Never has a day of around-the-horn throws been livelier than they were from the Mariners infield Sunday.
The good throws — and good vibes — were initiated by third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who was challenged by Mariners manager Scott Servais to “bring energy” and spark his teammates after back-to-black losses to the Tigers on Friday and Saturday.
“Our last two games, (the energy) was a little bit down,” Suarez said after a 2-0 victory on Sunday. “And my job today was to hype up those guys. I feel like that helped us a lot, to keep us in the game and for those guys to think about something else — ‘Geno is crazy today.’ So that helped a lot.”
Suarez was chirping in the dugout early and often, and he led a spirited day in those around-the-horn throws between himself, shortstop J.P. Crawford and second baseman Kolten Wong — and the poor pitchers who had to catch his 90-mph throws (give or take) back to the mound after each out.
“We did nothing offensively (Saturday),” Servais said. “And when you’re not hitting, it looks like you’re not trying (or) guys don’t care. Our guys care. It’s just not happening. We did not have good at-bats, but sometimes if you’ve got somebody chirping in the dugout, whether it’s on the umpire or his teammates. It was the little things today — firing the ball around the horn after a strikeout, like Little Leaguers do, and guys joking about it and laughing about it. You need that once in a while.”
France bumped down lineup
Ty France’s sluggish stretch at the plate was encapsulated in one two-pitch sequence during his final at-bat Sunday.
Facing Detroit reliever Mason Englert, France turned on an 84-mph change-up and barreled it up hard to left field — only to watch it just miss the pole, landing in the stands foul.
On the next pitch, France swung through a 92-mph fastball on the outside corner for strike three, finishing off another hitless day for the Mariners first baseman.
Hoping to take some pressure off one of his most valuable hitters, Servais had bumped France down toward the bottom of the lineup for Sunday’s series finale.
France, an All-Star in 2022, has been slumping of late, posting a .114/.205/.143 (.348 OPS) slash line in 10 games this month, with 12 strikeouts and no walks in 39 plate appearances.
“His timing has been off,” Servais said. “ … He’s a hit machine. It’s not happening for him right now, and I think he’s a little frustrated by that as well.”
Servais met with France after Saturday’s game and again Sunday morning to let him know of the lineup shift.
France, who has regularly hit second or third in the lineup the past two seasons, was in the No. 7 spot Sunday.
“It’s nothing more than just a breather,” Servais said. “We’ll move him down the lineup and fully expect him to be back at the top of our lineup here real soon.”
Notes
- Reliever Matt Festa was optioned to Class AAA Tacoma when Bryce Miller was activated off the injured list Sunday morning.
- The Mariners have lined up Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo and George Kirby, in that order, to start the four-game series against Minnesota this week.