Lay off the panic button: three takeaways from opening weekend in Seattle

Mariners struggle against Guardians, drop final three games in heartbreaking fashion.

After a stellar performance defensively and on the mound in game one, the Mariners came back to Earth in games 2-4 this weekend at T-Mobile Park. Coming off a postseason birth the hopes are sky high for this Seattle ballclub, creating panic in the fanbase for any kind of slow start.

The good news for Seattle is that the season is very young, and they have a legitimate stopper in George Kirby going tomorrow.

While this weekend wasn’t perfect or even close to it, there are obvious reasons for their struggles. Here are a few takeaways from the Cleveland series and Seattle’s outlook moving forward.

Health

The event with the most potential for future damage was undoubtedly the injury to Robbie Ray on Friday night. While the Mariners struggled in other areas, those things will move closer to normalcy. Kolten Wong also left Sunday’s game inexplicably and sources say he was not in the dugout near the end of the game.

Health however is a huge concern, especially when you are talking about one of your workhorse pitchers and a big offseason addition in Wong. Seattle has depth at both spots, but you need your team to stay away from a major injury.

Ray’s injury seems minor enough, at least for the time being. His noticeable velocity drop in the second inning of Friday’s contest was concerning, and the announcement the next day was a flexor strain in his left elbow.

The injury was diagnosed as Grade 1, the least serious type. Seattle needs Ray and his ability to chew through innings, so keeping track of his rehab and getting him back healthy with no future concern is a must.

No update on Kolten Wong as of yet, but Sam Haggerty took over for him late in the game as a pinch hitter. Hopefully, the replacement was precautionary.

Uncharacteristic struggles

Two things the Mariners do very well are pitching and defense. Neither of those things looked promising as Seattle dropped the third straight game to a light hitting Cleveland Guardians team.

Seattle pitchers walked 16 batters over the course of the series, entirely too many for a team that typically controls the strike zone so well. The Mariners pitching staff wasn’t in attack mode much, which could be a byproduct of shaking off the rust and adjusting to the cold weather in Seattle.

Cleveland’s lineup isn’t exactly filled with power hitters, making them string together hits is key. Walking batters is a guaranteed way to allow a team like the Guardians to score more than normal.

The struggles weren’t all on the staff, however, as the Mariners' defense struggled to make plays all weekend.

Committing four errors in four games isn’t a killer, but many of these sloppy mistakes didn’t show up in the box score. Starting on Friday night, Teoscar Hernandez’s throw struck Mike Zunino in the shoulder, allowing two runs to score.

J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez struggled to communicate on a few fly balls, leading to near collisions. Jarred Kelenic had a bad read on a ball off the bat, leading to a double on what should have been a routine play.

Perhaps the biggest of the errors was Cal Raleigh’s in the tenth inning of Sunday’s contest. Lefty Gabe Speier had come on to face Josh Naylor with the bases loaded and executed his pitches well.

Speier got the groundball back to himself which he threw home to Raleigh. The Seattle catcher spiked the throw to first, allowing a run to score in what otherwise would have ended the inning unscathed.

The good news is many of these errors were uncharacteristic and committed by some of Seattle’s better defenders. I expect them to clean these things up, as they are one of the better teams in the league on the defensive side of the ball.

Mariner pitching wasn’t helped out much by their defense, and I expect both units to get back on track against the Angels starting on Monday.

Lineup shows promise, but also holes

Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh, Eugenio Suárez, and Ty France all had productive weekends for the Mariners. The rest of the lineup struggled mightily to get anything going, especially Teoscar Hernández.

Hernández seemed to get back to his old self again on Sunday, striking two balls well above 100 MPH for the first time in a Mariner uniform. There is nothing to worry about with Hernández. He has been open about feeling his timing has been off after not playing much in the WBC, and he has been a notoriously slow starter.

AJ Pollock saw his name on the lineup card for the first time on Sunday after Cooper Hummel and Tommy La Stella saw most of the action in the first three games.

I expect Pollock and Hernández to be X factors going into the Angels series, with left handed pitchers slated to start both of the first two games for Los Angeles.

The lineup still struggles to get things going at times, and the depth of the lineup from top to bottom is concerning. With that being said, the way the heart of the lineup swung the bat this weekend was encouraging.

They will need production from Jarred Kelenic, Hernández, and the DH spot more consistently.

The good news is it is very early and barring any health concerns with Kolten Wong this team should be just fine moving forward.

They will have a chance to rebound tomorrow against Angel lefty Reid Detmers. The Mariners will counter with sophomore phenom George Kirby.