Mariners can't muster a hit against Turnbull

SEATTLE -- For the second time in just 13 days, the Mariners found themselves on the wrong side of history, as Seattle’s bats were silenced in a no-hit effort on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park by Detroit’s Spencer Turnbull, who twirled the Tigers’ first no-no since Justin Verlander in 2011, resulting in a 5-0 Mariners loss.

The Mariners were also blanked by the Orioles’ John Means in Seattle on May 5, and they are only the fifth team in MLB history to be no-hit twice in this short a span. They joined Cleveland as the second team to be no-hit twice in 2021, a year that has featured five no-no’s to this point, three more than the most recent 162-game season in ‘19.

• Box score

No team in MLB history has been no-hit three times in one season, but the Mariners came incredibly close in 2019. Zack Greinke lost what would have been the third no-no against Seattle in the ninth inning on Sept. 25 of that year.

Tuesday’s game left quite a few questions on the state of the Mariners offense, and we tried to answer them.

Were there any close calls?

The only one on Tuesday came in the seventh inning -- a scorching, 108.4 mph line drive off the bat off Mitch Haniger, which Tigers third baseman Jeimer Candelario fielded remarkably on an challenging one-hopper. It was easily The Play; the one that saved the no-no.

“I don't know,” Haniger said when asked if he thought it would find daylight. “I just knew I hit it hard and I was hoping it got by him, and obviously it found his glove and it's unfortunate, but usually there's a couple of those plays in a no-hitter.”

Haniger also had a long flyout to center field in the fourth inning, but that wasn’t nearly as close. In total, Seattle had just five hard-hit balls (anything off the bat 95 mph or higher), and only five balls left the infield.

Up until the ninth, Jarred Kelenic was Seattle’s lone baserunner, reaching via a leadoff walk in the fourth, after which he surged to second base for his first career stolen base. Kelenic then reached in the final frame by hustling out an infield dribbler on a would-be double play that would’ve ended the game. He followed a walk to José Marmolejos, and those three plate appearances represented the only Seattle baserunners.

Has frustration mounted?

Yes. Manager Scott Servais and Haniger were the only two to speak to reporters postgame, aside from starting pitcher Justin Dunn, and both had irritated -- but accountable -- tones when discussing the state of Seattle’s offense, which is now hitting .199/.280/.362 for an MLB-worst .642 OPS and 85 wRC+ (league average is 100). The club's batting average and on-base percentage are also the lowest in the Majors.

“We're starting to get to that point where most of the guys in the lineup have had enough at-bats where they need to start finding their groove and finding what they need to do and start making adjustments,” Haniger said.

Both were asked who is accountable for the club’s struggles.

Here’s Servais: “It comes from within, there's no question about it. But it starts with me and the coaching staff and trying to give players a gameplan going into each game, what to expect. But ultimately, baseball is a team sport, but it's such an individual battle. When you step into the batter's box, you're solo. It's one on one, man against man, and that's where the competitiveness really has to take over. You have to find out a way to win.”

And Haniger: “It definitely falls on the players. We’ve got to make adjustments, like I said. You can't be pointing fingers. You’ve just got to look in the mirror and figure out what you need to do, and at times, help motivate the guy next to you and try to get the ball rolling.”

Where do they go from here?

Replacement options are limited, particularly given that two everyday bats -- Evan White and Ty France -- are on the 10-day injured list, and even those two were in the midst of some significant struggles before being shelved. But given that they represent the Mariners’ first and second options for first base, and Marmolejos (hitting .145/ .275/.289) is the only real alternative right now, it seems unlikely that he’d be designated for assignment any time soon.

Is catching prospect Cal Raleigh an option given that Mariners backstops Luis Torrens and Tom Murphy are hitting just .160/.207/.313 for an American League-low 47 wRC+? That also seems unlikely, at least for now -- and not just because it wouldn’t be fair or logical to put the weight of team-wide struggles on a 24-year-old who, until just two weeks ago, had never played above Double-A. Behind the scenes, it’s been suggested that Raleigh, despite a .915 OPS in 10 games, needs more time.

That also leads to the most glaring issue: The Mariners don’t have a 40-man roster spot available currently.

“It's a group effort,” Servais said. “It's myself, it's coaches, it's players. It's everybody in between. Now, we are young. We have probably the youngest position-player group in the league that has taken these at-bats. But again, no excuse. Guys are talented. We should be better and we have to make quicker adjustments.”