Seattle stays hungry entering second half

SEATTLE -- The Mariners went quietly in the finale of their first half of the regular season, falling 7-1 to the Angels -- or, rather, the red-hot David Fletcher -- on a sun-soaked Seattle Sunday.

Fletcher drove in four of the Halos’ seven runs and scored twice, and perhaps more impressively, he did so against four Mariners pitchers as part of the club’s planned bullpen day in the rotation spot of Justus Sheffield, who was placed on the injured list on Wednesday.

On paper, it looked like the Mariners might have an advantage: a seven-man bullpen with diverse repertoires and essentially a new look for each opposing hitter. And with the All-Star break on the horizon, every arm was available to empty the tank. But Fletcher silenced those ambitions while extending a hit streak that was already an MLB best this season to 24 games.

At first, it was a solo home run off Héctor Santiago, who was otherwise sharp over three-plus innings. Then it was a slap single down the right-field line on a 95.8 mph fastball from Yohan Ramirez well above the strike zone. After that, a seventh-inning line drive off Keynan Middleton landed just in front of Jake Fraley to score another. Rafael Montero was his final victim in the ninth via a single to center, which led him to score on an RBI single by All-Star Jared Walsh.

Meanwhile, the Mariners managed just one run, a sacrifice fly by Ty France that scored leadoff batter J.P. Crawford in the first inning. It was their quietest showing in what was an otherwise positive 5-4 homestand that will send the club into the break five games above .500.

The Mariners’ pitching staff can chalk up Sunday as a cap-tip to one of the game’s hottest hitters, and they’ll spend the next four days resting. Meanwhile, management must determine how to proceed with Sheffield’s next rotation turn -- and beyond.

And that issue could become even more compounded if any part of Santiago’s 10-game suspension is upheld for allegedly using an illegal grip-enhancing agent on June 27. He will receive a final verdict from MLB on Wednesday. Seattle would not be allowed to replace his 26-man roster spot.

The Mariners open the second half with a three-game series against these Angels in Anaheim, then they have an off-day on Monday, July 19, before a nine-game stretch with no breaks, which will lead them right into the July 30 Trade Deadline. And it comes at a time where their starting-pitching depth has never been thinner.

“We don't have a natural solution to that right now,” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said. “So it's going to be some combination of the bullpen and guys from Triple-A who get an opportunity and whatever as we continue to knock on doors around the league; whatever we're able to do to find a little bit of help, because it is something we want to tap into.”

With a left forearm strain and a Grade 2 oblique strain, Sheffield is expected to be out for a prolonged period; it could be a matter of weeks and possibly months. Justin Dunn began throwing from 60 feet this week, but he’s still at least a few weeks away and needs a rehab assignment. And given that the Mariners have already turned to Santiago, Robert Dugger and Ljay Newsome among others to make spot starts, an already tenuous starting-pitching situation doesn’t have many reinforcement options left in the Minors until the guys get healthy.

“There could be, but again, there’s an area where we've tapped into that pretty heavily already in the first half,” Dipoto said. “I'm not sure how much deeper we can go without putting guys in positions that they shouldn't be.”

Jimmy Yacabonis could be an answer, and Shane Carle was signed in an under-the-radar depth deal on July 3. Either would need to be added to the 40-man roster. The Mariners could move Dunn to the 60-day IL to clear a roster spot, but then he wouldn’t be eligible to return until mid-August, and he seems far closer than that.

The Mariners had to press through with seven bullpen games earlier this season, depending on the criteria. That was when they were committed to a six-man rotation in May while Marco Gonzales was sidelined.

Seattle went 1-6 in those games, and it’s perhaps no coincidence that a relief corps that has been among the best when the rotation isn’t turning to a bullpen game every fifth or sixth day turned into one of the Majors’ worst when it was. Mariners relievers had a 5.04 ERA in May, when they were regularly deploying bullpen games. For the rest of the season, they have a 3.69 mark.

So Seattle heads into the break on a positive note -- the first team on the outside looking in for an AL Wild Card spot -- but it still seeks some roster clarity.