Opportunity keeps rolling past the Mariners.
The Mariners pitched poorly, fielded poorly, and hit poorly in their 10-2 loss to the Brewers on Wednesday. I imagine they would have run the bases poorly, too, but they didn’t really bother. They wrapped up “the most important stretch of the year” with a record of 11-8, including going 6-6 against a few of the league’s best teams. Over that four-week stretch, they gained half a game on the Astros, who completed a sweep of the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. The Mariners are
six back in the AL West.
Luis Castillo was OK. His fastball was in the zone and past batters and generated eight of his 13 whiffs. He entered the game with a 1.92 FIP over his last four starts, and he continued his fielding-independent dominance with no walks, no homers, seven strikeouts and a 0.89 FIP.
Castillo didn’t fare nearly as well when depending on his fielders. Part of that was his own fault, as he allowed a 63% hard hit rate and two barrels. But a lot of it wasn’t. In the fourth, with the game tied at two, Castillo got the first batter to hit a soft grounder to J.P. Crawford, who charged it and whiffed, allowing the ball to trickle under his glove and into center field. No matter — Castillo set down the next two quickly. Then he hit a batter. Then he gave up a single through the right side of the infield. Then he gave up a single on a swinging bunt. Then he gave up a single off Crawford’s glove again. It was 5-2 by the time he escaped. In the fifth inning, Castillo gave up another trio of singles to lead off, the last of which skipped under the glove of a sprawling Crawford, allowing the sixth run to score.
It wasn’t a good day for Crawford in the field — another not good day. He entered the game as a bottom 10 fielder in MLB with -8 Outs Above Average. He’ll likely enter tomorrow as the worst defensive shortstop in MLB, according to Baseball Savant. He’s struggled to his right, he’s struggled to his left, he’s struggled coming in and going out, and he’s occasionally struggled to throw the ball across the infield. He remains a net-positive shortstop with strong production at the plate, but his days as a legitimate Gold Glove defender appear behind him.
It’s not just Crawford, to be fair. The Mariners -19 OAA is second worst in MLB this year. Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh each remain great defenders on their own, but almost everyone else has struggled, with limited range or poor arms or both. I’ve spent much of the season pointing the finger at a too-shallow pitching staff for the Mariners mixed performance, but Wednesday’s game illustrated the other part of the issue: Castillo was fine, and the defense dropped the ball.
The game was 6-2 and still within reach when Dan Wilson turned to the bullpen. But needing to cover at least four innings, in came Trent Thornton. Thornton allowed no walks, no homers and picked up a pair of strikeouts over two innings; he also allowed six singles and a double, mostly on line drives hit 100+ mph. The final single he allowed scored the Brewers 10th and final run — a one-hopper off the glove of Crawford.
More from lookoutlanding.com:
- 40 in 40: Mike Leake
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 1/1/18: New Year, Edgar Martinez, and J.D. Martinez
- Mariner Moose Tracks, 12/31/17: Edgar Martinez, Barry Bonds, and Sandy Koufax
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/30/17: Edgar Martinez, Miguel Sano, and Wade Davis
- Jerry Dipoto doesn’t care about your fan theories
- Sporcle Friday: Most Walks in a Season
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/28/17: 4MOM, Jose Altuve, and Michael Fulmer
