Mariners Game #81 Preview, 7/1/23: Tampa Bay at Seattle

After a brutal bludgeoning at the hands of the AL’s best offense last night, the Mariners have to scrape themselves together quickly for today’s matinee matchup against the Rays. Seattle will run out one of their best starters in George Kirby, but he’ll be opposed by Tyler Glasnow, who is coming off a game where he struck out 12 in five innings of work, perhaps showing that he’s fully returned from the TJ surgery that knocked him out most of last year and beyond as well as some early-season oblique trouble.

Lineups:

Today’s game information:

Today’s early start time (4:15 PT) is partly a function of the Sounders playing a game in the building next door at 7:30—to those bravely double-dipping your sports events today, I salute you—and partly a function of this being a national TV broadcast. No ROOT Sports fam today, unfortunately, but Tom Verducci and Aaron Goldsmith will have the call nationally. If you want things a little more locally-focused you can always fire up the radio (or stream via Mariners.com or site of your choice) and listen to Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims on 710 AM Seattle Sports. Remember that today is the Cal-Boy hat giveaway, if you’re confused about why all of T-Mobile suddenly looks like a country concert.

Tomorrow’s homestand finishes up with a 1:10 game; the giveaway is a stars-and-stripes themed clear fanny pack, suitable for all your ballpark adventures. After that, the Mariners are on the road until the All-Star Break, so if for some reason you want to get into T-Mobile Park before it costs $500 a head to do so, now is your chance.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1992: Chuck Armstrong becomes President of the new Baseball Club of Seattle, LLC.
• 1998: Ken Griffey Jr. ties the team record for doubles in a game (4) in a 9-5 victory vs. Colorado.
• 2007: With the team in first place in the AL West, the midst of an eight-game win streak, Mike Hargrove abruptly resigns as team manager, saying his passion for baseball had “begun to fade.” After going 45-33 under Hargrove, the team goes 43-41 under new manager John McLaren and finishes second in the AL West to the Angels, missing the playoffs despite a 5.8 WAR season from Ichiro Suzuki.
• 2016: With 3 home runs in a 5-2 win over the Orioles (Seth Smith, Kyle Seager, Dae-Ho Lee), the Mariners had hit a season total of 59 home runs before the All-Star Break, the most in Safeco Field history. Kyle Seager’s 2-run homer in the 6^th inning was his 16^th of the season, a career-high number of home runs before the All-Star Break.