Game #56, 5/31/23: NYY at SEA

The Mariners are channeling the spirit of teachers and schoolkids everywhere this week counting down those final days until the end of school. One more game stands between the Mariners and the end of this brutal 13-game stretch with no breaks, and more saliently, seeing the Yankees leave town. Right now Tom Murphy is out on the field taking as what I can only describe as a very angry early BP, scalding baseballs all over the field. Taylor Swift’s “Karma” is playing, which I don’t think is a deliberate choice by the Mariners ballpark DJ but I would like to imagine it is.

Lineups:

George Kirby will take the mound and try to salvage one game from this series, while Seattle’s lefties will try to work on Clarke Schmidt, who has been moved out of the Yankees bullpen into the rotation but has been getting pretty unlucky so far this year. The Yankees will again be without Anthony Rizzo and Harrison Bader in their starting lineup, not that that’s hampered them so far in this series.

News and notes from Scott Servais’s pregame presser:

• After going weeks—weeks!—without a roster move, the Mariners made another today, returning most recent sacrificial lamb RHP Darren McCaughan to Tacoma and recalling RHP Matt Festa. Festa was optioned to Tacoma on April 9 after a rough first few outings where he’d seemingly lost a handle on his fastball and suddenly started issuing free passes all over the place. His command wasn’t completely healed during his stint in Tacoma, but he was effective, going a perfect 10-for-10 in saves, which led the PCL. Per Servais, Festa has added a cutter to go along with his slider-fastball combo, so that’s something to watch for if/when he gets into the game tonight.
• Muñoz had a nice outing last night in Triple-A Tacoma; he’ll likely have a couple days off before going back out again. He’s looking at 1-2 more appearances before he rejoins the club but reportedly felt good after his outing last night.
• With an off-day tomorrow following two lopsided losses, Servais anticipates the Mariners will use “a lot” of pitchers tonight, although he expects Kirby to be aggressive after the team struggled the past couple of nights. “He’ll go right after them and we’ll take our chances from there.”
• On the Mariners starters struggling this series: “We haven’t executed and pitched like we’re capable of, for whatever reason. They’ve been on us.” Servais also points out that the Yankees have several players who either played for the Mariners (Bauers) or played in their division (Calhoun, IKF) who know the Mariners better than most and are having big series. It’s right to worry about Judge and how he can impact the game, but “you’ve got to keep the other guys around him off base. And we haven’t done that.”

Today’s game info:

Today’s game time: 6:40 PT

TV: ROOT Sports NW; Dave Sims and Dan Wilson on the call

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports; Rick Rizzs and Aaron Goldsmith on the call

Today in Mariners history:

• 1998: Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr. is released on Nintendo.

• 1999: Mariners set new MLB record as quickest team to get to 100 homers (50 games). Team ties ML record for most HR in any one month, with 58 in May.
• 2001: Aaron Sele gets career victory #100 in s 2-1 win vs. Baltimore.
• 2016: The Mariners tie the club record for most runs in a single game at T-Mobile Park, with 16 against the Padres. In that same game, Robinson Cano extended his on-base streak to 29 games, claiming the longest active streak in the Majors.
• 2022: George Kirby earns first career win, as Mariners pitching shuts out the Orioles in Baltimore while the offense puts up 10 runs to back Kirby’s strong start where he goes six scoreless with eight strikeouts.