9/6/20: Open Game Thread

Don’t look now but the Seattle Mariners are playing some good baseball. Part of this is undoubtedly tied to Angels and Rangers privilege, as playing teams as bad as Anaheim and Texas has a way of producing wins. A Sunday afternoon dub would give Seattle three straight against the Rangers and five straight overall, with one more game against Chris Woodward’s team on Monday to run up the score.

Woodward’s team — a team that I will remind you again, is bad — has lost 16 of their last 19. Their starting pitcher for today’s matinee, righthander Jordan Lyles, is circling the drain. He received a two-year, $16 million contract before the season, joining fellow free agent Kyle Gibson behind Lance Lynn, Mike Minor, and major trade acquisition Corey Kluber in a rotation the Rangers assumed would be a team strength.

Instead, Lyles has a 8.59 ERA and a K-rate (12.9%) that is cuddling way too close to his walk rate (10.0%). Gibson has disappointed as well, Kluber threw all of one inning before going down with a shoulder injury, Minor was traded to a division rival, and Lynn, who they probably should have traded for younger pieces, is still here. Add that all together and you have a 13-25 team who will get worse before they get better, at least for the duration of 2020.

The Mariners, meanwhile, are trending upward and have Justin Dunn on the bump. Dunn has matching six-inning, six-strikeout, zero earned runs lines in his last two starts, one of which was against this very same hapless Ranger lineup. If you’ve been meaning to block out some time to watch Leody Taveras and Anderson Tejeda, today is your lucky day.

Lineups

First Pitch: 1:10 p.m. PDT

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

Radio: 710 ESPN, MLB app