Mariners Game #147, 9/15/23: LAD at SEA

While it would have been nice to sweep the Angels, the Mariners nonetheless rebounded from a tough game on Friday to pull out a series win. However, they’ll now face a tough test with the best team in the NL not named Atlanta with the 88-win Dodgers.

Today’s lineups:

Mariners Baseball Information

***UPDATE*** David Peralta has been scratched; he will be replaced in left field by Kiké Hernández, who is batting seventh; Heyward moves up to bat sixth.

This is the kind of pitching matchup that makes Pitching Ninja pull out his fainting couch. Young fireballer Bobby Miller will be a fearsome test for the Mariners bats, who will need to catch up with his 99th percentile velo fastball, but they’ll also need to guard against his favorite offspeed pitch in his plus curveball. Meanwhile, the Mariners will run out their own talented young starter in George Kirby, who will need to keep the aggressive Dodgers hitters from squaring him up in the zone.

News:

• The Mariners announced today that they have reinstated Brian O’Keefe from the paternity list and optioned him to Triple-A Tacoma, meaning the team will continue to roll with the good vibes of Luis Torrens for now. As Torrens Truthers, we at LL approve.

Today’s game information:

Today’s game starts at 7:10 PT and will be followed by a drone show. The game will be televised on ROOT Sports NW, with Dave Sims and Mike Blowers on the call, and shown on MLB Network. The game will also be broadcast on 710 AM Seattle Sports, and streamed on Mariners.com, with Rick Rizzs and Aaron Goldsmith on the call.

Tonight’s game has limited tickets available, and Saturday (6:40 PT start) and Sunday (1:10 PT start) are both sold out. Tomorrow’s game features an “Electric Factory” shirt giveaway, and on Sunday the Mariners will play as Los Marineros to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Following Sunday’s game, the Mariners will embark on their final road trip of the season, with an Oops! All AL West trip featuring three games against Oakland, an off day, and three games against Texas.

Also, we have a programming note to tell you about: MLB has decided that the AL West race is actually of national interest, and as such has made a couple key AL West games nationally televised. The home game against Houston on Tuesday, September 26 will move to a 7:10 PT start and be nationally televised on TBS. However, it will still be available on ROOT Sports NW if you prefer a more local flavor. The game at Texas on Saturday, September 30 moves up to 4:15 PT and will be nationally broadcast exclusively on FOX.

Milestone watch:

• Cal Raleigh, who wears #29, has an opportunity to become the 29th catcher in MLB history (min. 60% of games at catcher) with a 30+ home run season if he hits two more home runs this season.
• Julio Rodríguez needs just one more RBI for a 100-RBI season, and would become just the third player with a 30-30/100 RBI season age-22 or younger, joining Ronald Acuña Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.
• After reaching base on Wednesday, Teoscar Hernández’s league-leading on-base streak of 28 games surpassed teammate Julio Rodríguez for the longest streak by a Mariners player this season. Teoscar remains six games behind Robinson Canó for the longest on-base streak by a Mariners player since 2016.
• J.P. Crawford needs one more RBI to tie the career high he set in 2021 (54), and two more to set a new career high.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1989: The sale of the club to Jeff Smulyan and Michael Browning is unanimously approved by the owners of the 25 other ML clubs.
• 1989: Erik Hanson threw his first complete game, a two-hitter, against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium as Seattle prevailed, 3-1. The occasion was made even more special as Hanson’s father, Robert, was in the stands celebrating his 61^st birthday. Hanson dedicated his victory to his father, who was continuing his battle against ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
• 1996: Salomon Torres hurled his first MLB shutout: a two-hit, 7-0 gem that completed a three game sweep at Minnesota. Jay Buhner hit his fortieth homer of the year in the game, making it his second straight year with 40+ HR.
• 2000: Lou Piniella gets career win 1,100 at Baltimore. Rickey Henderson scores twice to pass Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth and move into second all-time in runs scored.