Seattle Mariners’ offense stifled by Detroit Tigers in tough loss Tuesday night

SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners opened the first of a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday after posting one of the most impressive wins of the season.

The Mariners won two of three games against the National League contenders – the Philadelphia Phillies – and the offense appeared to have made the necessary progress fans were demanding.

Unfortunately, that momentum didn’t continue as a struggling rookie had a career night against the M’s.

Detroit beat Seattle 4-2 on Tuesday, behind the best start of pitcher Keider Montero’s young career. The Tigers rookie had a season-high eight strikeouts and allowed one earned run on four hits in six innings pitched.

The loss reduced the Mariners’ record to 59-55 on the season and cut their lead in the American League West to half a game over the Houston Astros.

“I knew this series was going to be tough,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said in a postgame interview Tuesday. “Detroit has played a lot of close games this year and they have some young guys that are stepping up. … They had four groundout singles in the fifth inning and that happens from time to time. … We were ahead most of the time, we didn’t walk anybody.”

Seattle starting pitcher Luis Castillo had a solid night and recorded another quality start. He finished with nine strikeouts and no walks, but allowed three earned runs and eight hits in six innings pitched.

The Tigers got their first run on the board with an RBI single by Parker Meadows in the top of the fourth inning.

In the fifth, Colt Keith added to the lead with a single (which was initially ruled an error by first baseman Luke Raley) and then Wenceel Perez scored one more.

Raley made up for his mistake in the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo home run to center field. It was his second home run in four games. Raley’s long ball cut the Tigers’ lead to 3-1.

Castillo was able to finish the final inning of his game without sustaining any further damage. Once Trent Thornton took the mound in the eighth inning, Meadows hit a 415-foot solo home run to right field to give Detroit its fourth and final run of the game.

The Mariners made one last attempt to rally in the bottom of the ninth inning. With two outs and Cade Marlowe on second base, a ball hit by Jorge Polanco fell between Meadows (center fielder) and Perez (right fielder). The hit allowed Cade Marlowe to score a run and win the game 4-2.

The Tigers made a pitching change and pinch hitter Mitch Garver struck out three times to end the game.

“Mitch is going to continue to play,” Servais said. “He’ll play against left-handed pitchers. His numbers against lefties are really good – he’s got an OPS that’s well above league average. He’s had some success against lefties so he’ll be there (Wednesday). It didn’t go his way tonight. It’ll be a good challenge against him tomorrow and hopefully he’ll get some good at-bats.”

Seattle will return to action at 6:40 p.m. PT on Wednesday against American League Cy Young Award candidate Tarik Skubal. George Kirby will start for the Mariners.

MARINERS OFFENSIVE ON THE RISE: The Seattle Mariners are averaging nearly two home runs per game and are 6-3 since being swept by the Los Angeles Angels on July 24. CLICK HERE

MARINERS RELEASE PITCHER MATCHUPS VS. DETROIT: The Seattle Mariners are scheduled to begin a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. CLICK HERE

PHILLIES BLANK MARINERS: The Philadelphia Phillies scored five runs in the eighth inning and starter Zack Wheeler had nine strikeouts in eight innings pitched in the series finale against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. CLICK HERE

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