Robbie Ray frustrates Guardians again as Mariners clinch series

CLEVELAND – Perhaps the only thing that can slow down the Mariners on this road trip will be the rain showers that are expected to start early Sunday morning and the thunderstorms that are predicted to follow right around the time of first pitch.

Having the season series finale against Seattle postponed to another day would be welcomed by the Guardians, who have seen more than enough of the Mariners’ collection of pitchers – starters and relievers – that has flummoxed them in six games in the past 10 days.

Led by another solid start from lefty Robbie Ray and the continued lockdown pitching of the bullpen, the Mariners rolled to a 4-0 victory Saturday at Progressive Field.

Making his 27th start of the season, Ray pitched six scoreless innings, allowing six hits with no walks and three strikeouts to improve to 12-8 on the season and lower his ERA to 3.45. It also included Ray swallowing a large bug – likely a mayfly – in the fourth inning, leaving him coughing and spitting.

Has he eaten a bug in a game before?

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I ate one about a month ago in the backyard playing with the kids, but never in a game.”

It didn’t seem to affect his signature grunting.

“It kind of just went all the way down,” he said. “I was taking a deep breath in and just sucked it in. It caught me off guard a little bit.”

Six days earlier at T-Mobile Park, Ray held Cleveland scoreless over seven innings, allowing just three hits with seven strikeouts and the Mariners also prevailed in a 4-0 victory.

“With Robbie, it was maybe not his best stuff tonight, but he dug down deep there in the fifth inning,” Servais said. “I thought it was getting a little bit dicey, and it looked like his stuff was backing up a little bit.”

Ray allowed back-to back singles to start the fifth inning. But he didn’t allow a run, striking out Tyler Freeman for the third out with runners on first and third.

Seattle has shut out seven teams this season, and two of them have come in Ray’s last two starts against Cleveland.

“With this team, they put the ball in play,” Ray said. “I just felt like tonight we were able to make them hit the pitches that I wanted them to hit. The big double play (third inning) was huge and a couple timely strikeouts, but for the most part it was them hitting balls at guys.”

Over his past six starts, Ray is 4-0 with a 1.38 ERA. In those 39 innings pitched, he’s allowed six earned runs on 25 hits with 11 walks and 44 strikeouts. Over his past 15 starts, Ray has allowed three runs or fewer in 13 . The exceptions were back-to-back starts against the Astros on July 24 (six runs allowed) and July 29 (four runs allowed).

It’s the type of dominance the Mariners expected when the signed him in the offseason.

If you throw in the back-to-back starts against Cleveland by Luis Castillo, the top two starters in the rotation have pitched a combined 25 innings in four games, allowing one run while striking out 24 batters and walking just two.

“You’ve seen what he’s done,” Ray said of Castillo. “I feel like us going back to back is a good combination against anybody.”

That 1-2 top of the rotation is why Seattle acquired Castillo at the deadline.

“These are top-of-the-rotation starters,” Servais said. “The key thing is the walks. These guys have good stuff. They stay aggressive. They stay after hitters.”

With Aaron Civale, the scheduled starter for Saturday, placed on the injured list with forearm tightness, the Mariners grinded through at-bats on rookie right-hander Xzavion Curry, who was recalled from Triple-A Columbus on Friday. Making just his second MLB start, Curry struggled to throw consistent strikes and the Mariners were willing to wait him out.

Ty France continued his recent uptick in power, blasting a solo homer in the first inning for an early 1-0 lead.

It was France’s 18th homer and his fourth in his last 20 at-bats.

Seattle tacked on another run in the second, loading the bases on a walk, an error and a single from Julio Rodriguez with one out. After France popped up to first, Mitch Haniger, who has tormented Cleveland pitchers, watched four pitches not even close to the zone go by for a run-scoring walk.

The Mariners added two more runs in the fifth inning. With one out, Curry issued consecutive walks to Jesse Winker, Carlos Santana and Adam Frazier to load the bases again and end his night.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona called on sinker/slider specialist Nick Sandlin, trying to get a ground ball for a double play. Instead, Cal Raleigh battled Sandlin after getting behind 1-2, fouling off two pitches, refusing to chase an elevated fastball and lining a single into right to score Winker and keep the bases loaded.

J.P. Crawford, who had snapped an 0-for-12 streak with a single in his previous at-bat, was able to check his swing on a 3-2 slider out of the zone for a walk to force in another run that made it 4-0.

“A lot of really good at-bats with a young pitcher out there grinding through it,” Servais said. “We made him throw strikes. We certainly had some chances for more. We lined out a couple of times with the bases loaded, but again, shutouts are beautiful.”