Manager Scott Servais likes the way his Seattle Mariners are playing.
However, San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin is not happy with his club.
"This is a stretch where we have not played very well," Melvin said Monday after his Padres were routed 8-2 by the Mariners in the opener of a two-game series in San Diego.
"It's sloppy," Melvin continued. "We addressed it today. The effort and defense has not been there the last few games. Those have been strengths for us."
The Padres are 2-7 over the last nine games, 1-4 in their past five home games and are just 21-17 at home this season. Since the first of June, the Padres are 8-7 at home while hitting .227. They are hitting .271 on the road since June 1.
Meanwhile, the Mariners are 6-1 over their past seven games and 11-3 over their past 14 games going into a Tuesday game against the Padres. And the momentum favors the visitors.
The Mariners' Logan Gilbert (9-3, 2.66 ERA) will be matched against the Padres' Mike Clevinger (2-0, 2.79) in a pairing of right-handers in the finale of the brief series.
"I really like the way we've been playing," Servais said. "We're getting excellent pitching along with clutch hitting from guys who have stepped it up with some other guys out. And the defense has remained consistent."
The Mariners' staff ERA of 2.81 is the lowest in the major leagues over the past 37 games. One of the leaders of that surge is the 25-year-old Gilbert, who will be starting against the Padres for the first time in his career.
Seattle's first-round pick (14th overall) in the 2018 draft will be making his 17th start of the season. He ranks seventh in the American League in ERA and 14th in the major leagues.
Gilbert has a 1.120 WHIP and held opponents to a .227 batting average. He has a 5-1 record with a 2.55 ERA in nine road starts this season.
Gilbert was 4-1 in June with a 3.28 ERA while averaging just under six innings over six starts.
Clevinger will be making his seventh start of the season and his third since returning from the COVID-19 injured list on June 17. In his last outing, Clevinger shut out the Arizona Diamondbacks over six innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out six on Wednesday.
Clevinger, who returned this season after a second Tommy John surgery, has pitched five innings or more just twice this season, although Melvin said he's no longer on a pitch count.
Clevinger has a 1.103 WHIP and a .200 opponents' batting average this season. He's faced the Mariners only once before in his career, when he gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk with five strikeouts over a six-inning start in 2018.
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