Mariners offense spoils a Logan Gilbert gem as M’s lose ground in AL West
For seven innings Saturday night, Logan Gilbert was as good as ever. Maybe better than ever.
The revamped Mariners offense, meanwhile, was about as unwatchable as it has been at any point this season. (And, boy, that’s saying something.)
With no run support, and no wiggle room to work with, Gilbert made one mistake — maybe his only mistake all night — and the Cardinals punished him for it.
St. Louis catcher Pedro Pagés turned on a slider that Gilbert hung over the middle of the plate with one out in the eighth inning and sent it deep out to left field, a two-run homer to score the first and only runs of the game in the Cardinals’ 2-0 victory at Busch Stadium.
“It is frustrating when we can’t get runs on the board, for not just [Gilbert] but anybody,” catcher Cal Raleigh said. “It just feels like you’re banging your head against the wall.”
It’s a similar script that has played out
It’s a similar script that has played out time and time again in this wayward season for the Mariners (72-71).
Saturday’s loss, though, was particularly egregious given that, 1, the Mariners hitters had appeared to find some momentum in the three previous games and, 2, the Astros had won earlier in the day.
That means the Mariners fell even further back in the AL West — it’s now a 5.5-game deficit (and 4.5 in the wild card) with 19 games remaining.
“At this point, you know, we have to win every single game,” Gilbert said. “Forget about how you feel. Forget about how many innings you have [thrown]. This is the only game that matters.”
That was Gilbert’s mentality going back out to the mound for the eighth inning in a scoreless game. He’d been virtually untouchable up to that point — having allowed only one hit and one walk, and doing so efficiently — and he was starting to think about a complete game.
