8/16/20: Open Game Thread

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Brunch Baseball! Whether you were up mowing the lawn at 6 in the morning (not cool, by the way), or you’re just now creakily extracting yourself from your bed, there’s baseball to be seen before noon.

As with every game this season, Mariners fans will want to focus on the players who are likely to be the future core of the team. Today, the big story will be Justus Sheffield. Justus’ struggles last season were well-documented. In fact, they were so bad that the former centerpiece of the James Paxton trade was forced to spend most of his time completely resetting himself in double-A Arkansas.

His 5.27 ERA this season would suggest that those struggles have continued. In reality, that’s not exactly the case. His first start of the season was bad, yes. The second start was much better: he struck out five, walked two, and gave up four earned runs that were mostly due to some bad scatter luck at the end of his outing. Most recently, Justus went 6.0 innings, striking out seven, walking none, and allowing zero runs.

He’ll look to continue his upward trend of success against a formidable Astros lineup.

If Justus pitches well today it’ll be as encouraging a sign as any for his continued development. No real surprises in the M’s lineup today. Shed Long and Austin Nola will get days off, and Dylan Moore will slot again into the two-hole. Moore, who is 0 for his last 13, will try to rebound against Lance McCullers’ nasty curveball.

Edit, 10:17 AM PST: Yordan Alvarez is a late scratch for the Astros. He’ll be replaced by Abraham Toro, who is a real person.

Game time: 11:10 AM PST

TV: Root Sports NW

Radio: 710 AM ESPN Seattle

Streaming: MLB.tv