On Monday night the Mariners
started a series against the Detroit Tigers in Seattle. It is important series
because the Mariners are trailing the Tigers in the race for the wild card in
the American League.
It is a three game series that
the Mariners and Tigers are playing. The Mariners beat the Tigers 3-0 behind
the pitching of Iwakuma who now has a record of 13-7. He has the best record in
the American League since the beginning of May and the best pitcher on the
Mariners right now along with James Paxton who helped them sweep the Angels
over the last weekend.
The Houston Astros again lost
on Monday night so the Mariners gained another game on them and are currently
in second place behind the Texas Rangers. The Rangers are pretty hot right now
so the changes are not good for the Mariners to catch them but the wild card is
in their grasp.
The Mariners sent down TaiJuan
Walker to triple A to work on things in the same manner they did earlier with
James Paxton and catcher Mike Zunino. They are hoping to get the same results
out of Walker who made a start last Saturday after coming off the disabled
list. He gave up six runs in that game though the Mariners came back to win
8-6. The Mariners are hoping that Walker can get back to where he was earlier
in the season along with the potential he has. The Mariners are hoping for
Walker to become the new ace of the Mariners in the near future. The Mariners
have a solid starting rotation right now so they can afford to send Walker down
to get his pitching corrected. They are thinking about the current season as
well as the future in regards to Walker.
The Mariners sent Walker down
when they activated reliever Arquimedes Caminero who they traded for with the
Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday. He made his Mariner debut on Monday night
pitching in the eighth inning without giving up a run. He has one of the
hardest fast balls in the major leagues getting up to one hundred miles an hour
sometimes. He will be a compliment with closer Edwin Diaz. The Mariners will
pitch him mostly in the eighth along with Tom Wilhelmsen. Either one may come
in to save a game when Diaz is not available to close. Right now the Mariners
plan to use Diaz to pitch in two games in a row so they will need to be
available to close. The one that closes will likely be one that has not pitched
several days in a row themselves. Diaz pitched the ninth inning on Monday to
get his fifth save in five opportunities. He will be available on Tuesday if
needed and will not on Wednesday unless the Mariners manager feels can do so
since they have Thursday off.
Ariel Miranda who the Mariners
got in the trade for Wade Miley recently will take the spot of Walker in the
rotation. He is the third lefty in the starting rotation along with James
Paxton and Wade LeBlanc who pitches Tuesday night against the Tigers. The news
on Paxton is that he will be OK after being hit in the elbow Sunday in the
ninth inning. The plan was for Paxton to go the whole game instead Tom
Wilhelmsen to get the last two out and recorded a save. Paxton may have to wait
a couple days beyond his next scheduled start to be back in the rotation which
is good news.
The Mariners bullpen is in
really good place right now since the bullpen has been used sparingly over the
last week or so. Nick Vincent was reactivated on Monday night off the disabled
list. Most likely he will come in the six or seventh inning for the Mariners.
It is nice to see that the Mariners have a solid bullpen right now. They should
be affective as long as the starters can continue doing what they have in the
last couple weeks.
The Mariners will be facing
another lefty going for the Tigers. The Mariners have been one of the best
hitting teams against lefties over the season so again good news. Wade LeBlanc
will be pitching Tuesday night for the Mariners. He has been solid going six
innings almost every time out so we hope to see that again. Go M’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment