SEATTLE — It was a brief weekly capsule that highlights ex-Mariners, missed by many as they scan their Sunday morning paper, but the item in this week’s Seattle Times had to bring some indigestion to local fans who were already gritting their teeth in frustration.
Mention of Fernando Rodney’s hot start in San Diego (0.00 ERA, 10-for-10 in save opportunities) couldn’t have sat well with Mariners fans who watched their revamped bullpen blow two consecutive games and fall to the Angels on Friday and Saturday nights. Closer Steve Cishek blew saves in both games, looking an awful lot like the 2015 version of Rodney in the process.
Seattle’s bullpen woes were the story of the weekend series with Los Angeles. The Mariners allowed 16 runs over the seventh, eighth and ninth innings of the three losses to the Angels. Cishek gave up five runs in two innings of work, while 40-year-old veteran Joel Peralta served up three home runs while giving up four runs total in one inning over two appearances.
Dating back to the Tampa Bay series, the Mariners blew saves in three consecutive games before dropping a 3-0 game to the Angels on Sunday. The bullpen didn’t have any runs on its record in that game, but reliever Nick Vincent served up a two-run single to Daniel Nava to allow two runners to score and get added to starter Felix Hernandez’s line.
The patched-up bullpen, which underwent an overhaul after a disastrous 2015 season, was a strength of the team heading into last week. There are all sorts of question marks following the three-game sweep at the hands of the Angels.
The easy solution could come from a healthy bullpen that expects to have veteran Joaquin Benoit back from the disabled list as early as next week and left-hander Charlie Furbush sometime before the end of May or early June. Even when that happens, Seattle has to decide whether Peralta has enough left in his tank to keep his job and whether Cishek can recover to keep his closer’s role.
The surprising Mariners were one of the best stories in the league heading into the Angels series, but they come out of it with all kinds of question marks. Most of those are in the bullpen.