King Felix does not deserve the Mariners' crown this year. In another lackluster performance by Seattle tonight, the Mariners fell 7-1 to the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington. Felix pitched 6 innings, giving up 7 earned runs and pairing 3 walks with only 5 strike outs.
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The Mariners' offense did their best to frustrate Felix on their own, ruining multiple rallies when the game was close early. In the 3rd, down 2-0, the Mariners had runners on first and second. In a missed signal, both runners took off for a double steal but Rob Johnson, the lead runner, decided to stop mid-base path. He was summarily thrown out for the first out. A walk and two ground outs later, and the inning was over.
In the 4th, they again had two runners on with no outs, only being able to convert it into one run. Down 2-1, their offense never responded again. From that point on, no more than five batters ever came to the plate in an inning.
Texas, however, took full advantage of a struggling Felix Hernandez. They scored 2 runs to start the game, and only had a 3-up, 3-down inning twice (for comparison, the Mariners had five). Vladimir Guerrero’s 7th inning home run came with no outs and followed Ian Kinsler being hit by a pitch. The home run would be Felix’s last pitch of the game.
With two more games left in the series, the Mariners find themselves running out of time to make up ground in the AL West. If they lack the ability to beat in-division rivals, their season is finished and the team will have to start making moves to find out where they will now be looking to build toward next season.
Game three is tomorrow at 5:05p PST in Texas. Right-hander Ian Snell (0-4, 4.64 ERA) is looking for his first win of the season, while C.J. Wilson (4-3, 3.62 ERA) looks to improve his winning record and cement the AL West into a three-team race for the season.
Reach M. Wend at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
