Mariners remember baseball is supposed to be fun, conveniently play against worse team

wheeeeeee Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images For the first few innings, this looked like it would be a very different game. Yusei Kikuchi had another poor start, lasting just 3.1 innings. He surrendered five runs on nine hits, two of those on home runs, one a particularly juicy meatball on a changeup that hung in the middle of the plate for Niko Goodrum. The 3-1 lead the Mariners had built evaporated over that fourth inning, as Zac Grotz came on to try to staunch the bleeding. Grotz would throw a wild pitch, allowing a run to score, but struck out Brandon Dixon and got Ronny Rodriguez to ground out, evading further trouble. He would allow another run to score after Travis Demeritte reached on an infield single, stole second, and was doubled home by Jordy Mercer, but kept the damage to one run, striking out the side. Still, the score was 6-3, and given the offensive ineptitude we saw out of the Mariners over the weekend (Deadgar Weekend Redux), it wouldn’t be so surprising to be writing up this one as a loss. Especially if I told you Brandon Brennan was removed after throwing two pitches, both balls, clearly pointing to his arm in discomfort. Things would feel bad, right? Things should feel bad.

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