A Seattle Slugfest?
The Headline: The Seattle Mariners dominate the game… until the 5th inning.
Seattle Mariners 8, Cleveland Indians 9
When: 10:10 ET, Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Where: Safeco Field, Seattle
Temperature: 50
Umpires: Home — Bill Miller, 1B — Angel Campos, 2B — Dan Iassogna, 3B — Dale Scott
Attendance: 12,461
Love ‘em
1. Production from 3 and 4 in the lineup
Justin Smoak and Ichiro Suzuki finally strung together solid nights in the middle of the lineup.
Smoak went 4-5 — a career high in hits— at the plate, driving in 1 and scoring 1. Ichiro was only 1-5, but drove in 2 with his 4th inning single
2. Mastering Masterson
Before tonight, Justin Masterson was 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA against Seattle.
Luckily, tonight the Ms had the young starters number. They tagged him for 8 runs across 3.2 innings. Perhaps the best thing to see was the patience, as Masterson — normally stellar with his control — walked 4 batters.
3. The 9th Inning Theatrics
Even when the game looked down, the Ms kept fighting.
With one out, Kyle Seager singled. That was followed by a Jesus Montero single. With one out, and runners on first and third, Michael Saunders flew out to left — just wasn’t deep enough to score the tying run.
To make things even more intense, Brendan Ryan walked to load the bases with two outs. John Jaso — who had a 3-run shot earlier in the game — just couldn’t put on the cherry, ending the game with a fly out to right.
Hate ‘em
Indians vs. Mariners Game 1 Love 'em & Hate 'em - (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
1. Pitching Breakdown
After two previously strong starts, Kevin Millwood finally unravels. He looked great through 4, but the Indians decimated the stat line in the 5th. Millwood’s final line: 4 innings, 6 earned runs on 1 walk and 9 hits.
Outside of Millwood, was the bullpen. Once again the guys couldn’t hold on to a slim lead. Erasmo Ramirez gave up the tying run, while Charlie Furbush ended up giving up the go-ahead.
2. The Ms Ineffective Late
Seattle’s had issues taking leads late into games, and that’s not just the bullpens fault.
The Mariners got six men on base after Masterson was chased, and not a single one could score. The 9th inning showed great determination, but it still doesn’t mean anything if you lose the game.
3. Error on Ryan
In the grand scheme of things, Brendan Ryan‘s fielding error in the 5th probably didn’t change the overall flow of the game. But, everybody loves scapegoat, right?
Ryan’s 5th inning fielding error not only allowed a run to score, but kept the 0 outs on the board with two men on.
The rest, is history.
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