While the current baseball season is still in its early stages, weeks like this one are hard to swallow. The parent club at Safeco dropped below .500 and both Triple-A Tacoma, lost three out of four in two straight series, and Double-A Jackson lost two of five games before recovering Sunday.
Seattle Mariners
Luckily for Felix Hernandez, the hitting seems to jump when he has taken the mound this season. The Mariners shelled Tampa Bay last Monday, 12-5. The King was not particularly sharp, giving up a season-high four earned runs in only 6.2 innings, though he did fan seven. Luckily, Justin Smoak and company shelled Tampa pitching for three home runs, including the sixth of the year for Smoak and Mike Zunino.
Hernandez was stronger on Sunday against Minnesota, giving up just two earned runs in eight strong innings, and the offense forced across a scattering of runs for a 6-2 victory, giving Felix his fifth win of the year.
Unfortunately, the Mariners did not win a game this week that their ace did not start. Jake Odorizzi and David Price held the Mariners to just one run in two games for Tampa Bay, and Chris Young and Roenis Elias had poor outings in losses to Minnesota.
The bright spot this week has been the bat of center fielder James Jones. Since he was recalled from Tacoma on May 6th, he has hit safely in every game he has appeared in, a streak of nine games. Jones raised his average to .326, and has given the Mariners a jolt at the top of the batting order.
Tacoma Rainiers
The Rainiers have gotten some great performances from Nick Franklin and Gabriel Noriega, but the pitching has not been there as Tacoma dropped three of four from both Sacramento and Las Vegas last week.
Noriega, a shortstop rated by Baseball America as the best infield defender in the Mariners system, has been on a tear, hitting .434 in 21 games. He had three hits in a 5-4 win versus Sacramento on Saturday.
Franklin has hit .376 through 30 games, and has likely earned another shot with the big league team at some point this season. While he only hit .125 with the Mariners in his first shot with them, the adjustments he has made to his swing look to have greatly improved his timing.
Jackson Generals
Eight seems to be the lucky number for the Generals. While they lost three out of four to Tennessee, they did manage to get an 8-6 win last Monday. Trevor Miller got the win in relief as Jackson jumped on Tennessee reliever Austin Kirk, scoring four in the eighth.
On Thursday, Jackson topped Montgomery, 8-2, when Ketel Marte doubled, tripled and drove in four runs. Tyler Olsen and Kyle Hunter were strong pitching for the Generals.
Finally, Jackson salvaged the split against the Biscuits when they pounded Montgomery on Sunday, 8-1. Mickey Wiswall hit his fourth home run of the season, a two-run blast in the fifth off of starter Roberto Gomez. Trevor Miller gave up one run in 6.1 innings for the win.
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