SEATTLE —The Mariners’ obituary could’ve been written a few days ago when they were swept by the Rangers to start the season’s final homestand, which was part of a six-game losing streak. For all intents and purposes, the Mariners were done then.
But on a sun-drenched Sunday afternoon with the chill of fall air apparent, the Mariners were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention in a 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians, coupled with Minnesota’s 10-4 win over Detroit.
“We didn’t finish the season at home the way we hoped to,” M’s manager Scott Servais said. “At the end of the day, it’s disappointing with the expectation we had for ourselves and this ballclub when we left spring training.”
That it came at Safeco Field in the final home game of the season was somewhat fitting, if not disheartening for Mariners fans, who will go yet another year without postseason baseball. The longest playoff drought in baseball, which dates to 2001, will continue into 2018.
“The finality of it all hurts,” Servais said. “There’s no question about that. I thought we did an unbelievable job this year to hang in there. As the water was coming into the boat, we kept throwing it out to try and keep afloat. We just kept battling and fighting.
“It says a lot about our guys to keep it up as long as we did. We struggled through some injuries and pitching injuries. I think you battle so long like that, you get to a point where you just run out of gas and can only go so far. That’s what it felt like.”
The Mariners fell to 75-81, meaning they won’t finish over .500 this season. Having lost eight of their last nine games and 10 of their last 14, they are limping toward the finish. Seattle ends the season with a seven-day, six-game road trip, starting with a three-game series with the Oakland A’s, who are in last place in the American League West at 72-83.
But Oakland has won seven straight games and could overtake the Mariners, who will try to avoid finishing in the cellar.
“This season has been extremely frustrating in that sense,” third baseman Kyle Seager said. “I came in here looking at what we had and being really, really excited. Obviously, it didn’t go the way we wanted to. It hasn’t been easy to take.”
Cleveland starter Corey Kluber, perhaps the only starting pitcher to have a claim on Chris Sale’s perceived AL Cy Young Award, was solid if not dominant.
Kluber pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts to improve to 18-4. It was the 15th outing this season that Kluber posted double digit strikeouts.
In the search for positives for the Mariners, the performance of starter Mike Leake and the continued growth of outfielder Ben Gamel are two things that will be relied upon heavily next year.
Leake suffered his first loss as a Mariner in five starts to fall to 3-1. Still, he pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts. It was the first time that Leake allowed more than two earned runs in an outing with Seattle.
“He was very competitive and kept us right in the ballgame,” Servais said.
Acquired in August, Leake has been better than expected since joining the team and is locked into a rotation spot next season. He gives the Mariners a consistent veteran presence to go with James Paxton, Felix Hernandez and Erasmo Ramirez.
“I’m really excited about him going forward,” Servais said. “With the addition of Erasmo Ramirez, our starting pitching depth is in good shape going forward.”
Cleveland picked up two runs off Leake in the fourth inning on RBI doubles from Edwin Encarnacion and Jason Kipnis for a 2-0 lead.
Gamel provided the only Mariners runs, jumping on a first-pitch cutter from Kluber and crushing a two-run homer to right field tie the game at 2-2 in the fifth inning. It snapped a streak of 26 scoreless innings for Kluber. Gamel, who is slotted in to be the everyday left fielder next season, has 11 homers and 58 RBI.
But a misplaced changeup from Leake to Jose Ramirez in the top of the sixth gave the Indians the lead for good. He hit a solo homer to center for a 3-2 lead.
“I fell behind on Ramirez and put myself in a bad spot,” Leake said.
Cleveland tacked on another run in the eighth off Shae Simmons.
Seattle’s only other scoring opportunity against Kluber came in the fourth. Nelson Cruz doubled with one out and Seager drew a walk. But former Mariner Austin Jackson made a ridiculous leaping catch over his shoulder in left field to rob Yonder Alonso of a sure double. Jackson fired the ball to shortstop Francisco Lindor, who made a perfect relay throw to double off Seager by a step.
