Logan Gilbert allows four runs in loss Saturday

We need to come up with a better term than piggybacking. Seriously. Gilbert takes the ball for a traditional start with Hancock doing the same for Sunday’s series finale. The decision pushes George Kirby back to Monday’s opener against the Angels. The whole Mariners rotation situation is challenging to understand and remains a massive headache for fantasy managers. There have to be some changes coming from a personnel standpoint after next month’s All-Star break because this seems too chaotic to work as a strategic approach for an extended period.

Gilbert has been outstanding as of late, while Hancock has scuffled over his past two outings. The Mariners will be rotating hurlers in their piggyback situation rather than going to a six-man rotation for the foreseeable future, and it’s less than ideal from a fantasy perspective.

Gilbert posted 18 whiffs on the day, which was more than any other starting pitcher on Sunday. He struck out eight and walked two while throwing 70 percent of his pitches for strikes. He had good command of everything but the slider today, and the slider was still able to post a solid 13 percent swinging strike rate. The curve and splitter missed plenty of bats in limited usage, and his four-seam fastball was up over one mph, averaging 96.8 mph. He’ll look to keep it going against the Guardians next week.

Gilbert surrendered a run on two hits in the first inning. He then settled in nicely, dominating over six more shutout frames while collecting a season-high ten strikeouts on an impressive 19 whiffs. The 29-year-old right-hander will take a 3.43 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and a 92/20 K/BB ratio across 86 2/3 innings into a start against the Red Sox in Seattle on Sunday.

There’s a lot to unpack here. According to Mariners general manager Justin Hollander, it was a unanimous decision by all six starters — Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Emerson Hancock, Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo — to move to a schedule where each pitcher will rotate through and have piggyback days. Ironically, the arrangement will begin with Castillo piggybacking out of the bullpen with Miller during Friday’s series opener against the Red Sox. The decision will have a significant fantasy impact simply by reducing the overall volume for each starter over the next few weeks. The unorthodox arrangement feels like a temporary stopgap solution until the arrival of top prospects Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan later this summer ultimately forces Seattle to move on from at least one of their veteran arms.

It wasn’t enough to get Gilbert a win, so he remains 4-4 with a 3.62 ERA, even though the Mariners prevailed in one of his starts for the eighth time this year. Gilbert will face the Orioles again next week, but this time, it will be home in Seattle, improving his chances of recoding a victory.

Gilbert retired the first seven hitters before A.J. Ewing reached with a double in the third inning. Carson Benge followed with a two-run homer to put the Mets on the board. Gilbert tossed two more scoreless frames, then surrendered another homer to Benge, a solo shot in the sixth. He couldn’t get through a full six innings, leaving with one out and two runners on at 99 pitches. He generated an impressive 21 whiffs to strike out eight batters. The 29-year-old right-hander will take a 3.79 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a 77/17 K/BB ratio across 73 2/3 innings into a start against the Orioles in Baltimore next Monday.

Gilbert joined Nathan Eovaldi and teammate Emerson Hancock as the only pitchers so far this season to pitch at least six scoreless innings in a start at Sutter Health Park. No A’s pitcher has done it. Gilbert has pitched scoreless ball in three of his last four starts, though he unfortunately gave up seven runs in his other start during the stretch. He’s 3-4 with a 3.69 ERA and a 69/16 K/BB in 68 1/3 innings, and he’s due to pitch at home against the Mets next time out.

Gilbert washed away the seven-run shellacking he took against the Padres last time out with a nice bounce back start here. He located his fastball well as that pitch lived in the strike zone and was practically never squared up. That set up his secondaries to miss bats low and below the zone. He didn’t command those quite as well though and struggled to put hitters away, which is why his pitch count wound up so high despite so few scoring chances for the Royals. On the season, Gilbert now has 4.04 ERA, 69 strikeouts, and 16 walks over 68 innings. He’s scheduled to face the Athletics in Sacramento next time out.

Gilbert surrendered three homers in the contest, including a three-run homer in the fourth to Nick Castellanos. The 29-year-old was coming off an outstanding effort against the White Sox, but as has been the case for the most of the year, he followed a strong outing with a disappointing effort. Gilbert offers enormous fantasy upside, but his floor has been awfully low. He’ll try and get back on the good side against the Royals in Kansas City on Friday.