Washington pro sports recap for Sept. 22

WASHINGTON STATE – As the MLB regular season comes to a close and the NFL regular season is off to a quick start, Washington’s professional teams have been in a slump over the past week.

Mariners

The Mariners entered the beginning of a series against the Los Angeles Angels in possession of the American League’s second wild-card spot, behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the wild card standings.

Seattle lost the first three games of the road series against the Angels, with the first two games being one-run games. The Mariners were able to win the final game against Los Angeles 9-1, thanks to two home runs by veteran designated hitter Carlos Santana, whose first home run in the contest was a grand slam.

Taking out the score of the blowout win in the final game of the series, Seattle was outscored 15-9 in the series, scoring one run in two of the contests. The Mariners have scored two or less runs in four of their past seven games, all losses.

Coming off the series loss to the Angels, Seattle traveled to Oakland for a three-game stand with the Athletics. In the first game, the Mariners jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, after Sam Haggerty was walked with the bases loaded and sent Santana home. That was the end of the scoring for Seattle, as Oakland’s four-run fifth inning gave the Athletics the lead and eventual 4-1 win.

As of Tuesday night, the Mariners sit 2.5 games back of Toronto for the first wild card and half a game back of Tampa Bay for the second wild card, with sole possession of the third wild card. Seattle will close its series against the Athletics today, and travel to Kansas City for a three-game stand against the Royals beginning Friday.

Seahawks

After an emotional, season-opening win against Russel Wilson’s Denver Broncos, the Seahawks traveled to San Francisco for the team’s first divisional matchup of the season.

While the 49ers were able to drive down the field with ease on their first two drives of the game, the Seahawks were able to limit the score to a pair of field goals, including one from Seattle’s two-yard-line.

Down 6-0, the deficit increased to 13-0 on a 38-yard touchdown pass from San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a wide-open tight end Ross Dwelley. The Seahawks were able to drive down the field and into the red zone, but an interception thrown by running back DeeJay Dallas on a run-pass option play ended the drive with no points scored.

Following the turnover, the Seattle defense was able to stop the 49ers, forcing a punt – however, the punt was muffed, and set up San Francisco to score another touchdown to take a 20-0 lead into halftime.

Seattle’s lone score of the day came on a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, where Michael Jackson scooped up the ball after Tariq Woolen blocked it and returned 86 yards for the score. A late score for San Francisco gave the 49ers their eventual 27-7 win, dropping Seattle to 1-1 on the year.

The Seattle defense allowed 189 rushing yards on Sunday, a week after allowing 103 yards to Denver. Through two games the Seahawks are allowing 403 total yards to opposing offenses, 257 through the air and 146 on the ground. With the season-ending injury to safety Jamal Adams in Week 1, the team’s defense will have to rally together as a unit to make up for the loss of Seattle’s former All-Pro safety.

Through two games, Seattle is averaging 56 rushing yards per game – the fewest in the NFL – and had 36 yards on the ground on Sunday. Added with Seattle’s 178.5 pass yards per game, the Seahawks have the second-fewest total yards through the first two weeks of the season. The lack of a rushing attack is a stark contrast from a season ago, where Seattle finished just outside the NFL’s top 10 rushing yards per game with 122 yards per game on the ground.

Seattle will return home for a matchup with the 0-2 Atlanta Falcons, who are coming off a 31-27 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Kickoff is at 1:25 p.m. at Lumen Field.