Mariners

The Good, Bad, and Ugly From Mariners Lackluster First Two Games vs. Tigers

The Seattle Mariners disappointed in their first series of the season with a split against the Athletics on their own home field, and unfortunately, they’ve guaranteed another series loss at T-Mobile Park after dropping the first two games to the Detroit Tigers.

Here’s the good, the bad, and ugly from those first two defeats against Detroit:

Good: Some offensive life during Monday’s loss

Yes, the Mariners fell 9-6 in the contest for reasons we’ll talk about more in a much different section, but there were some positives to take from that game. They scored a season high in runs, picked up eight hits, walked six times, and “only” struck out nine times.

The most encouraging part for the offense was finally receiving a quality outing from the middle of the Seattle lineup. The Mariners got homers from Randy Arozarena, Luke Raley, and Cal Raleigh, while Julio Rodriguez picked up a triple and an RBI. This is such an obvious point that it probably doesn’t never need to be written, but that won’t stop me from doing so: The Mariners need quality contributions throughout their lineup if they’re going to contend for the postseason and beyond, but those four players in particular. If Seattle gets games like that from Rodriguez, Arozarena, Raleigh, and Raley on a consistent basis, they’re going to win a lot more often than they lose, even if it wasn’t enough Friday night.

Bad: It didn’t carry over Tuesday

Victor Robles led off Tuesday’s game with a single. The Mariners would not get another hit the rest of the game in the 4-1 loss. The only run came after Arozarena drew a walk in the seventh inning and he eventually scored on a sac fly from Rowdy Tellez. They didn’t pile up the strikeouts with seven punchouts, but it didn’t matter; there was so much weak contact against Casey Mize and the Detroit bullpen that they didn’t challenge outside of that one run in the seventh inning.

Simply put, this offense outside of Monday — and it’s not like Monday saw them break into double-digits — this offense has been anemic, and no one can blame fans who watched this team struggle to score runs for the overwhelming majority of 2024 for feeling uneasy about this group.

Good: The bullpen kept them in the game Monday

Look, I’m not going to lie to you, I was a little desperate to find a positive from these first two games. But the bullpen does deserve some credit for their work over those losses. They were forced to go 8 1/3 innings Friday, and despite using mostly low-leverage options — Collin Snider being the only player who could be argued as someone they’d use in high-leverage situations — and held the Tigers to three runs. That meant the Mariners had their high-leverage options fresh for Tuesday’s contest against Detroit with their ace on the mound.

However…

Bad/Good: Logan Gilbert didn’t pitch like an ace, until he did

After a sensational outing to begin the season against the Athletics, Gilbert didn’t have nearly as much success against the Tigers until he did. He allowed three runs over five innings with all three runs coming over the first three frames. After that, however, the man they call Walter was outstanding. He struck out 10, issued only one walk, and he generated a whopping 22 swings-and-misses over 92 pitches.

Gilbert didn’t implode and the swing-and-miss arsenal was readily apparent for the majority of this game. That being said, the Mariners just aren’t a good enough offense right now to overcome any type of early scuffles. Is it fair that he and the other starters have to be close to perfect? Of course not. is that the reality of the situation right now? Yep.

Ugly: Emerson Hancock

Ugly doesn’t really describe it. If you somehow missed it — and congratulations if you did, Hancock was an unmitigated disaster in his first start for the Mariners. He allowed seven hits, six runs, and was unable to escape the first inning before being pulled. For those of you curious/wanting to experience more pain, Hancock’s ERA after one start was a robust 81.00. That’s typically not the goal.

It is worth pointing out that three of the hits allowed by Hancock were on hits that had exit velocities below 75 mph. It’s also just as important to point out that doesn’t mean that he was good, and the other four hits were clobbered. While he was able to hit the corners with his arsenal, those pitches were also in the middle of the outside-inside corners, and to say he didn’t fool the Detroit hitter is the understatement of this and any other article we write.

Things went so bad for Hancock that the Mariners optioned him to Triple-A Tacoma. That likely has something to do with the fact Seattle didn’t need five starters for the next week, but obviously this wasn’t ideal. While the former first-round pick has had success at the highest level, you see the floor, and that floor is low. Really, really low.