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The Mariners look to win just their third home series of the year tonight in the rubber-match against the Oakland Athletics, and keep the momentum going into the series against the Twins.
On the mound for Oakland is some guy named Zachary Neal, who is replacing the injured Sonny Gray in the rotation. Neal, 27, has the minor league stat line from a starter you hang onto for organizational depth, not someone who will ever play in the bigs. In seven Triple-A starts this year, Neal only struck out one of every eight batters he faced, and he didn't do much better in either Double-A or Triple-A last year. Based on his out outing of MLB relief, we see that Neal throws three types of fastballs and three different offspeed pitches, all of which are likely bad and not good. The Mariners hitters should feast tonight.
Taking the hill for the home team is Hisashi Iwakuma, who is looking to bring his WHIP below 1.40 and his ERA below 4.00. In his other outing against the A's this year, Kuma allowed just one earned over seven innings, but only struck out three batters compared to two walks.
Elsewhere, the friggin' Rangers smashed the Angels this afternoon, scoring at least one earned run off all five pitchers LAA threw at them. As of writing, Houston is currently losing early to the Orioles.
Game Info
Time: 7:10 PT
TV: ROOT
Radio: 710 ESPN
Online: Internet hypertext transfer protocol website mlb.tv
the bizcons are lit, the Mariners call for aid