When the Mariners sold practically all their veterans elsewhere this offseason, they didn’t exactly re-stock with the best alternatives. For as insane as the offense has been, the bullpen has been almost as bad. The team’s only two losses so far this season were late-game bullpen chokes and in one of the Boston wins, scoring 10 runs was barely enough.
The usual bullpen headaches seemed inevitable tonight. Felix Hernandez had to exit after the first inning with “virus-like symptoms,” and Chasen Bradford didn’t exactly relieve the birthday boy with his two runs allowed and six full innings left of the ‘pen to go.