Mariners Game #82 Preview, 7/2/23: Tampa Bay at Seattle

After Friday’s drubbing and Saturday’s closer-than-it-looked win, the Mariners complete their series and their homestand against the Tampa Bay Rays today. After this, they’ll head off to San Francisco and then Houston with no off-days before finally getting a break for All-Star Week. Today we’ll also find out which lone Mariner or two will represent the team at the All-Star Game. It’s quite a difference from the last time Seattle hosted MLB’s premiere event, and that’s probably enough said about that.

Lineups:

The Mariners will be getting a taste of their own medicine in Taj Bradley, a young pitcher with a hard, riding fastball that’s his primary weapon. The good news for the Mariners batters is he’s primarily fastball-cutter, occasionally mixing in a curveball and change that’s still developing. The bad news is, as Jake noted in the series preview, he can strike out a ton of hitters.

News:

The Mariners announced today they claimed Mark Mathias, INF/OF, off waivers from the Pirates. Mathias was originally drafted by Cleveland in 2015 out of Cal Poly (Mitch Haniger’s alma mater) before being traded to Milwaukee, where he got a cup of coffee in the bigs in 2020. He then went to Texas last season as part of the Matt Bush trade before being dealt to the Pirates for cash this past spring, each time getting another cup of coffee with each of those big-league clubs. Our sister site Brew Crew Ball has a good writeup of Mathias here. He’ll head to Triple-A Tacoma for now. The Mariners roster is now full again at 40 players.

Today’s game information:

Today’s 1:10 PT game can be seen once again on ROOT Sports NW, after a brief flirtation with national coverage yesterday during which thankfully the Mariners didn’t embarrass themselves in front of Fox and friends. Dave Sims and Dan Wilson will have the call on TV. If you’re out sunning yourself at the lake or doing something else I envy and listening on the radio, Rick Rizzs and Aaron Goldsmith will have the call for you on 710 AM Seattle Sports.

If you’re coming to today’s game, I hope you’re already in line for your see-through fanny pack in Stars-and-Stripes colorway. The Cal-boy hat went like hotcakes yesterday so I can only assume an actually functional ballpark giveaway will go even faster.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1979: Dan Meyer becomes the first Mariner ever to win AL Player of the Month, taking home the award for a June where he batted .369/.417/.730 with nine homers. Let’s honor the man by taking a look at his extremely cool baseball card:

• 1990: Randy Johnson is named A.L. Pitcher of the Month for June after going a perfect 5-0 with a 2.40 ERA, beginning the month with the first franchise no-hitter on June 2.
• 1997: Jeff Fassero records the first hit by a pitcher in Mariners franchise history, a bunt single.
• 2012: For the first time in MLB history, a team starts three Japan-born players (Iwakuma-P, Kawasaki-2B, Ichiro-RF), as the Mariners go on to defeat the Orioles 6-3.
• 2014: Felíx Hernández is named A.L. Pitcher of the Month for June after going 3-1 with a 1.22 ERA (6 ER, 44.1 IP) in 6 starts during the month.
• 2018: Edwin Díaz is named A.L. Reliever of the Month for June. Díaz converted 12-of-13 save opportunities while posting a 1.88 ERA (3 ER, 14.1 IP) in 14 relief appearances in June with a 20:2 K:BB ratio. The Mariners went 14-0 in his 14 appearances.
• 2022: Julio Rodríguez earns AL Rookie of the Month honors for the second consecutive month.