Mariners implode in Tigers’ eight-run third inning in loss
Tigers' Nick Castellanos, right, celebrates his third-inning grand slam with teammate Ian Kinsler on Wednesday. (Associated Press)
DETROIT – The Mariners’ quest to win back-to-back games encountered a minor impediment along the way on Wednesday night.
It’s funny how an eight-run inning can sidetrack a team’s chances of winning.
Starter Mike Montgomery suffered through the worst outing of his brief big-league career, which included the interminable eight-run third inning. That fiasco of free bases, fielding mistakes and a grand slam extinguished any real possibilities of victory early in a 9-4 loss to the Tigers.
The Mariners dropped to 43-52 on the season and still haven’t won back-to-back games since June 19-20.
Montgomery didn’t have pinpoint command and found trouble because of it from the very beginning. In the first and second inning, the Tigers put runners on first and second with one out thanks to doubles and walks. But he managed to work out of both jams without allowing a run.
He would have no such luck in the third inning. And his teammates didn’t do much to help him, either.
Montgomery walked Rajai Davis to start the inning – never a good thing – particularly when you are up 1-2 in the count.
“I got ahead, I felt really good and I walk the leadoff guy,” Montgomery said. “Those are the little things that really come back to bite you.”
With Davis on first, Ian Kinsler decided to drop down a drag-bunt attempt. Kyle Seager fielded the ball with his bare hand, but his throw to first was high and wide of the bag. Instead of coming off the bag to catch the ball, first baseman Mark Trumbo tried to keep his foot on the bag and make the catch. He couldn’t. The ball bounced into foul territory and Davis scored from first.
It continued to snowball. Montgomery walked Yoenis Cespedes for the second time in the game. Before Montgomery could get Victor Martinez to pop out to second for the first out of the inning, catcher Mike Zunino mishandled a fastball that went for a passed ball, allowing both runners to move up a bag into scoring position. It loomed large.
It forced manager Lloyd McClendon to intentionally walk All-Star outfielder J.D. Martinez, who had homered on Tuesday night and has 27 of them this season, with first base open. They didn’t stay loaded for long. Montgomery fell behind 2-0 and gutted a 90 mph fastball to Nick Castellanos that was crushed well over the wall in left-center field for a grand slam to make it 5-0.
That was it for Montgomery. McClendon called on lefty David Rollins to eat up some innings. Rollins immediately served up an RBI double to Kinsler for the eighth run of the inning. The inning finally came to an end when Cespedes flew out to center.
Down 8-0, the Mariners tried to chip away. They got three runs back in the top of the fourth. Kyle Seager doubled and Nelson Cruz followed with a towering home run to deep left field. Robinson Cano followed with a single and later scored on Mark Trumbo’s ground ball to cut it to 8-3.
Cruz cut the lead to 8-4 in the sixth with a leadoff solo homer. It was his 24th homer of the season.