The road hasn’t been kind to the Seattle Mariners this year, but they could finish their three-game series against the Colorado Rockies in Denver on a positive note Sunday afternoon.
After Saturday night’s 5-3 loss, Seattle (72-83) is limping to the finish line. The Mariners, who are 32-48 on the road, will send rookie left-hander Kade Anderson (1-2, 5.33 ERA) to the mound against Colorado right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (12-10, 5.49) on Sunday.
Anderson, who will face the Rockies for the first time in his career, made his major league debut with 5 2/3 solid innings against the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 22. He allowed five runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings in a 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels last Monday.
The Mariners are seven games out of the final American League wild-card spot with seven remaining and could be eliminated on Sunday.
The fall from nearly reaching the 2025 World Series to sitting out this October is frustrating for the Mariners, who will end their season at home against Houston and the Angels after Sunday’s game.
“There’s a lot of disappointment when you have really high expectations,” right-hander Logan Gilbert said. “Just the timing of it, careers go really fast. People know that time flies. … You only have situations like this so often, that you feel like you have really good players on a really good team and a division that’s wide open.
“These situations are rare, and you always want to take advantage of it when you can. We had high expectations, and this year just hasn’t gone the way it could have — and that’s the most frustrating part.”
Frustration is an apt description for Colorado (57-98), which is on pace to lose 100 games for the fourth consecutive season. The New York Mets were the most recent team to lose 100 or more games in four straight years — during their first four seasons of existence (1962-65).
The Rockies have shown improvement — they topped last season’s win total before August — but they have work to do before they can be a contender. They will likely finish with the worst team ERA in the majors for the fifth straight season.
Sugano helped improve that stat through July 31, compiling a 4.47 ERA to go with an 11-4 record, but his season has soured. He is 1-6 since, and his ERA has risen to 5.49 in his last eight starts.
Sugano is 0-2 with a 7.41 ERA in three September starts, and in his last two outings he has a 9.00 ERA, but he has a chance to bounce back against the Mariners. He faced them twice while with Baltimore last season, going 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA.
Despite the recent struggles, Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said he believes in Sugano.
“He knows what he is doing — his game planning, all of this stuff combined. In the big spots, he doesn’t waver,” Schaeffer said. “There’s a confidence and a belief in himself. He just knows how to limit damage in big spots.”
–Field Level Media
