9/11/19: Open Game Thread

Fresh off a feel good moment from a player making their first MLB start, the Mariners will write another youngster’s name into the lineup card for the first time tonight. Donnie Walton is slated to hit eighth and play shortstop behind Marco Gonzales on Wednesday night in Seattle.

While lacking the first-round pedigree of Kyle Lewis (who is starting again in right field tonight), Walton merits some excitement of his own. The 25-year-old infielder hit .300/.390/.427 at Double-A Arkansas this season. His time with the Travelers spanned two years, and those 2019 numbers were a pole vault above his 2018 figures (.236/.325/.327).

You can read more about Donnie here in our article about the quartet of Mariners who got called up this week. Hopefully he will not be out of his element tonight, as his first plate appearance will likely come against Sonny Gray and an arm that’s thrown 1,058 big league innings.

Seattle starts Marco Gonzales opposite Gray. After a really nice four-game stretch in mid-August, Gonzales has sputtered a bit in his last two starts. His last outing against an NL Central opponent (June 25 in Milwaukee) ended with a Mariner win and the lefty scattering two earned runs over five innings. Given the Reds’ top-heavy lineup, a deeper outing may be in the cards tonight for our diminutive Coloradan prince.

Lineups

First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. PDT

TV: ROOT Sports Northwest, mlb.TV for out-of-market viewers

Radio: 710 ESPN, MLB At-Bat app