The Mariners walked into Sunday with a chance to steady themselves and walked out of Progressive Field with another gut punch, a 6-5 loss to the Cleveland Guardians that pushed them under .500 at 42-43. Seattle also slipped out of first place in the American League West and now trails the Texas Rangers by 0.5 games.
The game turned in the bottom of the eighth, when a 4-1 lead evaporated into a five-run inning for Cleveland. Seattle did make things interesting in the ninth, trimming the deficit and putting the tying run on third base, but the comeback stopped there.
That leaves manager Dan Wilson under the microscope, and the key question is simple: what could have been handled differently?
One obvious fork in the road came in the sixth inning with Emerson Hancock on the mound. Hancock was pulled after getting two outs and allowing a runner to reach first, all while sitting on 98 pitches.
That was the second-most he’s thrown in any game this season, and after a stretch of shorter outings, he hadn’t gone beyond 76 pitches since June 8. There was clearly some reason to be cautious.
Still, if Hancock had been allowed to finish the inning, and if he had done it, Gabe Speier and Eduard Bazardo would have been lined up for the seventh and eighth.
If Wilson didn’t want Hancock going any farther, Michael Rucker was another possible path to the final out of the sixth. When Hancock left, the No. 8 hitter was due up, and Seattle was ahead by two.
Rucker might have gotten that last out before any damage was done. He might also have given up three runs.
Either way, it was a decision point that mattered.
Instead, Wilson went to Bazardo for the final out of the inning. Bazardo had already been warming up, so there was also the practical question of not wanting to send him back down and then back up again later.
Another possibility was Nick Davila, who has a 2.63 ERA in 13 games. The caution there is obvious enough: Davila had just been tagged for four runs in Wednesday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, which could easily have cooled the staff on using him to protect a 4-1 lead.
The eighth inning brought another decision that changed the shape of the game. Seattle was up 4-2 with one out and runners on second and third when Wilson stuck with Rucker to face left-handed Steven Kwan, who drew a walk. That brought Josh Simpson into the game against Travis Bazzana, who popped up, and Chase DeLauter, who singled.
Because of the three-batter rule, Rhys Hoskins then got to face Simpson as well, and he delivered the double that brought in the go-ahead and eventual winning runs. Had Rucker been lifted one batter earlier, Simpson could have worked against three lefties before the right-handed Hoskins came up.
There was also the question of Andres Munoz. It’s no secret he’s most comfortable in a traditional ninth-inning role and not the kind of pitcher who usually thrives in up-down usage.
Even so, Wilson could have gone to him with the bases loaded, one out, and Seattle protecting a 4-2 lead in the eighth. Whether that would have changed the result is unknowable, but it was there as an option.
In the end, Ferrer’s absence mattered, and the Mariners are left to absorb the consequences quickly. They’ll open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night at T-Mobile Park.
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Cole Wilcoxs return from Triple-A Tacoma and Josh Simpsons trip back down were the sort of roster move that can get lost in the shuffle, but it fits the broader picture: Seattle is weighing short-term health against the risk of overextending key contributors. The concern for the Mariners is not just who is out there today, but whether all this maintenance is a sign the team is already managing a roster thats been pushed close to its limit. [Read more 🡒]