When the Mariners inserted Nick Margevicius into their rotation last week in place of the injured Kendall Graveman, they weren’t exactly sure what to expect from a youngster whose name is harder than most of his pitches.
But the 24-year-old southpaw is quickly proving to be a solid addition to Seattle’s six-man rotation, as he threw six innings of two-run ball in the Mariners’ 2-1 loss to the Astros on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.
Margevicius allowed just four hits with no walks and three strikeouts over a strong 94-pitch outing, building on a scoreless 3 1/3-innings outing against the Rockies in his starting debut last Saturday. Including a trio of relief appearances before moving into the rotation, Margevicius has posted a 3.14 ERA over 14 1/3 innings in his first season with Seattle.
“I can’t say enough about the job Marg did,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “He was awesome. He threw the ball really, really well against a good lineup, kept the ball on the ground almost all night. To get six complete innings out of him tonight was a heck of an effort. I really like the way he’s throwing the ball. He has a ton of confidence and a really good demeanor. He just keeps making pitches.”
The six innings equals Margevicius’ longest start from his rookie season with the Padres last year, when he went 2-6 with a 6.79 ERA in 17 appearances (12 starts) after being jumped from Class A ball to the Majors. He’s added velocity and maturity since being designated for assignment by San Diego, and the Mariners could be the beneficiaries.
“Just getting through six innings kind of helps me. It’s kind of a stepping stone for me,” Margevicius said. “Building innings and building pitch count and volume, and to do it here against a pretty good lineup over there is definitely a bonus for me.”
The Mariners didn’t provide Margevicius much help, however, as Astros starter Cristian Javier and three relievers combined to hold Seattle to three hits. Rookie first baseman Evan White crushed a 439-foot solo homer in the eighth, and Kyle Seager went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, but the Mariners fell to 7-15 with their fourth straight loss.
Though he gave up a solo homer and a double to Yuli Gurriel, the Astros totaled just four hits off Margevicius, and he kept the ball in the infield all night, with just one flyout to center field to go with 11 ground-ball outs, three infield flyouts and three punchouts.
“If you look at some of my past years, I typically get more fly balls,” Margevicius said. “But against this lineup and in this park, keeping the ball down was essential, and the infield did a great job tonight.”
The 6-foot-5 southpaw kept the Astros off balance with a fastball that averaged 89.6 mph, per Statcast, offset by an effective 83 mph slider, an 81 mph changeup and his tantalizing 70 mph curve.
“He just has a good way about him and his stuff plays,” Servais said. “There’s no doubt. He’s got good angle to the fastball, he’s got enough breaking ball and the curveball is slow enough to be a back-and-forth pitch. He knows how to pitch and is a perfect addition to our rotation right now.”
Margevicius’ only big mistake was a 90 mph fastball he tried to elevate to Gurriel that the Astros' first baseman drove 420 feet to dead center for a solo shot in the fourth.
“I wanted to go up a little and it wasn’t up, and he just crushed it,” Margevicius said. “I just missed with it down over the plate.”
Though the Mariners fell to 2-23 against Houston over the past two seasons, Margevicius succeeded in slowing down an Astros offense that had averaged 6.8 runs per game in their prior 24 meetings and scored six or more runs in each of the prior five meetings this season.
White’s home run was the other highlight, as the rookie launched his second long ball of the season and looks to start turning around a slow start. He’s hitting .123 with 35 strikeouts in his first 21 games since making the jump from Double-A. White's 44.2% strikeout rate entering Saturday was the worst among 179 qualified hitters.
“The biggest thing is, I’m trying to stay easy,” White said. “Sometimes, when you’re struggling, you want to make something happen right away and jump from hitting .100 to .300. You have to realize that’s not going to happen and stay within yourself. That’s when your best swings are going to come.”