Mariners Game #148, 9/16/23: LAD at SEA

Much like their last bout with a team at least claiming to be based in Los Angeles, the Seattle Mariners dropped the first game of the series despite opportunities for victory. In this case, a 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers was disappointing but not shocking given L.A. is a single victory shy of notching 90 wins for their 10th straight full season (and the 2020 club was on pace for well over 100). Tonight, however, the M’s will run a different sort of arm up on the hill following a quality start from George Kirby that was nonetheless spoiled. Bryce Miller will face off against future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw as the M’s try to improve upon the .496 OPS they’ve mustered in the first four starts he’s made against them in his illustrious career.

Today’s lineups:

Mariners Baseball Information

Two games now and no Chris Taylor in the starting lineup for L.A., while the M’s largely go righty-heavy against Kershaw. Jarred Kelenic, however, earns the start as the club both hopes to see him get rolling and build upon a solid Friday night performance.

News:

• Blue Jays win, which is bad. Rangers lose, which is good. Astros are losing at publish to the Royals.

Today’s game information:

Today’s game starts at 6:40 PM PT. The game will be televised on ROOT Sports NW, and also be broadcast on 710 AM Seattle Sports, and streamed on Mariners.com.

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.