SEATTLE \u2013 June can\u2019t get here soon enough.<\/p>\n
A somber spring slumber rolled along for the Mariners and their lackluster lineup Friday, shut down 5-0 in a series-opening loss to the Texas Rangers before a crowd of 28,253 at T-Mobile Park.<\/p>\n
For the Mariners (8-13), it was another sleepwalking performance in a young season quickly becoming defined by them.<\/p>\n
They have lost four in a row. They have been shut out four times in their first 21 games and held to three runs or fewer 10 times.<\/p>\n
Swept in a three-game series in San Diego on Thursday evening, the Mariners arrived back in Seattle around 1 a.m. Friday. As such, players were given a light pregame schedule Friday afternoon, showing up to the ballpark an hour later than usual and skipping their typical on-field batting practice.<\/p>\n
During his usual pregame media briefing, M\u2019s manager Dan Wilson was asked when he might consider lineup changes to try and shake awake his offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a natural tipping point at any point,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cBut we are always continuing to ask that question and look at things differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed to some struggles from other contenders around MLB as an indication that a lot of teams are still trying to find their way in the season\u2019s early stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the time of year where you have to be patient. There\u2019s a long season ahead of us,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
It was more of the same against the Rangers.<\/p>\n
And even when something good happened, the end result was a dud.<\/p>\n
With two outs in the sixth inning, J.P. Crawford came through with the Mariners\u2019 first hit with a runner in scoring position. It just so happened that that runner at second base was Josh Naylor, who just happens to be the slowest runner in baseball according to MLB\u2019s Statcast metrics.<\/p>\n
Carlos Cardoza, the Mariners\u2019 first-year third-base coach, waved him home anyway, and Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford threw Naylor out by 20 feet at the plate, ending the inning and the Mariners\u2019 last real threat to score.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the sixth inning, with one out and Naylor at second, Wilson had turned to Rob Refsnyder to pinch hit for left-handed-hitting Luke Raley against Rangers lefty Tyler Alexander. It was the second night in a row Wilson opted to pinch hit for Raley in a similar situation against a lefty reliever. The move backfired both times.<\/p>\n
Refsnyder grounded out to the pitcher. Activated off the paternity list earlier Friday, Refsnyder is off to an 0-for-18 start to his Mariners tenure.<\/p>\n
In a rematch of their April 7 showdown in Texas, the Mariners loaded the bases with one out in the first inning against Rangers ace Jacob deGrom. Cal Raleigh drew a four-pitch walk, Julio Rodr\u00edguez drove a double to the opposite field and Naylor worked a walk.<\/p>\n
But deGrom escaped by striking out Randy Arozarena (on an 82-mph curveball) and Luke Raley (on a 98-mph fastball) to end the only real threat the M\u2019s would muster against him.<\/p>\n
Brandon Nimmo hit a leadoff homer against Mariners ace Logan Gilbert, who had fallen behind 2-0 in the count.<\/p>\n
The Rangers extended their lead to 2-0 in the third inning when Corey Seager came around to score after his leadoff double. Gilbert needed 26 pitches to get through the inning but managed to escape further damage.<\/p>\n
Gilbert\u2019s final line: 5\u2153 innings, seven hits, two runs, one walk and seven strikeouts on 99 pitches.<\/p>\n
The real story, again, was the lack of punch from the Mariners offense, which managed just six hits, only one of which went for extra bases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings can change very, very quickly,\u201d Wilson said pregame. \u201cAnd this is a team that, you know, we know is battle tested. They\u2019ve been through things before, and we\u2019ve come out OK from them. So I think this is a time for patience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donovan exits early<\/p>\n
Brendan Donovan, the Mariners\u2019 leadoff hitter, left the game after starting a 5-4-3 double play to end the third inning. Donovan was seen talking to team trainer Kyle Torgerson in the dugout soon after.<\/p>\n
Wilson said Donovan had tightness in his hip and his status will be updated tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Miller set for rehab assignment<\/p>\n
Bryce Miller will take the chilly evenings at T-Mobile Park over the warm mornings on the backfields of the Mariners\u2019 spring training complex in Arizona.<\/p>\n
Miller was back in the Mariners clubhouse Friday afternoon in preparation for starting a rehab stint with Triple-A Tacoma\/High-A Everett. He is slated to start for the Rainiers on Saturday night at Cheney Stadium. He will throw two innings or roughly 30 pitches.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to go down to Tacoma and let it rip and go from there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Miller felt discomfort in his side during and after his first start in spring training back on Feb. 26. He was diagnosed with a mild oblique strain and was shut down from throwing off the mound for a week. It\u2019s been a long road back to being fully healthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it\u2019s been a while,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is week 10 from the original MRI. It\u2019s took a while to get it feeling 100%. I\u2019ve been throwing a bunch of bullpens and I threw a couple of lives (batting practices) and felt great. I feel 100%. The oblique is ready to go. Arm is good. Just excited to get back on the mound.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller\u2019s rehab had fits and starts. He had issues with soreness and recovery in the oblique after full bullpen sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of a roller coaster of a rehab process,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d get to a point where it felt really good, and then I\u2019d throw bullpen and it would go good, the velocity would be great, but then the next couple days, it just wouldn\u2019t recover quick enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller didn\u2019t have any of those issues in the last few weeks of throwing, particularly after the two live batting practice sessions, including last Saturday where his fastball was touching 98-99 mph.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat felt really good,\u201d he said. \u201cMy velocity was great and everything was super sharp. The days after that, I felt completely normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller\u2019s buildup to being ready to return from the injured list will be similar to spring training. He will throw on Saturday in Tacoma and get five days rest before pitching Friday for Everett with a limit of three innings or 45 pitches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2013 June can\u2019t get here soon enough. A somber spring slumber rolled along for the Mariners and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,4,149,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-678152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-rangers","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-rangers","13":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116424141466954096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}