The Big Inning

Friday night’s game against the Oakland A’s in the top of the seventh inning I am thinking are the Mariners going to blow this game. The A’s three runs have all been produced by home runs. It frustrates me because the Mariners seem to give up runs by the long ball then in the bottom of the seventh  Mariners scored five runs to take a commanding lead 7-3 with two outs. Mitch Haniger hit a three run homer with Jean Seager and Robinson Cano on the bases then Seager gets a hit followed by Vogelbach getting his first home run. I have the faith now that the Mariners will produce a lot of runs especially late in the game. Sometimes it will be by the long ball and then other times by producing a lot of hits together. Whatever is the case the Mariners look to be a team that will score a lot of runs no matter the time of the game.

Last year I was frustrated because the Mariners would score runs early on in the game but would not add on later on and the other team would get back into the game. This year with Dee Gordon and Jean Segura at the top of the order they hopefully will add on runs especially in the middle of the game whether it is one or two runs at a time. Right now they are doing it without Nelson Cruz, Ben Gamel and Mike Zunino. Cruz and Gamel are expected back in the lineup this weekend or by the series with the Houston Astros starting on Monday. Cruz ran the bases in pregame warmups on Friday so it looks like he might be in the lineup on Saturday while Gamel could be anytime soon. Mike Zunino the Mariners are wanting to be sure he is real close to being one hundred percent before activating him. He might not be play until the Mariners go on their road trip to Texas. Zunino and Gamel will certainly help the bottom of the lineup since they are not getting much production there right now.

With the return of Cruz we will probably see Haniger who has done an outstanding job as the cleanup hitter in Cruz spot move down to sixth or seventh in the batting order. I would like Haniger bat fifth when the Mariners are facing lefties however Seager is hitting well right now. At this point keeping Seager in the fifth spot is probably a good idea since he is used hitting there right now but if he struggles again I could see Haniger going to the fifth spot against lefties. Vogelbach may hit in the sixth spot against righties unless Servais want to go lefty, righty and then lefty again in the order. This could depend how well Vogelbach is hitting at the time. It will be interesting what the Mariners will do when Healy comes back after being on the disabled list. A lot could depend whether the Mariners want to go with seven or eight in the bullpen. Right now the Mariners starters are going six innings in most of the games so long relievers are not being used much. Right now they are expecting Miranda to be activated and start on Tuesday so a reliever will be probably is sent down. This could happen when the Mariners activate Cruz and or Gamel as well. When Miranda starts the Mariners may have seven pitchers in the bullpen instead of nine. They can always bring up a pitcher when the need arises.

Friday night Dan Altavilla and Edwin Diaz continue to pitch well out of the bullpen while Juan Nicasio continues to struggle. He gave up the second home run to Khris Davis in the game. Davis hit his first home run of the game in the first inning. Davis always seems to hit home runs every time he faces the Mariners. I wonder why they even throw the ball to him. He probably gets the home run when the Mariner pitcher makes a mistake throwing the ball over the plate. I would almost walk him every time he is up regardless who is on base. At least the second home run was when the Mariners had the 7-3 lead and no one on base. Diaz recorded his first walk of the season but was able to get out of the game without a scratch. Diaz recorded his fifth save and has an era of 0.00. He has to be the best closer in the major leagues right now. So Sugar keep it going. Go M’s.