9/13/17: Open Game Thread

Presumably after completing some sort of bizarre ritual to please the notoriously fickle gods of baseball offense, the Mariners dropped 10 runs on the Texas Rangers in Arlington last night to even the series at one game a piece.

If I were a betting man, I’d wager that fewer runs get scored today.

After witnessing a combined 25 hits last night, Scott Servais and a now un-ejected Jeff Banister will send their hottest starters to the mound this evening for game three. Since arriving from the Cardinals August 30th, M’s maestro of the mound Mike Leake has been a revelation, surrendering just a single walk across a pair of quality 2-run starts—good for a 1.54 FIP.

Rangers southpaw Martín Pérez, meanwhile, enters today having won 7 games in a row. In that span, he’s been consistently able to get deep into games while successfully limiting the long ball—across those 45.2 innings pitched, his HR/9 is a paltry 0.59. He’ll have his hands full tonight, however, with a Mariners offense that is finally showing some late-season life.

Led by Mitch Haniger, who has 24 hits in his last 50 at bats, the M’s have posted the 6th highest wRC+ of any team in baseball since September 1st. Oddly enough the Oakland Athletics are first (*shakes fist at Boog Powell and his OBP of .424 and 164 wRC+ since the trade, but not really though, we still love you, Boog*).

Kyle Seager has reached base in every game this month, amassing a wRC+ of 159, and with his 150th career home run last night, extended his hitting streak to 9 games. Mike Zunino and Robinson Canó have also been swinging the bat extremely well, bringing their wRC+ in September up to 177 and 204 respectively.

Now a quick minor league update from the M’s v. fun High-A affiliate:

#GoNuts indeed. We’ll be posting updates from Game 2 tonight.

Also, a quick Shohei Ohtani update:

As this photo evidence suggests, Jerry Dipoto is currently in Japan watching the phenom play in person. Let’s hope they’re developing a nice rapport.

Go M’s.

*

Game Time: 5:05 PM PST

TV: ROOT SPORTS NW

Radio: 710 ESPN Seattle

Online: MLB.tv