The Seattle Mariners were dealt a tough blow on Tuesday afternoon when they lost Game 1 of the ALDS on Yordan Alvarez‘s walk-off home run after coming to within one strike of defeating the Houston Astros and taking an early lead in the series.
Seattle had previously led the game, 7-3.
The turning point just might’ve been when manager Scott Servais pulled closer Paul Sewald and tapped lefty Robbie Ray to face Alvarez.
Obviously, the move didn’t work out and ended up costing the Mariners dearly.
Mariners insider Ryan Divish goes in depth on Servais’ decision and discussed all the loopholes in Servais’ rationale for using Ray.
Servais mentioned executing the pitch and the plan. Here's the more logical aspect to wonder: Given his outing in Toronto and some of his struggles late in the season and lack of pinpoint command, what were the odds of Ray being able to execute the plan/pitch effectively. https://t.co/N8gJwhNki7
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) October 13, 2022
The Case Against The Ray Decision
As we’ve discussed before, the move makes sense on paper, given that Alvarez hits from the left side and Servais wanted to mix and match.
But Servais stood by his decision even after it had cost the Mariners, stating that it came down to execution.
But as Divish correctly points out, Ray had struggled in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series in Toronto.
He had also been struggling with his command down the stretch, which makes the move by Servais even more questionable.
The truth is, given that, what were the odds of Ray being able to successfully execute pitches that at-bat, which is a question that was posed in the tweet by Divish.
At the end of the day, the move backfired on Servais and the Mariners, even if it made sense on paper to try and create a lefty-lefty matchup.
Perhaps keeping Sewald in the game would have worked out better.
Game 2 takes place today, with Luis Castillo getting the start against Astros left-hander Framber Valdez.
NEXT: Mariners Manager Notes How His Team Is Feeling