The Mariners lost another one of these.
The lineup struggled for most of eight innings on Wednesday, before the bottom of the order scratched a run across in the eighth. They’d get another in the ninth. But the Dodgers lineup put tons of pressure on Emerson Hancock and the Mariners defense, eventually taking game two of the series 4-2.
Hancock got the ball in what could be his final game with the team. The Mariners are reportedly willing to trade a starter, and that could very well be Hancock. I’m
not sure he did much to change his trade value. He was solid and unspectacular. He worked five innings, picked up five strikeouts on five whiffs, and gave up three runs on eight hits, including a homer. The defense behind him was bad, which didn’t help. Some of the shock value from his surprising season has worn off, but that there’d be a whole “Emerson Hancock trade deadline” storyline to this season is latest thing that would have liquified my brain not four months ago.
In the bottom of the first, Hancock hung a sweeper to Andy Pages, who yanked it into the left field seats. He also struck out three batters in the inning, including Shohei Ohtani.
In the third, a pair of singles put runners on the corners with one out for Freddie Freeman. Hancock exploded his bat producing a squibbed at Weston Wilson, who dove on the ball like a grenade. While heroic, this isn’t generally the way you want to dive on a ball as an infielder, and the Dodgers scored a second run. Hancock would wrestle out of the jam.
In the fourth, Mookie Betts singled up the middle to lead off, and Teoscar Hernandez doubled to right center on a ball that Julio Rodríguez might have caught in previous years — he met the ball just ahead of the warning, track, but seemed to pull up while checking the fence and let it drop. Hancock then intentionally walked Ohtani to load the bases. This time, Pages hit the ball that gave Wilson fits, making the game 3-0.
The bullpen was fine, aside from Michael Rucker giving up a single and an RBI double to Ohtani to make the game 4-0.
The Mariners struggled against crafty lefty Eric Lauer, who gave up one hit and one walk in six innings. The Mariners would get there second hit when Wilson doubled off Tanner Scott in the eighth. Mitch Garver looked like he’d immediately picked up another with a hard liner deep to left. But Hernandez flagged it down with an awkward leap into the chainlink fence, snaring it from the top of the wall.
Cole Young would follow with a single to give the Mariners their first run. And they’d get a second in the ninth inning on a doubles from Dominic Canzone and Josh Naylor. But they couldn’t figure things out in time. They’ll have a chance to take a series from the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Thursday.
