Mariners Game #49 Preview, 5/24/23: Oakland at Seattle

The Mariners look to keep the good vibes rolling, and Bryce Miller looks to keep his string of impressive starts going, tonight against Oakland in the third of four games. As a reminder, this series opens a long homestand for the club, which happily coincides with an uptick in the weather over what’s been an unseasonably cold spring, so get on down to the ballpark if you can.

Today’s lineups:

Don’t be deceived by the listing of RHP Austin Pruitt as tonight’s starter; he’ll merely be the opener, setting things up for LHP Ken Waldichuk, who suffered a mild calf strain during his last outing on Friday against the Astros. Waldichuk is most likely fine, but has had a propensity to be wild so far this year, although Pruitt hasn’t been the model of commanding the zone either this season, so I’m a little baffled as to what this pitching change is meant to accomplish other than trying to wrong-foot the Mariners and gain a handedness advantage early in the game.

On to the Mariners side:

Sam Haggerty will take over for the injured Ty France at first tonight. Servais said the most important thing for Haggerty will be to keep it simple at a position that’s less familiar to the super-utility player: “Don’t try to overdo it. Just make the basic plays, don’t try to be a hero. You don’t try to turn crazy 3-6-3 double plays if you’re not used to doing things like that.” Righty AJ Pollock also makes it into the game to face the lefty Waldichuk whenever he may appear, with Teo getting a night off in the field. Raleigh will handle catching duties with righty Tom Murphy on the bench.

Injury updates:

• Ty France kindly made himself available to the media in the clubhouse pregame and showed where exactly he got hit on the hand—the meaty part of his outside palm, right above the wrist. A couple inches lower, he said, and it would have broken his wrist—he thought on impact it had “exploded”—so everybody say a big thank you to the injury gods that wasn’t the case. The area is sore and somewhat swollen, limiting his movement, so he’ll continue to rest and ice it today.
• Dylan Moore was in the clubhouse after taking early BP and work on the field; he said he planned to leave for Tacoma and arrive shortly before the Rainiers game starts to play in his first rehab game there. Good luck on that I-5 corridor at rush hour, DMo. Meanwhile, if you’re local to Cheney Stadium, head on down for an up-close look at the rehabbing big-leaguer.

Today’s game info:

It’s another 6:40 start tonight, and once again Angie Mentink will have the call on ROOT Sports NW along with Aaron Goldsmith. Dave Sims and Rick Rizzs will do radio duty on 710 Seattle Sports.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1998 - Randy Johnson strikes out 15 in a 3-1 victory vs. Tampa Bay. The win snaps a five-game losing streak.
• 2007 - With his 3-for-6 performance, which includes a home run, Ichiro Suzuki collects 1,414 hits in his first 1,000 games in the major leagues. The Mariners’ outfielder total during this span is second only to Hall of Famer Al Simmons who collected 1,443 hits playing for the Philadelphia A’s.
• 2016 - Leonys Martin hit his second-ever walk-off 2-run home run in the 9^th inning to give Seattle a 6-5 win over Oakland.