After a terrible game Friday night losing 14-10 when they had
been up 10-5 the Seattle Mariners rebounded Saturday night to win 7-2.
Mike Leake had a fantastic game pitching a shutout over eight
innings giving up three hits, walking two and striking out five. Scott Servais
said that he would have let Leake go the distance but closer Edwin Diaz hadn’t
pitched for several days and need to get in some action. Diaz looked like he
hadn’t pitched for several days giving up two runs on three hits. Of course we
often know that closers don’t pitch very well with large leads either when a
save isn’t needed.
Leake helped out a pitching staff that had problems during
the road trip. Mel Stottlemyre Jr had a talk with the pitching staff before the
game so do hope that will correct the pitching. On the pre-game show before
Saturday’s game he mentioned how important it was not always throw the fastball
when getting behind. We will see over the next several days whether the talk
got through to the pitchers besides Leake.
Sunday the Mariners will face Chris Sale. It could be a tough
day however Rodriguez who pitched Saturday has had a good year before this game
and the Mariners have had a good games against top pitchers over the season.
Marco Gonzales goes for the Mariners and we hope that he rebounds from his
previous start. Having to pitch in Fenway Park isn’t much easier than doing so
in Yankee Stadium. It will be important that Gonzales pitches outside to the
lefties while inside to the righties. This will allow hits to go only off the
green monster in left field. Often balls that would be home runs or doubles can
turn into singles in Fenway. The importance is to keep the hits to a minimum
like Leake did. Monday the Mariners will go to Baltimore to face the Orioles
for four games before heading back home. The Orioles are struggling this season
so the Mariners should have success there. I just hope the pitchers were able
to listen to Stottlemyre.
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