Hancock turns corner, but Seattle's bats stay cold

SEATTLE -- Emerson Hancock hunched on his knees at what appeared to be one of the most critical sequences of his outing on Saturday night, a gesture of self-frustration, but one that he’d soon overcome. He’d just bobbled a would-be inning-ending groundout in the sixth that instead put Cody Bellinger on first base and set up cleanup man Christopher Morel in a one-run game.

Yet Hancock, who felt that pressure moments were his pitfalls in an eight-run outing last Sunday, zeroed in and induced a soft flyout to escape the jam, which itself was a microcosm of an outing that featured many quick outs. It’s why he was able to clear the sixth for the first time in his six career starts.

Hancock certainly did his part, but a lack of run support and two solo homers surrendered by Seattle’s bullpen prevented the Mariners from achieving their first three-game winning streak of 2024 and instead led to a 4-1 loss to the Cubs at T-Mobile Park.

“As a starting pitcher, you kind of sometimes know when you're getting to the end,” Hancock said. “You lock it in. You execute the best that you can and try to get the guys in the dugout as quick as possible.”

Saturday marked Seattle’s first defeat in its six quality starts this season, as the rotation appears to have turned a corner after consecutive strong outings by Logan Gilbert (one run in 7 2/3 innings on Wednesday) and Bryce Miller (6 1/3 shutout innings on Friday). The Mariners’ rotation had had an 8.06 ERA over its previous nine games.

Hancock surrendered just two runs -- via a sacrifice fly from Nico Hoerner in the second and a 383-foot homer on a hanging slider to Seiya Suzuki in the third -- while striking out four and walking zero.

“I think the biggest thing is keep attacking,” Hancock said. “Keep attacking the strike zone and try to make good quality pitches and maybe use the changeup a little bit more. I had a good feel for it, and so we just kind of kept rolling with it. Make sure that we're using the two fastballs the way that we want to, and just kind of keep going off of that.”

It wasn’t always pretty, as 11 of the 18 balls in play against Hancock were hard-hit (with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher), but thanks to cool temperatures, most of the would-be damage found Seattle’s gloves.

The same could be said for the Mariners’ offense, which had seven hard-hit balls in play go for outs, including three with runners in scoring position. Overall, they went 1-for-9 with RISP and stranded nine baserunners.

“When you get guys out there in games like this, and we play a lot of low-scoring close games, you do need to come through,” manager Scott Servais said.

Their clearest opportunity to do damage was with one out in the sixth, when Cubs third baseman Morel made remarkable plays in consecutive at-bats that robbed a run apiece -- a diving groundout on a 105 mph chopper from Mitch Garver and a leaping grab against a liner from Dylan Moore -- and halted the rally. That frame began with walks to Mitch Haniger and Jorge Polanco and ended empty-handed.

In nine home games this year, the Mariners have a .271 slugging percentage and just four homers, including none in their past four games in Seattle.

“The home run is a beautiful thing,” Servais said. “It's an instant point. We do have capability. We're not swinging the bat that well right now, although, like I said, the quality of the at-bats are getting better.”

Most glaring in that lack of power has been Julio Rodríguez, who’s yet to leave the yard in 2024. He went 0-for-4 for the second time in five games, and other than a few clutch moments, including a bases-loaded knock on Friday, he’s looked far from his superstar self.

“I was hoping that'd kind of get him going tonight, and he didn't,” Servais said. “He struggled. ... We're not seeing him go like he can go. And when he does get going, we're a different ballclub. It's just early and it hasn't happened yet.”

Moreover, beyond Rodríguez, the top of the Mariners’ order has lacked results. Their Nos. 1-4 hitters -- even including Ty France, who’s been their most consistent hitter and was recently moved to No. 3 -- are slashing a combined .190/.261/.255, and their .516 OPS is MLB’s lowest.