Josh Naylor, Andrés Muñoz latest injuries in Mariners' 10-1 loss to Nationals
Published in Baseball
WASHINGTON — Zoom in on this one last game at the end of a painfully unforgiving trip, and you won’t like what you see if you’re a Seattle Mariners fan.
On a day when both first baseman Josh Naylor and closer Andrés Muñoz exited with injury concerns, the Mariners put together another sluggish performance Sunday afternoon in another ugly loss to the Washington Nationals, 10-1, on the final day of a 10-game, 10-day East Coast trip.
Emerson Hancock allowed a season-high six runs over a season-low four innings, and the Mariners offense was shut down by a journeyman pitcher, Miles Mikolas, who came in with a 5.90 ERA.
It is fair to expect more than a 4-6 trip from a Mariners team that has talked so openly about their lofty ambitions this season.
Zoom out a bit, though.
The Mariners (37-36) lost four regulars to injuries on this trip, and things got worse Sunday when Naylor wound up leaving in the sixth inning after fouling a ball off his right shin.
Naylor appeared to be in considerable pain before leaving. M’s manager Dan Wilson said X-rays on Naylor’s leg were negative.
“I’m doing all right,” Naylor said.
Muñoz, in his first appearance in six days, threw just nine pitches in the eighth inning before he summoned a team trainer out to the mound.
The Mariners’ All-Star closer then exited the game with what Wilson described as lower back tightness, a reoccurring issue for Muñoz the past few years.
Leadoff hitter J.P. Crawford (hand) and relievers Matt Brash (lat strain) and Cooper Criswell (shoulder strain) all landed on the injured list over the past week. All-Star left fielder Randy Arozarena, this team’s MVP up to this point, missed the last two and a half games with a hamstring strain.
Rookie shortstop Colt Emerson (back) missed three games on this trip.
Heck, even two of the team’s radio broadcasters had to seek treatment from the Mariners training staff on this trip with unrelated hand injuries. (They’ll survive.)
Rehashing the injuries isn’t intended as an excuse here. But the context is necessary.
“It was a long (trip) in terms of just personnel, in terms of injuries, guys getting dinged up a little bit,” Wilson said. “That always makes it a little tricky (when) you lose your consistency a little bit in the lineup. And those things are going to happen, those stretches are going to happen from time to time.”
Consider who the Mariners had on the field in the sixth inning Sunday at Nationals Park:
Third base: Miles Mastrobuoni.
First base: Patrick Wisdom.
Catcher: Jhonny Pereda.
Center field: Victor Robles.
Pitcher: Nick Davila.
That isn’t intended as a slight to any of the individual players. All are quality depth pieces who the Mariners need right now, and who could prove useful again the rest of the season when called upon.
The point, though, is the club never intended to have all of those players on the field and in the lineup at the same time.
But that’s just where the Mariners have been the past week.
The good news for them, as Crawford noted Sunday morning, is reinforcements “are on the way.”
Crawford expects to return Tuesday, and star catcher Cal Raleigh should be, too.
Raleigh was in the lineup for Triple-A Tacoma again Sunday. If he physically responds well in the next 24 hours, Wilson intimated that his All-Star catcher will be back Tuesday.
“I think that’s the plan,” Wilson said.
Zoom out further for more important context.
On May 14, when Raleigh landed on the injured list, the Mariners entered the day with a 21-23 record.
They won their game that afternoon in Houston, 8-3,
A reasonable goal at that point was for the team to try hover around .500 until Raleigh’s return.
And the Mariners, at least, have done that. They surged into first place in the AL West in late May and began a run where they won 11 of 15, tied for the best record in the majors during that stretch.
That’s something. Where they are today, it’s not enough to get where they want to go. That’s obvious.
The Mariners have a day off Monday before starting a six-game homestand Tuesday against Baltimore.
Help is on the way, and very soon.
Hancock’s first clunker
Up to this point, Hancock has been the Mariners’ most consistent starter, and his transformation has been one of the best stories of the season for the M’s.
He was obviously frustrated at his ineffectiveness during the Nationals’ five-run fourth inning that ultimately put the game out of reach.
The Nationals (37-35) were especially aggressive against Hancock’s fastballs early in counts, and they sent 10 batters in the plate and had six hits in the fourth.
“That was a pretty rough spot for us right there,” Hancock said. “I just didn’t feel like I made an adjustment quick enough and that inning just kept snowballing. … A lot of fastballs in the zone; they made some good swings on them. But just wasn’t able to give our team a chance to win today, and that’s what sucks.”
During his last start in Baltimore, Hancock had an animated, one-sided conversation with Pereda, the fill-in catcher during Raleigh’s absence.
Working with Pereda again Sunday, Hancock called his own pitches at times using a PitchCom devise on his hip for the first time in his career.
“I really liked it, just for certain situations and certain pitches that you’re really, really feeling,” he said. “I’ll probably continue to have it on there, (but) I don’t know how much I’ll use it moving forward.”
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