4/20: Open Game Thread

I don’t care about pitcher wins, but I do care about pitchers, and on some level, they probably care at least a little about wins. So far, Yusei Kikuchi has been denied a W in a Mariners uniform in his five starts (although he’s only recorded one L). Tonight, against Shohei Ohtani’s team, would be a nice place for him to earn that first W, although he’ll have to get some help from his offense and defense, thanks to Kikuchi’s propensity for putting the ball in the zone (50%, 6th in MLB...behind Marco, who ranks second). The Angels currently have the lowest swing percentage (41%) in MLB, but it seemed like they were pretty aggressive against Marco last night, so I would expect to see that trend continue tonight. Meanwhile, the offense will have to perform better against Duplo block-shaped human Trevor Cahill, who shut down the M’s offense during the Angels’ brief flyover at T-Mobile Park.

Mallex gets the night off, so this is a potentially masher-heavy lineup if they can get it together against Cahill. Fun fact: not one member of the Angels rotation has an FIP under 5. The closest is Tyler Skaggs at 5.07, who’s currently on the IL.

The baseball injury bug seems to be biting especially hard today, with Aaron Judge and Matt Shoemaker both sustaining what appear to be fairly serious injuries, and news from Chicago that Brandon Morrow is being shut down in his rehab, as well as an announcement by the Red Sox that Nathan Eovaldi is set to have some loose bodies removed from his elbow. So, winning would be great and all, but on second thought, I think I’d prefer a game where everyone emerges with their hamstrings and obliques intact. John and I were recounting the injury nightmare of 2017 the other day and just, sheesh. What a rough season in so many ways. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to dab some Icy/Hot around the gates of T-Mobile.

Game time: 6:07 PM, because why not?

Game available on: ROOTNW, FSW, MLB.tv

Listen at: 710 ESPN (Seattle feed), KLAA, KWKW (LA Anaheim whatever feed)