Seattle Mariners Breakdown: Storylines after fourth straight loss

After a bumpy trip to the East Coast, the first-place Seattle Mariners hoped that a return to the friendly surroundings of T-Mobile Park would help them get back on track.

It didn’t work that way.

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The Mariners dropped two of three games against the Minnesota Twins this weekend, losing a home series for the first time since mid-April and ending a streak of nine consecutive series wins at T-Mobile Park, the second-longest such streak in franchise history.

Seattle took advantage of some chaos ball in the series opener, taking a 3-2 walkoff win in 10 innings on Friday night. But the Mariners dropped the last two games, 5-1 on Saturday and 5-3 on Sunday.

Seattle (47-39) has now lost four series in a row. The Mariners are 3-8 since their 17-5 series earlier this month.

Table update

Less than two weeks ago, the Mariners were comfortably at the top of the AL West with ten games to their name. Today, things look very different.

Seattle’s lead over the second-place Houston Astros (42-41) has shrunk to just 3.5 games, who have returned to winning ways with nine wins in their last 10 games. One piece of good news: The Mariners are still 8.5 games ahead of the third-place Texas Rangers (37-46), who have lost six games in a row.

Battles for the exchange of blows continue

The Mariners’ hitting weaknesses this season have been well documented, and this weekend saw another tough series at the plate, with Seattle only managing seven runs in three games.

In some ways, the Mariners were lucky to score as many runs as they did. Their tying run on Friday night came on an error. Their game-winning run later that night came in extra innings when an automatic runner started the inning on second base. And on Sunday, one of their runs came after Minnesota center fielder Byron Buxton lost a fly ball in the sun.

Seattle’s offense continues to rank near the bottom of the majors in nearly every major statistic category. Through Saturday, the Mariners ranked 27th in runs per game (3.87), last in batting average (.218), 25th in on-base percentage (.298), 26th in slugging percentage (.366) and 26th in OPS (.664). They also have the highest strikeout rate in the majors at 27.9%, which is 1.6% higher than the next best team.

Bullpen allows game-deciding home runs

Because the Mariners play so many low-scoring games, their bullpen is constantly under stress. That pressure has only been exacerbated by a series of injuries that have tested the group’s depth, so it’s no surprise that the bullpen has been showing more and more cracks of late.

The Seattle relievers combined for four scoreless innings in Friday’s extra-inning win, but gave up game-winning home runs the next two days. In the sixth inning on Saturday, right-hander Trent Thornton smacked a center-cut fastball across the plate that Buxton hit for a three-run home run that extended the Twins’ lead to 5-1. And in the eighth inning on Sunday, right-hander Ryne Stanek threw a splitter that bounced too far off the plate. Trevor Larnach made him pay for it by hitting a crucial two-run shot that made the difference in the series.

Thornton has been great this season, posting a 0.97 WHIP that ranks him in the top 20 AL relief pitchers. Stanek entered Sunday with a 10-game hitless streak. But overall, Seattle’s bullpen has been on the decline since a dominant first month of the season. Since May 1, the Mariners’ bullpen ranks 23rd in the major leagues in ERA (4.59) and 15th in WHIP (1.25).

Gilbert ends dominant June

After throwing eight scoreless innings in his previous two starts, Logan Gilbert pitched a shutout until the sixth inning on Friday night, extending his scoreless streak to 21 innings. The streak ended with a two-run homer by Carlos Correa, but that was the only blemish on another strong performance from Gilbert. The 27-year-old right-hander limited the Twins to just two runs in six innings, giving him his MLB-best 14th quality start.

That capped a dominant June for Gilbert, who posted a 1.51 ERA and 0.62 WHIP with 31 strikeouts and just one walk in five starts this month. Gilbert leads the majors with a 0.88 WHIP this season and ranks fifth in opponents’ batting average (.195) and ninth in ERA (2.72). He has allowed one earned run or less in nine of his 17 starts and has only given up more than four runs once all season.

Next

After a day off on Monday, the Mariners resume their nine-game home series with three games against the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore (53-30) recently snapped a five-game losing streak but has since responded with four straight wins.

The Orioles’ power-hitting team averages 5.25 runs per game, leading MLB. Baltimore also leads the majors in slugging percentage (.464), OPS (.781) and home runs (139). Baltimore has hit a whopping 60 home runs in June, 18 more than any other team. Power-hitting shortstop Gunnar Henderson ranks second in the majors with 26 home runs, and outfielder Anthony Santander ranks fifth with 22 home runs, including 12 home runs, an MLB best for the month. Baltimore also has one of the best pitching teams in baseball, ranking third in ERA (3.36) and fourth in WHIP (1.16).

The Mariners lost two of three games against the Orioles at Camden Yards in mid-May. Henderson hit a home run in all three games.

More about the Seattle Mariners

• Rowland-Smith: What is striking about the Mariners pitchers’ recent failures
• Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez does extra work to solve problems
• Seattle Mariners injury update: The latest on Bryan Woo, Gabe Speier and more
• Gregory Santos, relief pitcher of the Seattle Mariners, begins rehab
• Big game hunting: Two spectacular potential trade objects for the Seattle Mariners

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