Justin Dunn, Seattle Mariners.
Ordinarily, I’d write an article about the Seattle Mariners three stars of the week. I had made a vow, though it was to myself, and no one knows about it, to find three stars no matter how abysmal the week was. Week 8 has tested that vow.
The Seattle Mariners went 0-6 for the week, losing to a Tigers team that came in as one of the worst in nearly every statistical area on offense, defense, and pitching. Then they faced one of the best teams in the entire league in San Diego with their youth and excitement.
How bad was the Mariner’s week? Most of the team was a black hole, which was once a star but now sucks the life out of everything near it.
During the week, the Seattle Mariners had a miserable time at the plate. Actually, they’ve had a miserable month, being no-hit twice and only achieving double-digits four times in 21 games. Their batting average dropped from .211 in April to hovering around the Mendoza line. This month they’ve been held to four hits or less, eight times in 21 games. You can’t get any more pathetic at the plate than that. Right?
You have to be kidding me about this. In the same week that Seattle bats go absolutely quiet, the Mariners lose nearly their entire bullpen to COVID protocols. Then Sunday, Kendall Graveman also hit the COVID list. It was bad enough that the whole bullpen was exhausted after getting destroyed 16-1.
Four relievers made their Mariners’ debut last week. Some got called back up after terrible initial efforts with the M’s. The Mariners gave up 31 runs in the three-game series against the Padres, and nearly half of that charged to the pen.
During the last two games of the week, the Mariners committed four errors. But fans that watched any part of the Padres series know the defense was horrific all three days. Bobbles, missed cutoffs, no one covering a bag, grounder through a hole that nobody covered in a shift, the list goes on and on.
Before the game got totally out of hand on Friday, J.P. Crawford, Kyle Seager, Kyle Lewis, and Jarred Kelenic all made fielding gaffs that didn’t end up as errors in the box score. San Diego applied pressure, and the M’s defense caved to that pressure. While they didn’t have any errors charged to them Friday, they made up for it the next night with three from the official scorer.
Within 13 days, the Seattle Mariners joined the Cleveland Indians as one of two teams to be no-hit twice this season. The Rangers would join their elite efforts the next night when they were no-hit a second time as well. All six no-hitters have been among the same three teams. This time Spencer Turnbull spun the gem, and once again, the M’s gave another team something to celebrate on our mound.
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.
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.
Only Mariners’ starter not to earn a loss this week. 5 innings pitched, 1 earned run, 4 strikeouts. He also went 1-for-2 at the plate with an RBI.
Justin Dunn was efficient to start his outing on Sunday in San Diego. On four days’ rest, he raced through the first three innings with just 27 pitches. His lone blemish was a solo shot to Fernando Tatis Jr. No shame there; Tatis is second in the National League home run standings.
Dunn looked sharp early on with a good command of the strike zone. But then he started to lose control. It took him nearly 50 pitches to complete the fourth and the fifth innings combined.
With the no-decision, Dunn lowered his ERA to 3.40, which leads the Mariners. The sophomore still has control issues, but at points, he looks absolutely dominant.
Let’s not forget that Dunn also chipped in at the plate. He collected his first major league hit. Not just a hit, but it was a run-producing double. In a horrid week for the Mariners, his star shone brighter than anyone else’s star for sure.
Joe Swenson is a lifelong Seattle Sports fan and is well versed in all things baseball. He has recently written a play called “Just Three More Outs” which will go into residency at a soon-to-be-published venue.