Mariners had stars, but were dimly lit in 0-6 Week 8
Star #3: There wasn’t one
I tried to find a batter that cleared .200 for the week. While Kyle Lewis, Mitch Haniger, J.P. Crawford, and Kyle Seager all did, none of them did it in a way that helped produce sustained offensive success.
Seager was the closest, batting .250 with 3 runs and 3 RBI, but for that to be the offensive star of the week is gross. He is the only Seattle Mariner with at least 50 plate appearances that batted this week and improved his batting average. He went from .232 to .234. Okay, okay, you’re right; Tom Murphy did raise his batting average from .129 to .133 with his pair of hits this week.
The bullpen was mostly terrible against the Padres and the Tigers to a degree. The offense had one of the worst weeks in history and is having one of the worst months ever in Major League Baseball history. Finally, the Seattle Mariners’ starting pitching is getting torched as of late.
So, not a lot to like this week, and no one really deserves an honorable mention or the third star. In the immortal words of Trevor Bauer, you want to win, be better. I don’t know if he said that, but it sounds like something he’d say.
Star #2: Yusei Kikuchi
6 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, 8 strikeouts
The lefty had a rough second inning but bounced back and otherwise dominating through the six innings he pitched. Yusei Kikuchi leads the Mariners starting pitchers in strikeouts, WHIP, innings, K’s per 9, and K’s per walks. With Paxton done for the year and Marco Gonzalez still on the IL, Kikuchi is the veteran and technically the ace of the staff.
His record should be better. But he’s struggled with the long ball this year and hasn’t had very much run support in his starts.
The thing with Yusei is that he needs to avoid the crooked number in an inning. For about two-thirds of a game, he dominates. Those great performances also come with a bomb that always ends up being the thing that hurts the most in his games but fuels the fire, and he turns it on. If only those home runs could be solo home runs or stop coming in bunches.
Yusei Kikuchi is locked in now. Since Schoop's HR in the second, he's put down 10 straight, 5 Ks. It's 3-0 Tigers B5
— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) May 18, 2021