Mariners' Bryce Miller, Eduard Bazardo struggle again in loss to Rangers

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Sep 9, 2026

Published in Baseball

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The awe and excitement that filled T-Mobile Park was palpable.

The 35,476 fans, many of them wearing custom-made Hello Kitty Mariners’ starter jackets (don’t ask), had just witnessed the smiling face of the team’s future display power rarely seen in the two-plus decades of the stadium’s existence.

Lazaro Montes’ three-run homer in the fourth inning — a mammoth 474-foot blast to deep right-center onto the concourse above J-Rod Squad section — was the longest in T-Mobile Park history in the MLB Statcast era beginning in 2015.

More importantly, it helped erase a large deficit left by Bryce Miller, bringing the Mariners within a run.

But the good vibes and hopes of a comeback that were building in the stands and in the Mariners’ dugout were fleeting Tuesday night. They quickly dissipated with yet another run-filled outing from Eduard Bazardo in the top of the fifth.

The struggling right-hander served up a pair of homers in a miserable five-run inning. Seattle couldn’t recover in a 10-5 loss to the Rangers.

With the loss, the Mariners fell to 67-78 on the season. They dropped to seven games back of the Astros (74-71) and five behind the Rangers (72-73).

Seattle has slogged its way to losses in nine of its last 12 games.

Even a mathematician might say they have no viable chance at making the playoffs regardless of what the numbers say.

Montes’ second career homer had cut the Rangers’ lead to 4-3. The Mariners had some hope of rallying in a game they desperately needed to win.

Bazardo entered the game with one out and a runner on first base in the fifth inning, replacing Jose A. Ferrer. He served up a two-run homer to Wyatt Langford — the first batter he faced — on a 1-2 sinker at the bottom of the zone.

It wasn’t a terrible pitch, but it was also the fourth straight sinker to Langford and it was still over the middle of the plate.

Bazardo came back to strike out Evan Carter, but walked Jake Burger and hit Nicky Lopez on a 1-1 sinker to bring Danny Jansen, the Rangers backup catcher to the plate.

Jansen came into the game with five homers in 175 plate appearances this season. But Bazardo hung a slider that couldn’t be defined as more middle-middle of the strike zone.

Jansen smashed it over the fence for a three-run homer and a 9-3 lead. When Justin Foscue followed with a single, manager Dan Wilson finally pulled Bazardo and called on Carlos Vargas to get the final out of the inning.

Over his last 24 appearances, Bazardo has allowed 18 runs in 22 innings pitched with nine homers. In his last 17 appearances, he’s had only three where he hasn’t allowed a base runner:

August 7 vs. the Rays when he retired the only batter he faced after entering the game with two outs.

August 14 at Houston when he worked two perfect innings.

August 23 vs. the Cubs when he worked a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout.

Miller provided another uneven start in what has been 2 ½ months worth of them.

He made it just 3 ⅔ innings, allowing four runs on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts.