Given the pitching matchups, gunning for a split on Sunday isn't exactly the result the Mariners desired. They'll turn to James Paxton this afternoon on a grey day in Seattle, whose ERA has normalized while his walks have skyrocketed. Call it the 2014-Erasmo Ramirez syndrome. Paxton has walked a whopping 13 batters in his last three starts totaling 24.2 innings, but his ERA is 1.82. All things considered, including the horrible start, this is more or less what a lot of people thought James Paxton would be when he exhibited a similar skillset in Tacoma before he blew the roof off across his first two limited seasons.
The M's will face Tim Wakefield Steven Wright, who is a knuckleballer and not comedian Steven Wright as pictured above.
Wright has not made a start all year. He's only thrown 45 major league innings, and the ones this year have been fairly terrible. If the M's don't get a split with this matchup, things might get pretty dark in the comment section. Be wary.
Brad Miller is back at shortstop and hitting leadoff. There's a bunch of weirdness in the lineup, as both Rickie Weeks and Justin Ruggiano are starting against a righty, but Wright is a knuckler and who knows how that platooning works.
GOMS.