PHILADELPHIA -- The floodgates burst wide open from the get-go on Monday night for Logan Gilbert, and there was virtually nothing that the Mariners’ Opening Day starter could do to halt the damage.
Gilbert surrendered six runs on six hits over 48 pitches in the second inning alone, which led to his shortest career start that wasn’t impacted by weather and sunk Seattle to a 12-7 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
And on the heels of a similar start from fellow All-Star George Kirby on Sunday in the Little League Classic (seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings vs. the Mets), the Mariners will look to salvage this East Coast road trip when Bryce Miller makes his much-anticipated return from the injured list on Tuesday. When he does, it’ll mark the first time all season that Seattle’s projected Opening Day rotation is healthy.
“We just don't see that often from Logan, but it happens,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “I mean, it's baseball, it happens. And they were able to string together some hits.”
Seattle is now 2-5 on this road trip, which followed a 9-1 homestand coming out of the Trade Deadline. But because the Astros have been blanked by a combined 22 runs over their past two games, the Mariners remain 1 1/2 games behind first place in the American League West.
Yet in that same context, they’ve also missed opportunities to gain ground. Boston also lost on Monday and the Yankees were idle, creating a three-way for all three AL Wild Card spots.
Gilbert was tagged for five straight hits to begin the costly second inning on Monday, and each of those baserunners went on to score, with Trea Turner delivering the punctuating blow via a three-run homer. Gilbert then labored to two outs before giving up another booming blast, this one a solo shot to J.T. Realmuto.
Both long balls were practically carbon-copies of each other -- hanging sliders, over the heart of the plate, in a full count and to the pull side from each righty slugger. Gilbert has now given up seven homers on the slider, which has been tagged for a .531 slugging percentage and way up from the .384 clip against it last year.
“Another case of just leaving it up,” Gilbert said. “I didn't really execute it.”
The homers also culminated via a pair of lengthy at-bats, which came to define Gilbert’s outing, largely because he was pitching from behind, with first-pitch strikes to only seven of his 15 batters.
“The better pitches that I made were foul balls,” Gilbert said. “I didn’t get a ton of swing and miss on those, and then, after a while, I made mistakes. So kind of a bad combination.”
And in a season that’s been defined by his lack of length despite some of the sport’s best swing-and-miss stuff -- he’s only cleared the sixth inning four times in 18 starts -- Gilbert’s frustration was palpable on Monday.
“I just didn't really have great execution,” Gilbert said. “So just trying to get ahead and keep the ball down, and I didn't really do either of those very well.”
The Mariners made things interesting in the seventh, when Mitch Garver hit a solo homer then Cole Young followed-up with a three-run shot -- both with two outs -- to make it a 7-4 game. But the Phillies immediately answered with a four-spot -- headlined by the night’s second massive homer from Bryce Harper, who cleared the fence at 448 feet off Casey Legumina after taking the low-leverage reliever 440 feet in the sixth.
Was there consideration of going to a higher-leverage option once the game was more in reach?
“Those are always decisions that are difficult,” Wilson said, “and you’ve got to weigh everything that you can. I thought [Legumina] had a pretty good first inning and we decided to stay with him.”
One bright spot on a night when there wasn’t much to celebrate was that Dominic Canzone did not suffer a fracture on his left wrist after being hit by an 88.2 mph sinker from Phils starter Ranger Suárez in the sixth. Canzone remained in the game despite being in visible pain but was pulled to begin the eighth, after which he underwent X-rays that came back negative.