In a season of abysmal outings, bad showings, blown leads and lost games, this was easily the worst performance for the Mariners' much-maligned bullpen ... for now.
Given a four-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh _ the final inning of the opener of a two seven-inning game doubleheader _ the Mariners' de facto closer Taylor Williams and hard-throwing setup reliever Dan Altavilla combined for an epic implosion that led to the Padres scoring seven runs, all with two outs, in a 10-7 loss.
"You have to nail it down at the end, and we just weren't able to execute," Mariners manager Scott Servais said in postgame video conference. "It was a crazy inning. A lot of the positive stuff we did offensively gets swept under the rug because we weren't able to close them out."
Williams, who leads the team with six saves and hadn't allowed a run in his last seven outings, started the bottom of the seventh thanks to a four-run outburst from his teammates in the top of the inning. He retired the first two batters he faced, but couldn't get the third out. His command was shaky to start and was exposed.
Williams hit Austin Hedges with a pitch, walked Trent Grisham and then walked Fernando Tatis Jr. to load the bases.
A brief visit from pitching coach Pete Woodworth meant to calm down Williams and get him to refocus yielded no results. He gutted a first-pitch fastball to Manny Machado, who turned it into a two-run single to trim the lead to 7-5. A misunderstanding on signs from catcher Austin Nola to Williams led to a passed ball to move the runners up to second and third. Williams bounced a slider to the backstop to score Tatis, making it a one-run game. Eric Hosmer ended Williams' outing with a game-tying RBI single.
Altavilla entered to try to at least send the game into extra innings and give the Mariners another chance. Instead, he allowed a single, then hung a slider that resulted in Wil Myers' three-run walk-off homer.
It wasn't the first time the bullpen gave away a lead in the game.
Matt Magill tried to make the Mariners' bullpen the blame in the bottom of the sixth inning when he gave up almost 900 feet of solo home runs to San Diego's dynamic duo of Tatis and Machado, turning a 3-1 lead into a 3-3 game.
The Mariners offense gave Magill and the bullpen a half-inning reprieve, scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning
A miscommunication on Dee Gordon's drag bunt attempt put the leadoff runner on base. J.P. Crawford was hit by a pitch. Both runners each moved up a base on an error. Sam Haggerty gave Seattle the lead for good with an RBI single to right field. Kyle Lewis and Kyle Seager each followed with RBI singles and Austin Nola added a sac fly to center.
With scheduled starter Taijuan Walker traded to the Blue Jays about two hours before first pitch, the Mariners scrambled and inserted rookie right-hander Ljay Newsome into Walker's spot. A starter for most of his minor-league career, Newsome was recently called up to pitch out of the bullpen, throwing three innings against the Dodgers in his MLB debut a week ago.
With a limited pitch count, Newsome delivered a solid spot start, pitching four innings and allowing one run on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
"He did a great job for us, he really did," Servais said. "Give him a ton of credit. He is who he is. He makes pitches. He keeps throwing strikes. He stays after them. I was really, really happy with the effort he gave us today. He'll continue to learn. That's his first start ever in the big leagues against a really good team."
Lamet came into the game with a 1.89 ERA in six starts this season with 45 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings pitched. But Seattle got three runs off him, including two from an unexpected contributor.
Jose Marmolejos entered the game in the fourth inning after Evan White was forced out of the game with shoulder pain. Marmolejos, who was called up as the 29th player for the doubleheader, crushed a two-run homer off Lamet. Shed Long Jr. later added an RBI single in the inning.
Servais said White tweaked the shoulder while diving for a ball on Tuesday and he tried to play through it on Thursday. But a fly ball in his first at-bat caused some discomfort.
