Seattle Mariners 3 up, 3 down for the week ending 5/7
Ed Stein
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A look at the Seattle Mariners best and worst performers for the week ending Sunday, May 7.
Pacific Northwest Sports continues our weekly feature: Seattle Mariners 3 up, 3 down. It tracks those M’s who had a good week and those who had bad ones (Monday-Sunday).
This week (May 1-7), the Seattle Mariners came back to the west coast last week and kicked a little tail. They swept three from the Athletics and then took two-of-three games from the defending World Series Champion Astros at T-Mobile Park.
That’s a 5-1 week against division opponents to bring their season record to an even 17-17, 3.5 games behind AL West-leading Texas. Seattle’s offense picked it up, averaging 4.5 runs per game
3 up
Bryce Miller
It’s been quite the debut week for Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryce Miller. He’s been lights out since coming up to the Majors on May 2.
Miller made 2 starts (May 2 @ Oakland and May 7 vs. Houston), allowing a single run over 12 innings. Although he recorded the win in one of the games, Seattle picked up a “W” in both outings.
The rookie hurler allowed 4 hits, struck out 15, and walked 1. When he came up, Miller was considered a stop-gap due to Robbie Ray‘s season-ending injury and Chris Flexen‘s ineffectiveness. If he keeps it up, Miller will stay with the M’s all season.
Ty France
He’s back!
Mired in a miserable slump through the last two weeks of April, Ty France turned his season around last week. The Seattle Mariners first baseman had 8 hits in 24 at bats posting a .333/.407/.375/.782 slash line.
He currently has a five-game hitting streak, raising his batting average by 26 points. The first step was getting hits. Next up is to add a little pop.
Jose Caballero
Speaking of hitting streaks, Jose Caballero had at least one hit in all four games he played last week. That included a 3-for-5 performance on Wednesday with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI in a 7-2 win over Oakland.
For the week, Caballero had 6 hits in 14 at bats, including a pair of doubles. It made for an impressive slash line of .462/.500/.615/1.115/
His offensive outburst gives starting second baseman Kolten Wong a little extra time to heal his injured wrist.
3 Down
Tommy La Stella
The Seattle Mariners experiment with journeyman Tommy La Stella has come to a merciful conclusion. During his month wearing the navy blue, silver, and pacific northwest green, he hit .190 with a .530 OPS.
When Seattle signed him, La Stella had a shot at becoming part of a designated hitter platoon. He just couldn’t get himself going at the plate.
On Thursday, the M’s released him.
Julio Rodriguez
It hurts to put Julio Rodriguez on this side of the ledger. Unfortunately, he had a miserable week.
In 21 at bats over 5 games, the popular center fielder had only 2 hits, resulting in a .095 batting average. He also had three times as many strikeouts as hits for the week.
To make matters worse, J-Rod hit into rally-killing double plays on both Saturday and Sunday.
Matt Brash
Matt Brash has a serious consistency problem in 2023. It seems like every week-and-a-half to two weeks, the Mariners set-up man has a clunker outing.
His most recent blow-up was costly. The M’s rallied in the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday night to tie the game at 4-4.
Seattle brought in their hard-throwing righty to start the ninth. Kyle Tucker, the second batter he faced, crushed a ball to center field for a two-run homer. Final score Houston 6 – Seattle 4.
Which Seattle Mariners players are on your 3 up, 3 down for last week?