PHOENIX -- A series that started with smiles and high-fives when injured rehabbing big leaguers Victor Robles and Ryan Bliss bounded through the clubhouse doors on Monday ended on a sour note.
It’s likely too early to call Wednesday afternoon an inflection point in the Mariners’ 2025 campaign, but after falling to .500 for the first time in nearly two months less than 24 hours ago, the club dipped below that mark with a 5-2 loss to the D-backs on Wednesday afternoon at Chase Field.
The last time the Mariners lost eight of nine games was last summer, when on Aug. 21, they dropped back to .500 after being swept by the Dodgers; a day later, skipper Scott Servais was let go and replaced by current manager Dan Wilson. This time around, Seattle falls below .500, the first time they have more losses than wins since April 15.
“The attitude has been there,” Wilson said. “The energy's been there. Everything's been there except the results, and we've got to change the results and we will get there.”
Through five innings, the vibes were great. Starting pitcher Bryan Woo energetically pinpointed the Northwest Green uniforms as the secret ingredient before the game, and he held up his end of the bargain by mowing through the D-backs’ lineup on 55 pitches through the front five frames. He had a 2-0 cushion and looked no worse for the wear, on track more for a Maddux than he was a loss.
But the worm began to turn when Woo threw a backdoor slider to D-backs designated hitter Josh Naylor in the bottom of the sixth with two runners on and one out. The 3-2 offering appeared to nab the zone on replay, but it was called a ball, shifting the momentum from a would-be two-on, two-out scenario into bases loaded.
Two pitches later, former Mariner Eugenio Suárez flipped the game on its head as he mauled a hanging slider for a grand slam, giving the D-backs a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Seattle had chances. They collected eight hits and drew two walks but plated just a pair of runs. If that formula seems familiar, it’s because over the first 67 games of the year, the Mariners have left 493 runners on base, the second-highest mark among all American League clubs. Their .222 average with runners in scoring position is the fourth-lowest in the Majors, above just the White Sox, Rockies and Orioles.
Those two stats together tell you that the Mariners’ issue hasn’t been getting batters on base -- it’s been getting them to come around to touch home plate again.
“Nobody in this clubhouse likes to lose,” center fielder Julio Rodríguez said. “But I feel like we all know that the game of baseball is gonna go up and down. Everybody through the season is gonna go through stretches like this. I feel like everybody is staying pretty even-keeled throughout and just kind of putting one foot in front of the other.”
Over the past nine games, the big hit hasn’t come much. There have been shutdown innings, but they’ve come too infrequently. A club that had a 3.5-game lead in the American League West on May 23 now finds itself flying home searching for answers. It could come in the form of a returning ace. It could come from president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, who has never been shy to be active on the trade market in situations where he believes he can extend his team’s competitive window. It could even come from down on the farm, as the club’s nine Top 100 overall prospects are far and away the most of any organization.
But there’s no one snap-of-the-fingers solution. It’s far too early in the year to calculate division or Wild Card races, but the Mariners remain in a similar spot to many clubs -- right in the thick of it.
“Baseball just kicks your [butt],” Woo said. “It's just kind of how it is. But no one is going to feel sorry for us. We’ve just got to create our own luck and be present for the next game that we [have].
“As much as the last two weeks or so have really sucked, we’ve still got a lot of baseball. It’s still June. There are plenty of World Series champs that were .500 in June, so we just gotta keep going.”