Mariners can’t complete the sweep, lose to Braves, 5-2

Quality start string snaps at six, but Mariners earn fifth straight series win anyway

Sweeps aren’t easy, and sweeps against a perennial powerhouse team like the Braves—who hadn’t lost back-to-back games all season until the Mariners handed them a pair of Ls to open this series—are even harder to come by, but that doesn’t entirely offset the frustration of a 5-2 loss set up by some avoidable mistakes and poor plate appearances, despite the Mariners combining for double-digit hits: the first time all season they’ve out-hit their opponents and lost. This game also snaps a streak of quality starts put up by Mariners starters over an incredible run, with Emerson Hancock only making it 3.2 innings in today’s contest.

Hancock worked around a self-created jam in the first; after opening with a strikeout looking of Acuña Jr. on a well-placed changeup, he issued back-to-back walks to Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley. However, Hancock rebounded to strike out Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna. Seby Zavala called an excellent sequence of pitches to each hitter and Hancock executed, going sinker-heavy to Olson before freezing him on a slider and getting Ozuna in swing mode against the slider before eventually getting him to swing after a changeup off the plate.

But the second and third times through the lineup, Hancock wasn’t as successful in his execution, leaving pitches over the plate and falling behind batters. He gave up some hard contact (109 EV+) on a pair of singles to Acuña Jr. and Riley in the third and issued back-to-back walks to Olson and Ozuna, walking in the first run of the game.

“When [Hancock] pitches well, he’s in control of the count, ahead of the count, on the attack” said Servais postgame. “Today he wasn’t quite as sharp early in counts.”

“I felt like I really didn’t execute pitches that well,” said Hancock. “I don’t think I attacked as well as I normally do. I’ll get back to doing that and being more aggressive in those counts, but today it was just one of those things where I didn’t attack like I wanted to.”

But the wheels really came off in the fourth, and not entirely because of Hancock’s own doing. With one out, Mitch Haniger dropped an easy flyball out, allowing Orlando Arcia to get to second. Acuña Jr.—who you just knew the Mariners couldn’t keep quiet all series—then drove him in with a sharply-hit single on a 94 mph four-seamer that ran inside but Acuña was able to turn on. Albies followed with a single on a fastball right at the top of the zone—again, not a bad pitch, but Braves lineup gonna Braves lineup. The big damage came on a combination of two mistakes: first, Hancock left a 93 mph sinker dead red for Riley; secondly, Mitch Haniger lost the ball in attempting to make a heroic catch, allowing Riley a triple. Here’s the video if you want to see, but if you are over 30, caution, as it will make you grip your shoulders/back/legs/ohgodgettingoldsucks in sympathetic agony.

“We say all the time, 27 outs, no more. We gave them more than 27 outs today, and that was ultimately what decided the game, that inning,” said Servais.

That triple would Hancock’s day and also the Mariners’ string of quality starts; the Braves would get another run off his replacement, Trent Thornton, rudely greeted by Olson first-pitch-swinging for another RBI base hit. And that’s all the Braves would need, as Chris Sale throttled the Mariners—going just five innings but recording nine strikeouts. Sale was surgical the first time through the lineup, although with a little help from home plate umpire Nic Lentz:

That would be a pattern all game, with Sale consistently getting that pitch called well off the plate to righties. It’s a shame, too, because Sale didn’t need that kind of help; he absolutely had the Mariners hitters wrong-footed with his slider-fastball combo all game.

The Mariners did break through against Sale some in the fourth, loading the bases against Sale with singles from Ty France and Dylan Moore, and Luis Urías, who appears to be the new Ty France, getting hit by pitch. Unfortunately, Sam Haggerty was not Slam Haggerty and lined out to end the threat. They finally scratched a run across in the fifth thanks to, of course, Seby Zavala, who had extinguished the threat of a no-hitter earlier in the game and then led off with the Mariners’ first extra-base hit of the day, a double into the left field corner that just missed being a home run. He’d later score on a softly hit single from Jorge Polanco.

That ended Sale’s day, as the Braves opted to bring in another lefty for the sixth, Dylan Lee, who gave up a leadoff single to Ty France but was able to sit down the next three right-handed hitters he saw. However, the Mariners did scrape up a run off Lee in the seventh, pressed into duty again against Julio, who singled and scored on a Polanco base hit. The Braves went to the bullpen again to summon yet another lefty, A.J. Minter, last seen giving up the walkoff home run to Mitch Garver. Minter immediately issued a four-pitch walk to Cal Raleigh, bringing up Ty France, with two outs, as the tying run. But maybe all the magic got shook out Monday night, as France struck out on a cutter to end the inning.

The Mariners had one more chance in the ninth against Braves closer Raisel Iglesias, now rested and ready but perhaps a bit too rested, as he led off by walking pinch-hitter Luke Raley. Julio then blistered a slider (104.6 EV) for a base hit to put to on with no outs. Unfortunately, Mitch Haniger, who had a dreadful day at the plate and in the field, flew out, followed by Polanco flying out and Raleigh grounding out softly to end the threat.

Annoyingly. this was a winnable game, as the Mariners had their opportunities to put some runs on the board, but if anyone had told me the Mariners had been the ones threatening to sweep this series rather than the other way around, I would have taken that in a heartbeat. This is the fewest number of runs Atlanta has scored in a series this year, the first time they’ve lost back-to-back games, and the first series they’ve lost this season (they have two series that haven’t resolved yet because of postponements, but for now, that stands). Here’s hoping the team can keep this momentum rolling out on the road trip and into May.

Other notes:

• Sam Haggerty made up (some) for striking out with the bases loaded with an incredible diving catch in left field to end the fifth inning and give Trent Thornton a 1-2-3 inning.

• Dylan Moore made an excellent diving grab in the seventh to rob Matt Olson of a base hit.
• Tyson Miller worked two hitless, scoreless innings.
• Tayler Saucedo worked a five-pitch inning in the eighth, because Tayler Saucedo understands the importance of quick games on getaway days.
• Josh Rojas came in to pinch-hit for Sam Haggerty in the eighth, meaning that for the second time in as many games we saw Josh Rojas, Left Fielder. You will become a superutility player if you play for the Seattle Mariners, if you like it or not.