On a night when they honored one of their all-time best players, the Seattle Mariners played one of their worst games of the season. Sunday, the Mariners try to atone for their ineptitude as they close out a three-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers at Safeco Field.
Saturday saw Ken Griffey Jr. inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame, but it wasn't long before the first sellout crowd of the season for Seattle got a disappointing look at present-day baseball in the Pacific Northwest as the hosts dropped a lopsided 10-0 decision.
Just a day after bowing to Milwaukee in the series opener, 10-5, the Mariners were again fighting an uphill battle that was simply too great for them to handle as starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma permitted six runs on nine hits in 6 2/3 innings. Later in the meeting, reliever Lucas Luetge recorded only two outs while at the same time giving up four runs on six hits.
Seattle hitters managed just four hits in the meeting, two by Dustin Ackley.
Tom Gorzelanny came up with his third win of the season for the Brewers, tossing seven shutout innings, allowing three hits and walking two, while striking out seven.
"He threw the ball well, you can't take anything away from him," acting Mariners manager Robby Thompson said. "He shut us down. Once again, we struggled against a left-handed pitcher on the mound, so we've got to do a better job of that."
The Mariners, losers of four of their last five outings, have been under the direction of Thompson while manager Eric Wedge continues to seek medical advice after suffering a stroke.
Of the 16 hits put up by Milwaukee, four came from Jonathan Lucroy, with three more being provided by Juan Francisco. Scooter Gennett registered his second home run of the campaign as he knocked in three runs and scored twice for the visitors as they won for the fourth time in five tries.
"It makes it fun to sit back and watch it," Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke said of the offensive onslaught by his team. "There were a lot of good at-bats tonight."
Despite being the ace of the Seattle staff, Felix Hernandez is trying to find his way back into the win column for the first time since July 21. After picking up a victory versus Houston three weeks ago, the right-hander has gone without a decision in two games and lost his most recent outing on Tuesday to Toronto.
Against the Blue Jays at home, Hernandez lasted just five innings as he surrendered six runs, although just half of those were earned. King Felix scattered nine hits and walked three, while striking out just three, over the course of five innings.
Signed by Seattle in 2002 and coming up to the big leagues three years later, Hernandez is getting his first-ever look at the Brewers today.
Like Hernandez, Milwaukee starter Wily Peralta is also seeing today's opponent for the first time. The right-hander, now in just his second major league season, picked up his first win in four tries the last time out, topping San Francisco on the road earlier this week.
Peralta went 6 1/3 innings against the Giants, allowing just a single run on five hits and a couple of walks, striking out six, as he picked up his eighth win of the campaign.
Milwaukee, which won the last series between these teams by a margin of 2-1 back in 2010, now has an interleague mark of 110-133 all-time, compared to the Mariners who are 159-141.
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