Mariners tip over jar of magic beans, find it empty yet again, lose in extras

Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty ImagesThis one was a tease. A taste yet again of the team that’s taken on the Houston Astros and clinched the season series against that once-indomitable monstrosity. A showcase of a young pitcher in Bryce Miller who has been a godsend for these Seattle Mariners, peppering the strike zone with a full repertoire that he has not always been able to access and eking out success against the second-best offense in MLB by wRC+. A bullpen that bent, bowed, and was stretched like the guests of Procrustes but held serve for 3.2 innings, mitigated the damage for another, until finally crumbling under bloop singles that landed on their camel’s humps like straws made of lead. And an offense that has been every bit as solid as last year’s, bringing plenty of quality yet somehow failing to sequence their excellence as they have the past two campaigns.

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