Mariners Game #83, 7/3/23: SEA at SF

After a surprising series win against the Rays, the Mariners pack up and head off on a one-week road trip before the All-Star Break. They’ll ease into things with a three-game set in San Francisco before [grits teeth] a four-game series in Houston.

Lineups:

No fancy graphic today and despite it being less than two hours until gametime, San Francisco’s lineup is “expected” not “confirmed.” I’m not sure if that means things are afoot or if that’s just standard operating procedure for the Giants, but I guess we’ll find out.

I’m not looking forward to the strikeout-prone Mariners facing Logan Webb, who I remember steamrolling them pretty well the last time they faced off. Maybe Cal Poly alum Bryan Woo will have some friends and family in the house to cheer on the rookie starter.

For the Giants lineup, Jake and Lou gave you a pretty efficient rundown on the three major categories of Giants batters in the series preview. I’m anticipating Woo to struggle most with the latter category of “old hands” like Michael Conforto and Brandon Crawford, who will probably put up tough, veteran at-bats against the young Woo. Then again, Crawford seems to have finally lost his chess match with Father Time, so far posting a second straight poor offensive season after a brief flash of terminal lucidity in 2021.

News:

Today is kind of a heavy newsday for a weird orphan day between a holiday weekend and the holiday itself. Here’s the deal:

• The Mariners traded Trevor Gott and Chris Flexen to the Mets in exchange for a lefty reliever named Zach Muckenhirn. Zach Mason has the full transaction analysis for you here if you missed it.
• RHP Bryce Miller is headed to the 15-day IL with his blister issue. That should give him time to recover over the All-Star Week and only have to miss one start, hopefully. RHP Darren McCaughan (aka the Cack Attack) has been recalled from Tacoma and will start in Miller’s place on Wednesday.
• RHP Matt Festa has also been recalled from Tacoma to take Gott’s spot in the bullpen. Festa was serving as Tacoma’s closer and was 13/14 in save opportunities. He wasn’t striking as many guys out in Tacoma as peak 2022 Festa did, and was still fighting his command at times, something he’ll have to watch in the bigs, but he was really good at eliciting weak contact and almost never gave up homers—a special feat in the bounce houses of the PCL.

Today’s game information:

Tonight’s game starts at 6:45 and will be televised on ROOT Sports NW with Dave Sims and Aaron Goldsmith on the call. On the radio, tune in to 710 AM Seattle Sports to hear Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr. call the game from Oracle Park. Be advised that tomorrow’s game starts at a special holiday time of 1:35 before returning to a night game (6:05) on Wednesday.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1982 - Jim Beattie is named A.L. Pitcher of the Month for June. Beattie was 5-0 in six starts with a 1.77 ERA. He struck out 39 in his 45.2 IP.
• 1992 - The Mariners hit into the third triple play in their history. With runners on first and third Omar Vizquel pops up an attempted squeeze bunt. Detroit’s Skeeter Barnes catches the pop-up, tags Dave Valle and throws to 1B Cecil Fielder to force out Harold Reynolds (5-3).
• 1997 - Pitcher Bob Wells walks and later crosses the plate to become the first Mariners pitcher ever to score a run.
• 2011 - RHP Blake Beavan made his Major League debut earning the win in a 3-1 triumph over the Padres at Safeco Field. Beavan allowed 3 hits and 1 run in 7.0 innings, be coming just the 8th pitcher in club history to toss at least 7.0 innings in a Major League debut. He also became the 2nd pitcher in club history to win a debut as a starter while allowing 1 or fewer run (Pat Rice, 5/18/91).
• 2013 - Kyle Seager hit a 2-out, 2-run home run in the top of the 10th inning to lift the Mariners to a 4-2 win over the Texas Rangers in Arlington.
• 2015 - The Mariners hit 4 2-run home runs to help J.A. Happ snap a four-game losing streak in a 9-5 win at Oakland…Happ allowed 3 runs on 8 hits over 6.0 IP, recording his first win since May 9…Morrison, Smith, Cruz and Miller each tallied a 2-run homer for the Mariners.
• 2017 - The Mariners lost 3-1 to the Royals, but rookie pitcher Andrew Moore tossed 8.0 innings and retired 21 of the final 23 batters he faced after a leadoff home run in the 2^nd inning. With his 7.0 innings in his MLB debut vs. DET on June 22, Moore became the 3^rd Mariners pitcher to go 7.0+ innings in his first two games.
• 2018 – Seattle won 8 games in a row after a 4-1 win against the Angels… Dee Gordon stole his 300^th base of his career, becoming 1 of 5 active players with 300+ career steals.