Seattle Mariners' Manager Scott Servais Comments on Specific Offensive Struggles
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners have struck out 11 or more times in eight consecutive games and have gone 2-6 during that stretch. The lineup has shifted several times over that span to try and solve the offensive woes, but it has yet to work. Mariners' manager Scott Servais expanded on some of main things that have been plaguing his lineup in a pregame interview before Thursday's series finale against the Baltimore Orioles.
One of the most critical things Servais talked about was Seattle losing the early pitches at the plate, and getting behind in the count.
"It comes down to — we got to get the ball in play more consistently and certainly early in counts," Servais said. "I think we have a pretty good feel of how (the Orioles) have pitched us this series. It's a lot of slow stuff early in counts, (Baltimore's) been landing them for strikes. And from there you're kind of swimming uphill, or upstream I should say."
Falling behind early in the count is certainly a problem. In the Mariners' 4-1 loss to the Orioles on Wednesday, Seattle was behind the count in seven of its first 10 at-bats.
"One of our issues this year, throughout the entire season, has been our inability to get the ball in play early in counts," Servais said. "We foul off a lot of pitches that are very hittable pitches. ... All of the sudden, you look up and now you're in an enormous amount of two-strike counts, which will lead to more strikeouts. I think it's something we're addressing. We had a meeting about it (Thursday morning)."
Looking at Seattle's last few games, one couldn't be blamed for chalking up the offense as simply "bad." Pulling back the curtain, there's two main problems that need to be solved.
The Mariners need to get hits and get on base is issue one.
The second thing — the Mariners need to bring those players home after they do get on base. Seattle went 5-for-32 with runners in scoring position in a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins from June 28-30.
Seattle will have a series apiece against the Los Angeles Angels and the San Diego Padres before the All-Star break. If there's a chance for Seattle's offense to get rolling before the second half of the season, it needs to happen soon.
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