7-13-18: Open Game Thread

If there was ever a night for things to get reeeeeaaaaal weird, it’s probably tonight in Colorado. The Mariners are playing a game that starts at 5:40 p.m. local time (weird) in a National League stadium (super weird), with Ben Gamel manning center field (too much weird), and Christian Bergman + Chris Herrmann as the starting battery (immensely weird).

No matter the circumstances, the Mariners could use a win after last night’s catastrophe. James Paxton’s minor injury set a grip of roster moves into motion, putting Bergman in the less-than-enviable position of making a start at Coors Field. This will be the right-hander’s second spot start of the season after handling the Texas Rangers quite well over seven innings of two-hit, no-run ball in May, a game the Mariners would eventually lose.

If Bergman blanks the Rockies tonight like he did the Rangers, his team should absolutely bring home a win. The spacious, thin-aired confines of Coors Field are dangling like a piñata, asking to be demolished by Seattle hitters. Given Bergman’s history as a Rockie draft pick who appeared in 55 games for the franchise, the 30-year-old should carry some extra motivation into tonight’s contest. Should things go awry, the recently-recalled Casey Lawrence will almost surely be the first man out of the bullpen.

The Mariners have posted a left-handed heavy lineup to oppose Rockies’ righty Jeff Hoffman, who is also making a spot start after being summoned from the minors this morning. All you need to know about Hoffman is that this is his first start of 2018, a year in which he’s thrown 5.1 MLB innings with a 10.13 ERA. Let’s. Get. Weird.

Lineups

First Pitch: 5:40 p.m. PT

TV: Root Sports NW, mlb.TV for out-of-market viewers

Radio: 710 ESPN, MLB At-Bat app