Jose Siri followed with a single up the middle and light-hitting catcher Ben Rortvedt poked a looping double that bounced off the turf and over the wall in left field for a RBI double.
Servais called on Munoz to get the final out. But unable to throw his slider for a strike, he walked former teammate Jose Caballero to load the bases.
Diaz, who struck out in three of his previous four plate appearances, chopped 100-mph fastball to the right side. The ball hit just in front of the plate and then took a huge hop that handcuffed France at first base.
“It goes back to the little things,” Raleigh said. “The two-out walk killed us. It was kind of the key to the game there. Credit to them. They put the bat the ball in play after that. We even got the ground ball at the end, but it took a bad hop, unfortunately. It’s the little things like the free passes and the two-out walks. Things like that always come back and haunt you, it doesn’t matter how good you are.”
If Seattle has to put Woo on the injured list, they will likely call up a reliever for the time being. Because they have an off-day on Thursday, the Mariners could skip Woo’s spot in the rotation if needed. The could later recall Emerson Hancock, who left his previous start in Triple-A Tacoma with lower back tightness. Given a few extra days of rest, Hancock was scheduled to pitch Saturday for the Rainiers.
After he missed the first month of the season due to elbow issues, the Mariners have been cautious with Woo’s pitch and inning totals in his return, limiting him to 85 pitches in some outings and even fewer in others. He still posted a 3-1 record and 1.67 ERA in those seven starts.
Two weeks ago, the Mariners had to scratch Woo from his scheduled start in Seattle due to some forearm discomfort. He underwent a precautionary MRI that showed no structural damage to his forearm and surgically repaired ulnar collateral ligament.