Mariners Game #104 Preview, 7/29/23: SEA at ARI

Logan Gilbert and the bullpen handled the Diamondbacks offense with ease last night but today will be a tougher test; while not as lefty-heavy as, say, the Twins, the D-Backs can still run out a pretty lefty-dominant lineup thanks to a pair of switch-hitters at the top of their lineup in Perdomo and Marte, and their best hitter (Corbin Carroll) also happens to bat lefty. Bryan Woo will once again have an opportunity to try to figure out an answer for lefty batters, something that’s been the lone black mark on his rookie campaign. Thankfully, Gilbert’s effort last night, going deep into the game, helped save the ‘pen, although all the high-leverage arms did get at least some use, so it’ll likely be up to the lefty tandem of Speier and Saucedo to guard a lead or keep the game close.

The Mariners hitters will face off against Brandon Pfaadt, and if you’ve never heard of him, go ahead and click on that series preview link to let Jake get you up to speed. Like Woo, Pfaadt is a talented young pitcher trying to figure things out at the game’s highest level. He’ll likely feed the Mariners hitters a lot of sliders, so they’ll need to be ready to crush the fastball when it comes and do their best to stay ahead in the count.

Lineups:

As expected, it’s a leftypalooza over on the Diamondbacks’ side. The Mariners will counter with their two-catcher lineup and stack some lefties of their own at the bottom of the lineup.

News and notes:

No news directly about the Mariners, but something in the AL West to monitor today, as Texas is said to be finalizing a trade with the Mets to acquire Max Scherzer. That’s fun for us. The deal is reportedly “on hold” but apparently not because Scherzer won’t waive his no-trade clause for Texas, meaning it will almost certainly go through once the two teams agree on names.

Update: well ok maybe not. I hate trade deadline season so much.

Today’s game info:

Today’s game starts at 5:10 PT and will be broadcast on ROOT Sports NW with Aaron Goldsmith and Dan Wilson on the call. Dave Sims and Gary Hill Jr. will have things on the radio side over at 710 AM Seattle Sports, and you can also hear them if you’re streaming via Mariners.com or the At-Bat app.

Today in Mariners history:

• 2008 - Ichiro records 3,000th career hit (including career in Japan) at Texas.
• 2014 - Hisashi Iwakuma passed 2,000 career innings (Japan + MLB) while earning the win allowing 2 runs over 7.0 innings in a 5-2 victory over the Indians.
• 2016 - Time to Remember A Guy: Luis Sardiñas tossed a scoreless 8^th inning in a 12-1 rout by the Cubs, becoming the first position player to pitch for the Mariners that season, as well as only the second time a position player has tossed a scoreless outing (Jesus Sucre, June 12, 2015 at Houston).
• 2016: Guillermo Heredia makes his MLB debut for the Mariners.