SEATTLE — Just when, out of nowhere really, the Mariners’ rotation clicks into an effective groove, the club’s generally reliable bullpen turns to spit. For a third straight game.
Cameron Maybin sliced a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole Wednesday night in the ninth inning against Edwin Diaz that lifted Houston to a 5-3 victory and a sweep of the three-game series at Safeco Field.
“When I saw the fly ball,” Diaz said, “I thought it was a foul ball. Then when it hit the yellow (pole), it was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’”
That’s the Mariners in three words right now: Oh, my gosh.
All three losses were achingly similar.
It was Maybin whose two-run homer Tuesday against reliever Emilio Pagan powered the Astros to a 3-1 victory. On Monday, the bullpen turned a tie game into a 6-2 loss in the series opener.
“We’ve got the right guys out there,” manager Scott Servais insisted. “They’re the guys who have carried us all year… The Astros were a little bit better.”
The sum total was a three-game disaster that pushes the Mariners’ flickering postseason aspirations to the brink. They are now 69-71 with 22 games remaining and trail Minnesota by 3 1/2 games in the race for the final wild-card berth.
Plus there are now five other clubs between the Mariners and the Twins. The latest computer calculation by www.FiveThirtyEight.com pegs the Mariners’ postseason chances at 3 percent.
“A disappointing series,” Servais said. “No doubt. I thought we were right in every game. We just didn’t get big hits late, and that’s what it takes to beat the good teams. It’s timely hitting.”
The Mariners didn’t get many big hits, period. They scored just six runs in the three games and, in the process, wasted three quality starts from a patchwork rotation.
Andrew Moore gave up two runs Wednesday in six innings in what was arguably his best major-league start. Ariel Miranda gave up one run Tuesday in six no-hit innings, and Erasmo Ramirez gave up two runs over six innings in Monday’s loss.
That’s five runs in 18 innings over the last three games from the rotation, and those six strong innings from Moore were truly an unexpected bonus.
Moore had not pitched more than four innings since late July — in part because the Mariners put the Triple-A Tacoma rotation on limited pitch counts in order to keep them available for an immediate recall in recent weeks.
“Those last two innings were kind of tough,” he said. “I had to fight and slow down the pace. We knew they were an extremely aggressive team, especially on fastballs, but that’s my strength.
“I knew I was going to go after them and challenge them.”
Moore handed a 3-2 lead to Marc Rzepczynski to start the seventh inning, but Rzepczynski immediately found trouble when Marwin Gonzalez led off with a double to right.
A one-out walk to Max Stassi, a .188 hitter, put runners at first and second and prompted a change to Nick Vincent. While Vincent struck out Maybin, George Springer served a soft liner into center fielder for a game-tying single.
“For whatever reason,” Servais said, “the seventh inning was our Achilles’ heel in this series. It got us. They put some good at-bats together. We weren’t able to finish guys off.”
The Astros roughed up Rzepczynski and Vincent for those four runs Monday in the seventh inning. On Tuesday, it was 1-1 in the seventh when Pagan served up a two-run homer to Maybin.
On Wednesday, Diaz inherited a 3-3 tie in the ninth inning but gave up a leadoff double to Carlos Beltran. One out later, Maybin hit the foul pole.
