
On Thursday, on MLB Radio, they had a sports writer on from the Seattle newspaper. The Mariners hopes of winning the west are fading fast. After having a ten-game lead over Houston in June, they came into this four-game series against the Rangers training by 4.5 games.
That’s a monumental collapse. That’s the Seattle Mariners.
The writer was asked what the Mariners had to do to get back in it. He said something to the effect of it was lucky they were playing the Rangers, and lucky the Rangers were running Rocker, deGrom, and Scherzer out to start the first three games because they would be on strict pitch counts, which meant the Mariners would be seeing a lot of the Rangers bullpen, and the Rangers bullpen is horrible.
In the first game of the series, Thursday night, Kumar Rocker made his major league debut. He was allowed to go four innings, which was 74 pitches. He left the game with it tied 1-1. The very next inning, the Rangers bullpen gave up three runs. But something unusual happened. The Rangers offense came to live late in the game, a very rare occurrence, and Texas won 5-4.
Friday, game two of four, deGrom was allowed to toss only 61 pitches, which lasted 3.2 innings. He left with a 2-0 lead. Once he left the game, the Rangers bullpen gave up five runs, and Texas lost 5-4.
Yesterday, Max Scherzer made his first start in 45 days. He was allowed to throw 73 pitches, which took him through four innings. He left the game tied 2-2. The very next inning, the Rangers bullpen gave up two runs, then another in the eight, and Texas lost 5-4.
And Seattle is still 4.5 games behind Houston.
In a series that has seen three 5-4 outcomes, things remain weirdly consistent. The Rangers bullpen is, for the second year in a row, their Achilles Heal. And the Mariners, for like the forty-eighth year in a row, are the Seattle Mariners, the only team in the American League to have never made it to the World Series.
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