The Mariners were unable to put a nice cap on their series win against the Cubs.
SEATTLE — For most of the weekend, the Seattle Mariners were able to cultivate its most legitimate semblance of momentum in weeks with two-straight walk-off (and the series) wins against the Chicago Cubs.
In the series finale, in front of a crowd of 44,649 people at T-Mobile Park, the energy felt sapped out of the building as the Mariners fell to the Cubs 19-2 in the series finale.
"You want to win series this time of year and we did that," Seattle manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Sunday. "Today, similar to the other day (against the Milwaukee Brewers), just kind of got out of hand. Those are tough ones. Our team has shown the ability to flush them and we're gonna have to do that again."
The loss was spurred by a series of mistakes from the Mariners pitching staff, specifically starting pitcher Bryce Miller.
For the second start in a row, a position player came in to pitch to close out the game in Miller's start. The last one was Seattle's 22-0 result against the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 18.
Miller finished his outing with five strikeouts, a career-high seven walks and six earned runs allowed on two hits (two homers runs) in 4.1 innings of work.
"I'm fine with the solo home run, whatever, it's a good pitch," Miller said after the game. "And then, I just don't make a pitch with the bases loaded, 1-2 count. The pitch before was good, I just pulled the splitter and put it in a spot where he can get to it. ... You gave up two hits and gave up six runs. It's obviously frustrating. The whole last month has been frustrating. I just got to get back to who I am."
Both homers came in the top of the third inning. The Mariners entered the frame up 2-0 after left fielder Randy Arozarena's lead-off solo home run in the bottom of the first and Victor Robles scored after stealing third and Chicago catcher Carson Kelly threw the ball into left field in a caught-stealing attempt in the second.
In the top of the third, Miller gave up a lead-off solo homer to Cubs designated hitter Michael Conforto.
Miller induced a flyout and got a strikeout, which kept Seattle's lead at 2-1 with two outs and no runners on.
The fourth-year major leaguer proceeded to walk the bases loaded, which was eventually punished with a two-out grand slam from Chicago left fielder Ian Happ, which gave the visitors a 5-2 lead.
The Mariners offense was unable to respond the rest of the way. They had a chance to add more runs before and immediately after Happ's go-ahead grand slam, but left a combined six runners stranded in the first three innings.
Seattle finished the game 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight.
After Happ's grand slam, the Cubs continued to build their advantage. After scoring a combined two runs in the fifth and sixth inning, one of which was attributed to Miller due to reliever Jose A. Ferrer inheriting runners, Chicago put up a combined 12 scores in the eighth and ninth innings.
The Mariners had five relievers take the mount Sunday, including position pitchers Jhonny Pereda and Weston Wilson. The only bullpen arm not to surrender a run was Eduard Bazardo in the seventh.
The day after Seattle's 22-0 loss against Milwaukee, the M's responded by beating the Brewers 7-5.
The Mariners will hope the same fate is in store as it begins a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies at 6:40 p.m. PT on Monday. Logan Gilbert will start for Seattle and Zack Wheeler will start for Philadelphia.
