Mariners give up 15 unanswered runs in embarrassing loss to Rays

SEATTLE – The juxtaposition between the two teams was beyond stark to the point of glaring, and it wasn’t because one team was wearing hideous black baseball pants.

No, the gap between the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners in terms of talent, execution, competitive nature and relentless looked and felt wider than the geographic distance separating the two teams.

The Rays are everything the Mariners want to be, believe they can be, but have rarely shown glimpses beyond a game or two that they might be. And based on how the last week has gone, it isn’t going to get better.

Friday’s series opener against the Rays — the team with best record in baseball — started with so much promise.

The Mariners scored four runs in the second inning off Rays ace Shane McClanahan, the current front-runner to win the American League Cy Young Award.

The game ended with Seattle designated hitter Mike Ford lobbing in 68-mph “fastballs” in the ninth inning, getting a nice ovation from what was left of the announced crowd of 37,063, who were only staying for postseason fireworks and deserved to boo the Mariners when they made their final out in 15-4 beatdown put on them by the Rays.

So what happened in the middle?

Well, M’s starter Bryce Miller had to leave the game in the fourth inning due to a blister on his middle finger.

The Mariners didn’t score another run or even threaten to score after the second inning, generating one hit over the final seven innings.

And Seattle’s bullpen suffered one of the worst implosions of the season, giving up eight runs in an interminable eighth inning that no pitch clock could save.

Add it all up and you get the Mariners’ third consecutive loss that somehow felt worse than the extra-innings failure on Tuesday, the embarrassing series-losing defeat to the lowly Nationals on Wednesday when they were shut down by Patrick Corbin, one of the worst starting pitchers in MLB.

The hourlong players-only meeting before the pregame workout would’ve served as a nice anecdote if they’d have prevailed, particularly with McClanahan starting.

Instead, it will be another example of the saying “good teams win games, bad teams have meetings.”

In the early evening warmth, T-Mobile Park was rocking.

The Mariners jumped on McClanahan, scoring four runs in the second inning.

Teoscar Hernandez led off with a double to right field and Tom Murphy crushed his fourth homer of the season.

Seattle continued to add to the 2-0 lead. Cal Raleigh walked, Jarred Kelenic blooped a single into right field and Jose Caballero loaded the bases with a single to left field.

It brought up J.P. Crawford, the Mariners’ most clutch hitter this season.

Crawford pulled a 1-1 slider through the right side of the infield for a single that scored Raleigh and Kelenic for a 4-0 lead.

The four runs allowed tied a season high for McClanahan, who exited the game after working a scoreless third inning.

Five Rays relievers combined to allow one hit for the final six innings, striking out five.

With how Bryce Miller was pitching, it looked like a strong start to a rebound.

After getting Wander Franco to fly out to center, Miller looked down at the middle finger on his right hand and started rubbing it against his thumb. A blister that had been building had torn, causing some discomfort.

Mariners manager Scott Servais and head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson came out to check on Miller. After a brief conversation, Miller remained in the game, believing he could pitch through it.

But he walked Luke Raley, throwing some wayward breaking pitches and showing a slight decrease in fastball velocity.

The issues continued when Randy Arozarena stepped to the plate. But instead of walking the Rays’ cleanup hitter, Miller left a 92-mph fastball up in the zone, but not up enough.

Arozarena yanked the ball over the wall in left field for a two-run homer.

It became clear that Miller couldn’t keep trying to pitch through the discomfort. Servais and Torgerson went out to check on Miller again and he was lifted from the game.

The Rays picked up a run in the fifth and one in the sixth.

But the eighth inning was something to behold or forget.

Working a second inning of relief against the heart of the Rays’ order, Andres Munoz never recorded an out. He gave up a double to Raley and a single to Arozarena. When Eugenio Suarez couldn’t get an out on Isaac Paredes’ soft grounder and Raley scored from third, the Mariners lost the lead. And the deficit grew. The Rays banged out four more doubles in the inning, doing damage against lefties Gabe Speier and Tayler Saucedo.