SEATTLE – While the Mariners' postseason hopes dwindle by the day, the only positive about their 7-6 loss Friday to the Athletics was Lazaro Montes’ X-rays came back negative.
The Mariners right fielder and No. 5 prospect exited his third career game in the fifth inning with left-hip soreness after crashing into the right-field wall attempting to corral Zack Gelof’s deep fly ball that resulted in an RBI triple to put the Athletics up 6-5.
Head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson and manager Dan Wilson checked on the 6-foot-5 Montes, and while he looked slightly uncomfortable, he stayed in for the next two batters. But after Logan Gilbert was pulled for Seranthony Domínguez, the Mariners sent Taylor Ward out into right field to replace Montes.
Montes fielded a single from Carlos Cortes after his hard crash, and Wilson said that’s when the 21-year-old felt the hip injury a bit more, prompting the coaching staff to remove him,
“[We’ll] see how he is in the morning,” Wilson said. “See if anything further is needed at this point, but hoping for the best. Seems like he’s up walking around. I think he’ll likely be pretty sore tomorrow.”
Montes, who was 0-for-2 in two at-bats Friday, had an incredible debut for the Mariners in Boston on Tuesday. He had two hits, including his first big league homer in Seattle's 9-6 win. He was the sixth player in club history to hit a home run on their debut.
“Laz is a big guy, and for him to run into the wall there, lucky it wasn't a lot worse than it was,” Wilson said.
September's slate couldn’t have been more of a golden opportunity for the Mariners: five games against the Rangers and Astros to gain ground in the division, and five series against three of the worst teams in baseball. But Seattle’s postseason aspirations are shrinking. With the Astros winning their third straight, the Mariners sit seven games back of the AL West lead, and six for the final Wild Card spot with 20 remaining.
Consecutive losses against the Athletics have dug the Mariners in abyss, dropping to 10 games under .500. Seattle’s most steady starter in Gilbert was tagged for a season-high-tying seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.
He gave up four homers in the third inning alone, becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to do so.
And no one was more distraught than Gilbert, who became the seventh player to record 1,000 career innings with the club in a forgettable outing.
“I was pretty disappointed,” he said. “I mean, this game we have to win and [I] let the team down for sure."
It was a unique outing overall for Gilbert. He tied a season high with 10 strikeouts and picked off his fourth runner of the year, but also allowed eight hits and walked two.
Gilbert felt he was executing his pitches, but mentioned that it was possible he was “falling into patterns" that the Athletics exploited. All four homers by the Athletics were hit in the lower zone of the plate.
“Kind of confusing,” he said.
And it couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time for the Mariners.
“Terrible, terrible timing,” Gilbert said.