Top of Mariners' lineup struggling to carry its weight

TORONTO -- The top of the lineup is a special place. It’s where you find the big boppers, the batting experts and the run producers. Simply put, it’s where you put your best hitters. The Mariners’ lineup is no exception.

J.P. Crawford led the American League in walks in 2023, Julio Rodríguez is one of the faces of the game and Jorge Polanco has 113 career homers to his name. All three are threats to leave the yard, take a walk or slap a double down the line. But so far this season, the production from Seattle’s big three hasn’t been there. In Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, the Mariners remained waiting for their lineup leaders to get going.

“They’re good players, they’re really good players,” manager Scott Servais said of the top of his lineup. “They’ve proven themselves in this league, and they will be good players again. We’re just in a moment in time right now when it’s not easy.”

Each of Seattle’s top three hitters is hitting below .200, and the impact has been felt throughout the offense. As a team, the Mariners entered the game in Toronto with the sixth-lowest team batting average in baseball (.212), the second-most strikeouts (113) and the fourth-lowest OPS (.596).

The lineup has connected with the ball, but consistent hits have been hard to come by. Seattle actually had eight of the 10 hardest-hit balls in Monday's loss and notched four knocks harder than 100 mph in Tuesday's loss, too. Rodríguez in particular has been crushing balls with nothing to show for it, hitting into 100-plus mph outs in Monday and Tuesday’s games. But hard hits don’t count on the scoreboard.

“The core of our club just haven’t really gotten much traction going,” Servais said. “And you need everybody contributing. We’re seeing it from other clubs.”

When the top of Seattle’s lineup hasn’t been hitting into hard outs, there have been far too many strikeouts. Crawford, Rodríguez and Polanco all have at least 11 punchouts in the team’s first 12 games. That swing and miss is exactly what the Mariners were hoping to leave in 2023. The team traded Eugenio Suárez to the Diamondbacks and saw Teoscar Hernández walk in free agency -- both players ranked within the top three for strikeouts in all of MLB last year.

Polanco stared briefly out to center field before he started his walk back to the dugout in the fourth frame Tuesday. The Mariners’ second baseman had swung through a looping splitter from Toronto starter Chris Bassitt, hacking and missing at the pitch in the zone. The whiff was one of Seattle’s 10 in the game.

The loss wasn’t all doom and gloom for the lineup, though. Dominic Canzone and Mitch Haniger blasted late-game homers to cut into Toronto’s lead, representing the second day in a row when the middle and bottom of Seattle’s lineup connected on a pair of dingers.

Normally, those late homers would be perfect complements to the Mariners’ core hitters. But with the top of Seattle’s lineup scuffling (and the rotation facing its own challenges), the solo shots are just footnotes in a frustrating loss. For Seattle’s offense to really get going, it needs the guys at the top to start bopping.

"Everybody needs their top guys going," Servais said.