Despite Shelly Duncan’s three-hit day after being entered into the lineup to replace Shin-Soo Choo and his sore trunk, the Seattle Mariners rocked Josh Tomlin and the Indians bullpen to the tune of nine runs, taking three out of four from the Tribe.
The loss sends Cleveland seven games behind Detroit (with the Tigers still to play tonight) in the AL Central standings.
Without Asdrubal Cabrera, Choo, Hafner, Brantley, Kipnis and Sizemore, the Indians are far from a major league-quality hitting team. A lineup of Zeke Carrera, Cord Phelps, Lou Marson, Shelly Duncan, Kosuke Fukudome, Lonnie Chisenhall, Matt Laporta, Jack Hannahan and Jason Donald is going to have a hard time winning any games, especially against Cy Young winners like Felix Hernandez.
The Indians collected 10 hits against the Mariners, but scored just two runs, leaving 11 men on base and striking out 16 times.
After Josh Tomlin was roughed up, the Mariners tacked on three more runs off Rafael Perez. The Mariners were paced by the unlikely duo of Kyle Seager and Wily Mo Pena, who combined to go 7-7 with seven RBI.
The Tribe will hope to right the ship tomorrow when they start a three game series against the Royals.