Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais talked before Saturday’s game against the New York Mets about the growth of the bullpen this season.
SEATTLE — The growth of the Seattle Mariners bullpen has been a big reason for the team’s success over the last few weeks.
Andres Munoz has put together an All-Star season and Collin Snider has improved to be a legitimate leverage arm for the team. The trade acquisitions of JT Chargois and Yimi Garcia helped bolster the bullpen in a big way as well, giving the team more depth in the mid-to-late innings.
The Mariners have been trying to add one more arm with the latest injury to Gregory Santos and hope to have found it with the latest call-up of Double-A Arkansas pitcher Troy Taylor.
But the need of relief pitching has steadily decreased as the season has gone on.
“I do feel a lot better and more confident in the guys and kind of how they’re settling in,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said in a pregame interview Saturday. “(Chargois) is throwing the ball really well. He looks like old (Chargois) when we had him before. And that really fires me up. … I think what (Collin Snider) has added to our group has really made a difference. Voth has kind of been all over the map in different roles he’s done.
“… (Trent Thornton) has taken on a number of roles, we need to get (Tayler Saucedo) back and going again. We ran him really hard — he’s been sick, he’s been under the weather probably three or four last days. So he’s available tonight. … And when you have (Garcia) and (Andres Munoz) on the back side — I feel a lot better about it now than maybe I did a few weeks ago.”
Snider, Munoz, Chargois and Garcia have been the stars of Seattle’s bullpen. Munoz hasn’t allowed a run since June 26; Snider posted a 0.71 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 13 appearances in July; Garcia has allowed just two earned runs and two hits in six appearances with the Mariners since the team acquired him and Chargois has let up just two free bases and no runs in four appearances since his return to Seattle.
The Mariners have a habit of playing in close games and the bullpen will likely take front and center during the last two months of the season as a result.
If the relievers can continue improving like they have, then those close games will likely be a lot less stressful for fans.
