Mariners Game #40 Preview, 5/14/2022: Seattle at Tigers

The Mariners did what they needed to do in the first two games and now look to complete their third sweep of the season today. The pitching matchup looks like a favorable one. Logan Gilbert is coming off one of the better outings of his career, striking out ten Rangers while walking just one and allowing a measly three hits over six and two-thirds. The 2023 Mariners offense being the 2023 Mariners offense, though, left him taking the L anyway. Part of a common theme of the season, that game only took one game off their run differential, but several points off their fun differential.

Hopefully, the offense can put up a better performance against Detroit’s pitching for the third time in a row. Joey Wentz gets the start for the Tigers today. Wentz offers a four-seamer, cutter, and change up ~90% of the time, and the cutter is really a vertical movement pitch, with less than two inches of horizontal break. His truest breaking ball is a curveball. Facing a pitcher without much horizontal movement feels like a recipe for Teo to take another step forward.

Lineups

I would have liked to see Jarred get a chance to see Wentz’s subpar change up, since that’s the pitch teams have been hammering with as their adjustment to his hot start. It would have been a good opportunity to face a game-action cambio that he might have been able to handle and thus learn something in the process. But I guess everybody deserves a day off.

With Wentz being a southpaw, it’ll be Haggerty in Jarred’s stead rather than Trammell. That matchup also means Cal gets his day off today, and Caballero continues his role as the weak-side platoon at the keystone. Personally, I’d like to see Cabby starting over Wong even against righties. I think 40 games with barely a sign of life out of Wong is long enough to try an adjustment.

The Tigers lineup is a thing that exists. But, who knows—it’s baseball. Maybe they hang a 12 spot on the Mariners today.

Game Info

First pitch: 10:40 PT

TV: ROOT Sports

Radio: 710 am and mariners.com

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