ARLINGTON, Texas _ And now all Mike Leake can do is to wait for a phone call from general manager Jerry Dipoto that seems unlikely to come.
The Mariners' quest to move him before Wednesday's Major League Baseball trade deadline appears to be headed nowhere and the veteran right-hander will remain with the team until the end of the season. Seattle will almost certainly try again to trade him this offseason as they did last offseason.
If the Mariners had any legitimate interest in Leake from other teams, he would have never taken the mound in the blistering 100-degree temperature Globe Life Park for his scheduled start on Tuesday. And even a hint of interest would have put him on a limited pitch count just to show a possible trade partner that he is healthy.
Instead, Leake delivered a forgettable start, allowing five runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings in what would be an 8-5 win for the Mariners.
The Mariners' sixth straight win was still overshadowed by the mania of the trade deadline. While they were sweating through nine innings and their uniforms, a trade deadline that had been largely uneventful and uninteresting turned crazy. Rangers reliever Chris Martin was traded to the Braves in the third inning of the game. But the big commotion and twitter fury was caused by a three-team trade between the Reds, Indians and Padres that featured Trevor Bauer going to the Reds and Yasiel Puig to the Indians. Puig was in the midst of a melee with the Pirates when the news broke.
Maybe the fact that Bauer and Marcus Stroman, who was traded to the Mets, were dealt to non-contending teams might help the Mariners push Leake to someone in desperate need of starting pitching. Sources indicated they will make the deal attractive by eating a fair amount of money owed to Leake. And in the end that might not be enough. Leake is still a back-of-the-rotation starter that relies on command and not stuff with a healthy amount of money owed to him. In a buyers' market, teams are still being choosy. Perhaps that will change in the hours leading up to Wednesday's deadline as teams realize this is their only chance to acquire players with the eradication of the August waiver trades.
The Mariners grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Domingo Santana, another player being shopped to suitors, slammed a solo homer to deep right-center. It was Santana's 21st of the season.
Like Leake, it appears that Santana might be with the Mariners through the remainder of the season.
A strained elbow on his throwing arm won't allow him to play the outfield for the near future. And even when healthy, his defense is considered below average to poor. With an abundance of similar right-handed hitting corner outfielders with power, teams can look to hitters that aren't complete liabilities on defense while still providing plenty of offense to fill their needs.
The Indians were one of the few teams interested in Santana. But they not only got Puig, but San Diego's Franmil Reyes, another power-hitting outfielder, in that deal.
One player that isn't getting traded or shopped because of a poison-pill clause in his contract that changes a $15-plus million club option into a player option in 2022 if he's traded to another team is Kyle Seager. He made it 2-0 with a solo homer just over the wall in right-center. The ball actually was in the glove of center fielder Delino DeShields for a moment, but leaked out and over the wall for Seager's ninth homer of the season. It was the start of a big night for Seager. After missing the first two months of the season due to surgery on his left hand and playing through an issue with his right hand, he's slowly starting to find a rhythm at the plate. At this point, he's building for next season.
Seattle tacked on two more runs in the third inning on Daniel Vogelbach's RBI single and a fielder's choice from Tim Beckham.
The Rangers picked up their first run off Leake in the fourth inning when Nomara Mazara doubled with two outs and later scored on Rougned Odor's RBI single to right.
It looked as though Leake might deliver another solid outing. But his outing wilted in the sixth inning. He allowed a leadoff home run to Danny Santana and later a two-run double to Odor. With two outs and a runner on second, manager Scott Servais took his first visit to the mound of the inning to chat with Leake. After a brief conversation, Servais let him stay in the game. The confidence in his starter wasn't repaid. Leake gave up an RBI single to DeShields that tied the game at 5 and ended his night.
Right-hander Sam Tuivailala entered the game and got the final out of the inning. For Tuivailala, it's a return to the park where he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon just over a year ago.
The Mariners gave him a chance to get his first win of the season when Seager smashed a two-run triple into the right-center gap in the seventh. Tom Murphy later added an insurance run with a RBI single.
Given a three-run lead, Tuivailala worked a scoreless seventh to get credit for the win. Anthony Bass and lefty Roenis Elias, another trade candidate, closed out the game. Elias allowed a leadoff single, but then retired the next three batters to notch his 14th save of the season.
