MINNEAPOLIS — As if the early-season inconsistency and swings and misses — so many damn swings and misses — weren’t enough to overcome and improve upon, the Mariners and their hitters have the unenviable pleasure of facing a pitching staff that is comparable to their own in terms of velocity and strikeout prowess for four days at Target Field
The initial results were not unexpected.
On a comfortable Monday evening, perhaps the warmest outdoor weather the team has played in this season, the Mariners’ offense looked like so many of its opponents over the past month — overwhelmed — in a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins.
The Mariners mustered only three hits and struck out 14 times to drop the opener of a four-game series.
“Coming into the series, we expected that there was going to be a lot of good pitching out there,” manager Scott Servais said. “The Twins are throwing the ball really well, as we are. They just outdid us tonight.”
In terms of overall ERA and quality starts, the Twins pitching staff doesn’t compare to Seattle’s staff. But coming into Monday, the Twins lead MLB in strikeout percentage at 26.4% and strikeout to walk percentage at 19.4%, just ahead of the Mariners at 25.4% and 18.4%.
Meanwhile, the Mariners hitters came into Monday, striking out in 27.9% of their plate appearances on the season — the highest in MLB. And they only added to that dubious lead vs. the Twins.
“Nothing to write home about offensively,” Servais said. “They did shut us down tonight. And we’ve got to do better than that because they can really pitch. We know coming into this series, they’ve got good arms, they can strike you out, they stick to their game plan, they executed it and they beat us tonight.”
Seattle got another quality start from Luis Castillo but didn’t offer much in support.
Castillo was perfect over the first four innings, retiring all 12 batters he faced, including four strikeouts. The bid for perfection or even a shutout ended early in the fifth inning. Max Kepler led off the inning with a ground ball down the first-base line that appeared to hit off the first-base bag slightly and then get by Ty France. It was originally ruled an error but later changed to a double by the official scorer since replays showed it hit the bag. With Kepler on second, Carlos Correa hit a deep fly ball off the wall in right field to drive in the first run of the game.
Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson delivered one of the best outings of his career. In the fifth start of his MLB career — four of them coming this season — the 23-year-old right-hander pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with a walk and career-high eight strikeouts.
Unlike other opposing pitchers that befuddle Seattle’s swing-happy hitters with breaking balls, Woods Richardson challenged them with fastballs — and beat them.
Of his 82 pitches, he threw 33 four-seam fastballs, getting 17 strikes and only three balls in play. He then used his changeup and slider effectively to keep hitters off balance.
He struck out six of the first eight hitters he faced.
“You have to get the ball in play,” Servais said. “He just out-executed us tonight. He pitched better than we handled it. That’s going to happen once in a while in this league. But, we have to be tougher there. You know, 14 strikeouts, you’re not going to win many ballgames.”
Knowing that a third time through the heart of the Mariners order would be a difficult task, the Twins turned to right-handed reliever Griffin Jax, who has been dominant this season.
But Jax struggled to locate his pitches, particularly when he was ahead in the count. Jorge Polanco and Mitch Haniger worked full counts and came up with singles to start the seventh inning. Cal Raleigh worked a walk to load the bases with no outs.
But Seattle would manage just one run. Ty France struck out swinging, Mitch Garver hit a sac fly to center to score Polanco and Luke Raley struck out to end the inning.
One run was better than none and likely exceeded the expectation of a fan base that is fatigued by the Mariners’ inconsistent offense.
“I don’t care who’s on the mound, any time you’ve got the bases loaded and nobody out and you come up with one run, you’re disappointed,” Servais said. “Obviously, we got back into the game. We tied the game, but you’re looking for more. That was kind of our shot in the ballgame.”
The Twins answered immediately in the bottom of the inning. Kepler worked a leadoff walk and Correa doubled to left to put runners on second and third with no outs. Playing on the grass, France was able to grab Willi Castro’s hard grounder and get Kepler in a rundown for an eventual out.
“The leadoff walk hurt in the seventh,” Servais said.
But both Correa and Castro were able to get to third and second in the rundown. Seattle walked Carlos Santana intentionally to load the bases for Christian Vazquez. The hope of getting an inning-ending double play from the less-than-speedy catcher didn’t materialize. Vazquez hit a sac fly to deep center to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead.
With Castillo at 98 pitches, Servais called on Trent Thornton to get the third out of the inning. He immediately allowed an RBI single to Manuel Margot for a big insurance run that was charged to Castillo.
The Mariners didn’t get a runner on base against Minnesota’s leverage relievers. Jhoan Duran was dominant in the eighth and Caleb Thielbar got the save in the ninth.
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