Mariners ready to 'flush' Gonzales' tough-luck loss

ARLINGTON -- It all came unwound for Marco Gonzales in a fateful fourth inning on Saturday, and it put the veteran left-hander in a precarious spot when the dust settled in an eventual 7-4 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Gonzales faced eight hitters that inning, saw them each put a ball in play and was tagged for four runs, which erased the 3-0 lead his offense had created.

Yet his defense did him no favors. Two fly balls dropped for easy doubles in left fielder Jesse Winker’s vicinity, both of which might’ve resulted in more limited damage with more favorable routes. Eugenio Suárez also had a throwing error on a dribbler from Charlie Culberson that wouldn’t have prevented Jonah Heim from scoring from third, but it would’ve led to the second out and helped Gonzales get out of his jam sooner.

Not one of the balls in play against Gonzales in the fourth was more than 100 mph, and all four runs were charged as earned, though that didn’t exactly paint the most accurate picture.

“Not our crispest game, obviously,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We made a few errors and we didn’t play like we typically play."

Suárez rebounded with a solo homer in the sixth, but only after Gonzales had surrendered a booming, 416-foot homer to Corey Seager that proved to be the dagger to his day. The solo shot against a middle-in, left-on-left changeup to the former World Series MVP was a location he wasn’t happy with.

And therein lies the stalemate that Gonzales finds himself in: Progress (three scoreless innings to begin what was shaping up to be a quality outing) being stalled by regress (defensive miscues that weren’t his own doing making one mistake pitch loom much larger).

“They were uber aggressive in the early part of the count in that fourth inning,” Gonzales said. “We just couldn't land a pitch in the zone to start the count. So, we didn't have a ball go our way there. ... We ran into some tough luck, and they had some timely hitting as well.”

In total, Gonzales surrendered the five runs on nine hits and zero walks with two strikeouts over five innings, bringing his ERA over the past calendar month to 6.69, compared to 3.24 in his first 17 outings. In this six-start stretch, opposing hitters are slashing .347/.374/.597 (.971 OPS) against him, compared to a .253/.318/.426 (.743 OPS) line in those earlier starts.

“It's frustrating because I felt like I was still executing pitches,” Gonzales said. “I still felt strong in the game. And so, I was just hoping to get back out there and put up a zero. I still feel like I'm in a good place, a solid place execution-wise. My body, my arm feels good. And we had a good game plan.”

Earlier this week, the Mariners transitioned Chris Flexen to the bullpen due to a rotation surplus after the club acquired Luis Castillo ahead of the Trade Deadline. Some fans clamored that Gonzales should’ve been the odd man out despite -- fair or not -- his standing as the longest-tenured pitcher on the team.

“I don't think you can look too deeply into it,” Servais said. “It’s not like he was walking dudes or just giving away [at-bats] or making poor pitches in bad spots. They hit some balls. That happens.”

There are still 47 games remaining and a lot of season left for the Mariners to navigate. The rotation has obviously been a huge part of why they’re in the AL Wild Card hunt, and Gonzales, especially in the first half, has been a big part of that. A decision on how to slot a postseason rotation is for down the road.

“They had some timely hitting, balls go their way,” Gonzales said. “This is one to just flush and move on.”