Mariners Sweep Reds Now They Come Home

On Sunday the Seattle Mariners completed a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds beating them 5-4. This game was a close one and the Mariners had to come from behind. It shows the perseverance of the Mariners able to come back and win. This kept the Mariners ahead of the Texas Rangers by a game and a half since they beat the Houston Astros 9-2.  The Rangers now start a series against the Los Angeles Angels in Texas. We should be rooting for the Angels this time. The Mariners will be taking on the Oakland A’s in a three game series in Seattle. Next weekend they take on the hapless Minnesota Twins. We hope the Mariners tack on another five wins this week.

The Reds started off the game scoring three runs in the first inning however starting pitcher Wade Miley was able to recover to pitch six innings though he gave up eight hits and four runs total. The last run was a home run off the bat of leftfielder Duval in the fourth inning. Miley was replaced by Nick Vincent in the seventh inning followed by Benoit and Cishek. None of the relievers gave up a hit in the three innings and each struck out a batter. In most close games right now these three guys we will be seeing coming out of the bullpen. Most likely we will see some of Mike Montgomery to especially against lefties. The rest of the reliever core will be in games where the games are not so close or these guys will need rest.

Leonys Martin who has had a hot bat recently was installed in the leadoff position in the lineup. He did not disappoint by getting four hits in five at bats including a bunt single that started the rally in the fifth inning that allowed the Mariners to score three runs to put them ahead after being down 4-2. This shows again that the Mariners are having a different player almost every game being the hero. Again Robinson continues to do a great job throughout the season driving in two runs. He now has thirty-nine runs batted in. It looks like he is the primary candidate to be mvp of the American League if the Mariners continue to win. I have no question that they will continue to win especially this week facing the A’s and Twins. The starting rotation against the A’s should be Monday night TaiJuan Walker followed by Karns and Iwakuma. King Felix is expected to start Friday night against the Twins. We hope that Walker and Iwakuma can both recover while Karns continues to do what he has been doing for some time. Lefty Rich Hill will be starting Monday night for the A’s so both Franklin Gutierrez and Dae-Ho Lee should be in the lineup. The attitude of the Mariner players I don’t expect to see another sweep in Seattle by the A’s. We can hope that the Mariners will win at least two out of three. Go M’s.