Miranda Helps Mariners Sweep Rays

 The Seattle Mariners finished off the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday behind the pitching of Ariel Miranda and the hitting of Nelson Cruz who had another home run, continued hot hitting of Danny Valencia whose streak later in the game ended at nine hits in a row, Jarrod Dyson who drove in two runs on one hit and two runs by Zunino on a single with the bases loaded. Everyone was looking to see if Zunino could do it two days in a row by hitting another grand slam.

Ariel Miranda pitched a complete game giving up one run on four hits along with striking out nine batters. He only walked one batter as well. The long run he gave up was in the eighth inning on a fluke hit to Dyson who lost the ball in the sky and it hit off his shoulder otherwise he would have had a shutout. This now makes Miranda having a record of 6-2 the best on the ball club. His era is now at 3.74 which is very good for someone who was not supposed to start the season on the major league club. He is primarily using his fast ball that is outstanding and is averaging around ninety-five miles per hour. Although his breaking pitches have given him trouble sometimes has been working better though he does go with the fast ball a lot of the time.

The win over the Rays has now given the Mariners a 5-1 record on the current home stand. The Mariners start a home series against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday for three games and then followed by three against the Toronto Blue Jays over next weekend. James Paxton takes the mound against the Twins on Tuesday. If he pitches anywhere close to what he did last Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies the Mariners should win the game.

The Mariners now have a record of 28-30 and is tied in second place with the Los Angeles Angels who have a record of 29-31. They are both a long ways behind the Houston Astros in first place. The Astros have a thirteen and a half game lead ahead of them. Unless the Astros fall flat on their faces the Mariners will have to fight for the wild cards. If the Mariners go and win four out six against these two teams they will go on the road with a record of 32-32. Go M’s.