This could have been a great night.
This could have been Taijuan Walker's 2014 debut. Instead, it's Blake Beavan's. In Arlington. Whatever. If the Mariners somehow manage to win this one, they'll toss Felix out against Yu Darvish on Wednesday, then after a getaway game on Thursday, it's two series against the Marlins and Astros. The brutal part of April is almost over, and it's hard to complain about the W/L record, though the uncertainty about James Paxton looms.
Depending on how Walker does tonight (he certainly appeared fine in AA last week), this could be Beavan's only start, though Jack Zduriencik has been diplomatic about Walker's timeline.
It's a forced righty lineup today going against Robbie Ross, as Stefen Romero bats 5th and Willie Bloomquist steps in for Dustin Ackley. I get that McClendon trying to play the matchups, and Bloomquist has some small value against lefties, but Ackley's never been an extreme split hitter and he's looking good - he's been mighty fine for a while now.
#Mariners Dustin Ackley is batting .317/.384/.475 with 23 R, 11 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR, 21 RBI, & 2 SB over his last 52 games.
— MLB Play Index (@BRefPlayIndex) April 15, 2014