Another shutout keeps Mariners from making up ground
TORONTO – Even the mathematical possibilities are beginning to fade.
With Oakland and Kansas City losing, the Mariners could have whittled their deficit for a remaining playoff spot down to two games with a win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
They got everything they needed to do it – except a couple of runs.
After four days of horrid outings from their starting pitchers, rookie Taijuan Walker reversed the trend in dominating fashion, pitching brilliantly in the biggest start of his young career.
His reward was zero run support.
Walker pitched eight innings, giving up one run on four hits with a walk and six strikeouts. Yet it wasn’t good enough for him or the Mariners to get a victory.
Instead, his teammates were shut out again in a 1-0 loss to the Blue Jays. It was the Mariners’ fifth straight loss and the 19th time they’ve been shut out this season.
It leaves the Mariners (83-75) three games back with four games left to play. Those are better odds than a jackpot lottery ticket, but not by much.
Walker (2-3) took little solace in his success.
“We didn’t win,” he said. “It was a huge game that we needed to win. It’s kind of tough right now.”
“In all of this, that’s certainly something I don’t want to get lost,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “That young man had a tremendous game. He really stepped up and did everything we asked him to do.”
The Mariners mustered little against veteran lefty Mark Buerhle, who was his typical fast-paced, strike-zone self. He breezed through eight innings, allowing two hits – a bloop double to Corey Hart in the third inning and an infield single to Dustin Ackley in the fourth.
Both hits led off innings, but the Mariners did nothing with either opportunity.
Mike Zunino drew a rare walk to lead off the sixth. McClendon had Taylor bunt him into scoring position. But it mattered little. Buerhle struck out Austin Jackson and Ackley to end the inning.
“He had it going,” McClendon said. “He’s a veteran guy that knows what he’s doing. He’s got great touch and feel. He had the cutter going in, good change-up, breaking ball and mixed it all. That was vintage Buerhle.”
Walker’s lone blemish came in the eighth.
Walker walked light-hitting Munenori Kawasaki on four pitches with one out.
Walker came back to strike out Anthony Gose for the second out. But on a 3-2 change-up, No. 9 hitter Ryan Goins took a hard cut that produced a bloop single into shallow right-center field. In a 0-0 game, McClendon had his outfielders playing deep to not allow a ball over their heads.
The ball landed in between a charging Jackson and Logan Morrison and a retreating Robinson Cano.
| Oakland | 86 | 72 | – |
| Kansas City | 86 | 72 | – |
| Cleveland | 83 | 76 | 3.5 |