Game Recap: Mariners outslug Cubs for series win

Kamil Krzaczynski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 17 hours ago

CHICAGO - Although the homestand didn't end the way the Chicago Cubs (46-31) had hoped, they still managed to come away with a winning record at 5-4. For the fourth consecutive day, Wrigley Field played small as the wind was howling out yet again, and for the second time this weekend, it was the Cubs on the losing side of a blowout as the Seattle Mariners (39-37) capped off a series win versus the Cubs with a 14-6 victory.

That will happen when the wind blows out and your starters fail to go deep into games, as this was the fifth consecutive game that a Cubs starter failed to pitch more than six innings, which will be an issue going forward. In what has been a downward trend for about the past three weeks, Colin Rea continued to struggle as his once-promising season has regressed to the point where you are seeing what you would expect to see from him.

Although Rea logged the longest start of any Cubs starters the past five games with 5 1/3 innings, he also put forth the worst outing as he was touched up for seven runs on 11 hits, with four of those hits coming as homers. That included the first runs of the afternoon for the Mariners, as this weekend turned into the Cal Raleigh show. The Mariners' catcher connected for his fourth homer of the weekend and 31st of the season, putting the Mariners in front 2-0.

Anytime you spot Logan Gilbert two runs of support right from the jump, you are asking for trouble, as Gilbert continues to be one of the more underrated starters in the game. To the Cubs' credit, this wasn't one of Gilbert's best outings as the right-hander only lasted five innings, surrendering three homers and four earned runs in what was a shaky outing for him across the board.

Immediately after allowing a two-run shot to give the Mariners the lead in the first, it was the Cubs' turn to play long ball in the bottom of the first as Seiya Suzuki ended his homerless drought with a solo shot to make this a 2-1 game. The long ball continued to play a role for the Mariners in the second with Dominic Canzone connecting for the first of two homers to push the Mariners' lead to 3-1.

Not only did Canzone come through with two homers, but Donovan Solano also added the first of his two homers in the fourth to open up a 4-1 lead. Despite the homers, Rea was able to limit the big inning, as all of the early game homers for the Mariners came as solo shots. Then came the fifth, where the Seattle offense continued to have their way with the right-hander as a one-out single from Raleigh gave the Mariners another baserunner.

Two batters later, Randy Arozarena added to the Mariners' lead with an RBI single, making it a 5-1 game. After pushing across just one run through four innings against Gilbert, the Cubs finally seemed to figure him out in the fifth and used a big inning of their own to make this a game. It all started with a long Reese McGuire homer for his second homer of the weekend as the Cubs pulled within 5-2. Following a two-out single from Kyle Tucker, Suzuki added to his home run total as he touched them all for the second time in the game and pulled the Cubs within 5-4.

That was as close as the Cubs would get as Seattle continued to tee off against Rea in the sixth with Canzone going deep for the second time in as many at-bats to push the lead to 6-4. Miles Mastrobuoni and JP Crawford added a pair of singles immediately after that homer, with Julio Rodriguez driving home the Mariners' seventh run with an RBI grounder to make this a 7-4 game.

With Rea out of the game after 5 1/3 innings, Craig Counsell turned to right-hander Chris Flexen, who entered the game as one of just two relievers to not allow an earned run while pitching 15 innings or more (Drew Pomeranz). It took long enough, but that streak came to an end in the seventh inning as Flexen allowed a two-out walk to Mitch Garver before serving up the second homer of the game to Solano to push the Mariners' lead back out to 9-4.

Anytime you find yourself down by five runs late in a game, your chances of winning are slim to none, but given the weather conditions at Wrigley this weekend, no lead is safe until that final out is recorded. Just ask Gabe Speier, who walked Justin Turner to begin the seventh before Kyle Tucker connected for a two-run shot two batters later to make this a 9-6 game.

Those would be the final runs of the day for the Cubs as the Mariners' offense broke out for five runs in the eighth against the recently promoted Nate Pearson to open up a massive 14-6 lead. Cole Young and Solano delivered three of the five RBIs on a pair of singles, with Arozarena picking up a two-run double to close out the 14-6 win.

This was one of those weekends that many fans feared, as the Cubs' struggles, combined with the red-hot Brewers, saw the Cubs' lead in the Central shrink from 6.5 games to 3.5. Suzuki and Tucker led the Cubs with two hits and combined for five of the team's six RBIs. Next up for Chicago is a massive four-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals, which begins on Monday at Busch Stadium.