Mariners 5 Reds 1
Quick Cap:
Mitch Garver's 6th inning solo homer off Andrew Abbott broke up a 1-1 pitcher's duel and propelled the Mariners to a 5-1 win. The Reds, who have gone from a sweep of the White Sox to being swept by the Mariners, managed just one hit on the day. A Lucas Sims 7th inning, four walk, three run meltdown blew open a 2-1 game. Seattle pitchers retired the final 22 Reds hitters of the game. The Mariners picked up their first series win and sweep of the season.
The Reds looked like a team missing McLain, Friedl, Marte, CES (ill) and Candelario (ill). Their lone hit was a solo blast by Elly De La Cruz. They fall to 9-9 overall and end the six game road trip at 3-3.
Notes:
After outscoring the White Sox 27-5, the Reds were outscored 17-5 by Seattle.
Offense: 1 H, 1 BB, 12 K..... 3 K Martini, 3 India. Reds batters had 31 K in the series.
India now 0 for his last 23 and 2 for 36 .....3 called strikeouts.
Elly's 2nd inning solo shot was 391 feet. He's the 1st MLB player to reach 5 HR/5 SB this year, per Baseball-Reference.
He made a heck of play on a ball deep in hole, planted and fired to Steer, who made a nice snap on the long skip at 1B.
With Candelario still out sick, and with CES also not feeling well, Steer saw his first action at 1B this year.
Stephenson 9 pitch BB. Per Bally's, he's in the 99th percentile in MLB in 'barrell's' this year...well struck balls...but hitting just .225.
The first four runs of the day came courtesy of solo homers: 3 Seattle, 1 Cincinnati.
The two starting lineups had a combined eight players batting .200 or less.
Andrew Abbott: 6 IN, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 104 pitches/66 strikes.
Prior to the Garver 6th inning blast, Abbott had retired seven in a row and 10 off 11.
Bullpen:
Lucas Sims was a disaster in the 7th: 0.2, 2 H, 3 R, 4 BB, HR....a career high tying four BB and career high 36 pitches, just 15 strikes. I'm left to conclude David Bell nodded off during the inning. Alexis Diaz had to come on to end the pain of the 7th.
I’ve lost track of 30+ pitch innings for Reds pitchers this year. I think today was the 5th occasions.
Reds pitching issued 20 walks in the series.
How they scored:
2nd Elly HR, 1-0 Reds
Next: Mike Trout and the Angels come to town for a weekend series starting Friday night. Nick Lodolo gets the ball for a 6:40 first pitch on City Connect and Fireworks night.