ARLINGTON, Texas _ In the past when Ariel Miranda went through these sorts of struggles, his spot in the starting rotation remained safe because the Mariners simply didn't have another viable arm to replace him.
But the situation is a little different now with roster expansion and James Paxton and Felix Hernandez re-entering the rotation later this week. There are replacements available now.
Following Seattle's 5-3 loss to the Rangers on Monday in which Miranda was pulled with two outs the second inning _ his shortest outing of the season _ after allowing four runs on six hits with three walks, it may be time to consider a change.
The Mariners also need to change how they are playing if they hope to stay in the American League wild-card race much longer. The loss dropped them to 71-73 and 3 { games back.
Sure, he threw six no-hit innings in his last outing. But that may have been the outlier outing in a series of rough starts. He's only pitched six complete innings twice in 12 starts since July 1. Over that span, he's allowed 44 runs in 59 innings for a 6.71 ERA with 27 walks and 61 strikeouts.
Miranda was in trouble from almost the start Monday. With one out in the first inning, he gave up a single to Shin Soo-Choo and walked Elvis Andrus. It looked like Miranda had added to his league-leading total of 35 homers allowed when he left a 0-2 fastball up in the zone to Nomar Mazara. The pitch was rerouted at a high rate of speed to deep right-center. But the line drive hit off the wall instead of going over it or through it, allowing both runners to score. After giving up a single to Robinson Chirinos that put runners on the corners with one out, Miranda kept the damage to two runs, retiring the next two batters.
But it became clear in his second inning that his outing wasn't going to improve.
With one out, Miranda walked No. 9 hitter Ryan Rua, gave up an infield bunt single to Delino DeShields and then served up another double to the gap. This time Choo pummeled a 2-0 fastball up in the zone into left-center to score both runners. Miranda made it two more batters. He gave up a single to Andrus, who got himself out by trying to advance to second on a throw home. But after Miranda walked Mazara, manager Scott Servais had seen enough and went to the bullpen.
Reliever Ryan Garton got the final out of the inning to stop the bleeding.
So if Miranda got pulled from the rotation, who might be his replacement?
Well, the best candidate also pitched Monday night. Rookie Andrew Moore came on in the third inning and delivered a solid performance, pitching six innings and allowing one run on one hit _ a solo homer from DeShields _ with a walk and seven strikeouts.
The Mariners total offensive output belonged to Mitch Haniger and Kyle Seager. Seattle mustered six hits on the night and Haniger had three of them.
Seager cut the 2-0 lead in half in the second inning with a solo homer to right field off Rangers starter Cole Hamels.
An inning later with the deficit back to three runs, Haniger crushed a two-run homer to left field. He also had a double and single off Hamels.
