Dunn's command shaky in first start off IL

CLEVELAND -- Justin Dunn didn’t have it from the get-go, and the opposing starter retired 22 in a row to finish his outing, a formula that led to a 7-0 loss for the Mariners against the Indians as they opened a three-game series at Progressive Field on Friday.

Dunn, who was making his first start off the injured list due to shoulder inflammation, allowed each of his first five baserunners to reach, which included an RBI single to Eddie Rosario and a bases-loaded walk on five pitches to Bobby Bradley before he finally registered his first out.

At that point, there were four or five relievers actively stretching in the bullpen beyond center field.

It all started with Dunn getting leadoff man Cesar Hernandez into an 0-2 count before walking him. The singles from Amed Rosario (a curveball with decent movement that landed below the strike zone) and José Ramírez (a fastball on the outer black) weren’t necessarily a byproduct of poor location, but it nonetheless put a ton of traffic on against him.

“I wouldn't say things were starting to snowball,” Dunn said. “That's a good lineup, one through nine, very solid. I felt like I made some pitches. They were able to get some bat on ball, and they fell in today. Would I say things kind of spiraled? No. I won't say I was pleased, but I've definitely made progress.”

Dunn wound up making it through that first frame, but not after surrendering three runs and throwing 36 pitches. And he survived his way through the third, at which point he’d given up five runs on nine hits and two walks total, finishing with 72 pitches in his first start since May 29.

The most notable moment of his outing was a scary one. He hit Austin Hedges on the left side of his helmet with a 93.3 mph fastball, inches away from Hedges’ face, which led to a prolonged injury delay while Cleveland’s catcher was examined by manager Terry Francona and an athletic trainer, then, remarkably, took first base. He later left for precautionary reasons for a head contusion.

“You never want to see that, especially in the head area,” Dunn said. “It was one of those pitches where it just kind of got away and I went to step on a little bit more and try to drive it into the outer corner. That was the first time that, any inning, honestly, where I felt like I got synced up again and felt normal. So to see that ball ride up, it was definitely tough and I’m definitely praying for him.”

That sequence was the most reflective that Dunn simply didn’t have his command on Friday, which was easily the toughest start of the season for the 25-year-old, who had never given up more than seven hits in any of his 23 previous big league outings. It was also his shortest start of 2021.

“It’s been a while since he’s been out there [and] was not especially sharp,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I will say they got some softer hits in the first inning. And then he really struggled to kind of control any counts. … It was hard for him to get going.”

Offensively, the Mariners’ only hit against Aaron Civale was from their very first batter, J.P. Crawford, who led off the game with a single up the middle that narrowly cleared the glove of an outstretched Hernandez at second base. Ty France also reached that inning when he was hit by a pitch for the fourth game in a row. He was followed by Jake Fraley, who walked for the 18th time and now has a walk rate of 30.5%, by far the Majors’ highest among players with at least 50 plate appearances.

But that was all she wrote against Civale, who didn’t allow another baserunner -- from the last out of the first through the eighth inning -- and struck out 11. This was the same Civale who gave up a season-high five runs on May 14 in Seattle, including Jarred Kelenic’s first career hit, an electric home run that sparked a 7-3 win.

“I think I might have not pitched, per se, my game. Maybe catered too much to what they were doing,” Civale said of his last start against the Mariners. “Obviously, I didn’t have as great a feel when I was out in Seattle throwing against them. I think I really stuck to my strengths today and just pitched with that. Obviously, we had a game plan going in, but at the end of the day, I just went with my strengths and utilized that as best as I could.”