Marines suffer “perfect” loss, falling 8-4

In rebuilding years, there is often talk of a “chill” or “perfect” loss. A loss where even if the final score indicates a snoozer, there are still plenty of individual performances that you can get away with optimistically, especially if it’s a starting pitcher like a young position player who turned in a good night . After all, you did not expect these Mariners to challenge for a playoff spot, did you? Aren’t you entertained by dropping them to # 3 in the Kumar Rocker Sweepstakes?

Well, I’m not. Pardon me. Lose sucks.

It’s not like Yusei Kikuchi was a disappointment, however. Leadoff walked to Garrett Hampson, he was a master of weak contact through the first two innings of the job, and relied on a strict fastball / cutter diet through most of his first time through the order. Although each of Matt Kemp, Daniel Murphy, and Ryan McMahon worked in the second actual at-bats, Kikuchi was able to send each of them with reasonably routine ground broadcasts. The bats even splashed him a slim lead into the bottom of the frame!

Young man, Mallex needed that. Unfortunately, the BABIP gods would turn their backs on Kikuchi in the third, with Chris Owings reaching sixty inches from the outside corner to dunk a single in the right field and Elias Díaz turning this into a double:

Both runs would come in on fielder’s choice, the first on a Hampson grounder who mocked Dee Gordon, JP Crawford on shortstop, made a nice play and the second from a Trevor Story slow roller after third that Kyle Seager was not a good throw up. Boooooo. Kikuchi would happily stop the bleeding after a nine-pitch tussle with McMahon, switching his fastball and cutter before finally a shear flowing down and into that was at first without harmful ground.

Yusei would also breeze through the fifth, throwing a gutsy cutter on a tall count to Owings who tore the poor guy to shreds:

Despite a clean fifth, the wheels came off in the fourth. After a sandwichout of a strikeout from Story and a flyout from Nolan Arenado around a single by Charlie Blackom, Matt Kemp (yes, that Matt Kemp) somehow tapped into his 2011 self and managed a double out of this swing:

Rotten. Oh, well, there are two outs, a shortage of one run, Yusei’s have been working out jam all night. Just get the next man and bask in the quality start.

Ouch. This was a particularly cruel decision by the BABIP gods, and it came from the bat of an unrepentant homophobic piece even harder. Kikuchi would give way to Erik Swanson, who blew Ryan McMahon straight on three straight fastballs. And look, the bats got in there right away!

After tackling a meaningless run on a double in the eighth, Austin Nola sits on a nice .324 / .395 / .588 slash line, with a 179 wRC + that swooned me at first glance. Although there is certainly some regression coming, his capable framing and blocking behind the dish has been a pleasant surprise to watch, and he was one of the leaders of the crime last night. Listen for well-struck catchers!

After Swanson followed the seventh inning and worked a solo shot from Hampson, Yohan Ramírez was given the task for the last two innings of the work, and he worked out of the gate, serving a tinger to Charlie Blackmon on a 1 -0 count to open the eighth, Kemp walks (yes seriously, it’s already 2011 that this guy is good) with one out, and lets the homophobic hit again:

After that dinner, however, Ramírez put him down, and allowed no further runs over his next 1.2 frames, although he had to work through them. Fighting with hesitant command as he ran three, he was able to flash some video game moves on his shift and grabbed four strikeouts, including that of Kemp in the ninth to load the bases:

As with any sleeping bag, there were some reservations to be made:

• Dylan Moore got the start again in the two-place line-up, and smoked a warning rail line to right field his first time up. Hawar, he would hit his next four times to the plate, becoming the first Mariner of the season to earn a Golden Sombrero. Even more worrying, he looked absolutely lost against anything bendy, and his .086 xBA over breaking pitches coming in from the evening strongly means he accelerates himself on fastballs. Wouldn’t he be Taylor Motter 2.0.

• Kyle Lewis kept his contact-oriented approach intact last night, poking a single in the middle in the eighth and hitting out only once. If you keep in mind, Lewis has only hit flat appearances once in the course of his past thirteen flat appearances, and with his running speed around 8%, his K rate has started to drop to “upper end of acceptable “. Are we not happy that we can see him?

• Dee Gordon continued his surprisingly strong defensive campaign, making several fun plays on shortstop, including a choice of a deft fielder in the first inning after Blackmon was able to overcome the shift enough to avoid an easy double play. Although he hit exactly .148 / .207 / .185 after last night, Dee has been stiff in his time in left field and filled in admirably for JP last night, and at this point that’s pretty much all you can ask of a 32-year-old bank player. Oh, and he’s one of the few select players I’ve noticed I always wear a mask on. More of that, please!

We talk a lot about first pick sweepstakes, individual appearances, all other rationalizations. And all are valid! None of that changes the fact that this was a fairly unfounded game to watch, and it is one that would easily flush out in a normal year. Not as much as every game counts against 1.66% of the season. In any case, the Mariners and Rockies are marching on, with Ryan Castellani likely to make his Major League debut against Nick Margevicius, who is making his first start in his new organization. One can only hope, however cheerful, for a perfect win.