Mariners muster only two hits in lackluster loss to Red Sox

SEATTLE – As Nick Davila struggled to record the first out of the seventh inning, the crowd of 45,663 – a second consecutive sellout – started “the wave” with the Mariners trailing by four runs.

The noise swirled around T-Mobile Park and many of the fans seemed genuinely happy to stand up and scream.

It circulated far longer than expected or was likely wanted.

And while a large section of the fanbase vehemently and correctly detests the wave, particularly doing it when the home team is losing, the counter argument from the partakers in Saturday night’s crowd might be something like this: “Well, we needed something to do to provide some entertainment because the Mariners sure the hell weren’t doing it.”

Indeed, in terms of action, aesthetics, excitement and successful results, Seattle provided little in a lackluster 5-1 loss to the Red Sox. It was reminiscent of many performances this season, including an uninspiring loss 24 hours prior – a left-handed starter stymies the Mariners offense and the M’s starting pitcher is solid through five innings, but his replacement allows Boston’s lead to balloon to the point where rallying is impossible.

The only difference being the piggyback philosophy couldn’t be blamed for this loss. Though there are some fans creative enough to find a way.

The Mariners mustered only two hits in the game – a single from Cal Raleigh and an RBI single from Josh Naylor. Both came in the first inning off Red Sox starter Connolly Early. They didn’t get another hit over the next eight innings.

Seattle trailed 2-1 when Emerson Hancock jogged to the mound to start the sixth inning. He was on the cusp of another quality start with his pitch count only at 58.

He had retired the first nine hitters he faced before giving up a leadoff single to Anthony Seigler to start the fourth inning. After striking out Masataka Yoshida, Hancock immediately fell behind 2-0 to Wilyer Abreu. He went to the cutter in the hitter’s count, but it stayed in the middle of the plate. Abreu sent it just over the wall in center field for a two-run homer.

But his outing fell apart in the sixth inning. After getting Seigler to ground out for a quick first out, Hancock wouldn’t record another out in the frame. He allowed a single to Yoshida and issued back-to-back walks to Abreu and Willson Contreras to load the bases.

With Hancock struggle to find the zone, manager Dan Wilson went to Jose A. Ferrer to face the left-handed hitting Jarren Duran. Ferrer got Duran to hit a ground ball to first baseman Josh Naylor, who fired home to get the force out. But the Mariners couldn’t complete the inning-ending, 3-2-3 double play as Duran beat out Cal Raleigh’s subsequent throw to first base by a step. That loomed large when Ferrer uncorked a wild pitch during his 11-pitch battle with Caleb Durbin that allowed a run to score. Durbin plated another run on his infield single to shortstop that was gloved on a diving stop by Colt Emerson. Marcelo Mayer followed with a soft chopper to second baseman that Cole Young could only field and hold on to. He had no play anywhere as another run scored and Mayer was safe at first base.

When Durbin ran the Red Sox out of the inning by trying to steal home on a pickoff throw to first base, the inning finally ended with the Sox leading 5-1.

A four-run deficit isn’t impossible to overcome, but it also isn’t likely to happen either.

Prospect watch

Kade Anderson was nearly flawless again Friday night for Double-A Arkansas, allowing just two hits over six shutout innings in the Travelers’ 4-0 victory at Frisco, Texas. He issued one walk with eight strikeouts, and he has not allowed a run over his last 27 2/3 innings. In his first 12 pro starts, Anderson has a 1.02 ERA with a 90-to-8 strikeout-to-walkout in 612/3 innings, and the fervor is escalating to see both Anderson and Ryan Sloan — the top two pitching prospects in baseball — arrive in Seattle.

Anderson and Sloan remain on track to earn a big-league promotion at some point late this summer, perhaps to bolster the Mariners’ bullpen. The Mariners have maintained that the best thing for the development of the two young arms is to stay, for now, in the Double-A Texas League, where they can continue to build up their stamina and pitch count. There is no rush to promote either of them to Triple-A Tacoma; the Mariners have traditionally protected their young pitching prospects from the hitter-friendly environments around the Pacific Coast League.