So this is life at two games under .500, with not a lot of hope in immediate sight. Tonight's game features Drew Smyly facing off against Chris Young, who will try to keep his Safeco magic working after Monday's outstanding performance, despite two very near home runs to the wall. Young's K/BB ratio is dancing around like the Mariners win/loss record, as Young now has one more strikeout (24) than walk (23). He's still completely confounding all peripherals, and another game at Safeco could help him yet again.
He'll square off against the Tigers, who send Drew Smyly to the mound. Back when the Mariners traded Doug Fister to the Tigers, there was considerable discussion about who the PTBNL would be. Wild optimists prayed it would be current Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos, who's struggling with a 74 wRC+ in his rookie year. More reasonable, yet still optimistic wishes had the final name in the deal pegged to be tonight's starter, Drew Smyly. Smyly has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen in his career, primarily starting in 2012 and 2014 while dominating in relief for the Tigers in 2013.
The Mariners, of course, got Chance Ruffin instead.
Smyly, left-handed, takes the mound with worse stats than his relieving year, though they're hardly poor. Smyly has more or less been replacement level by fWAR so far, as his ERA sits at 3.86 but his peripherals sit a touch higher. Smyly has allowed 8 homers in 44.1 innings, but he's also faced teams with a lot more right-handed power than whatever the Mariners bring out tonight.
Today's a big one, since the Mariners get Max Scherzer tomorrow.
Lineups aren't available at time of this scheduled post, so if somebody would be kind enough to post them in the comments, it would be greatly appreciated.
Game info
- Mariners vs. Tigers, 7:10 p.m. PST
- TV: ROOT, MLB.tv
- Radio: 710 ESPN