Wade LeBlanc Two Hitter

 

Saturday Evening Wade LeBlanc pitched a marvelous game leading the Mariners to a 1-0 shutout over the Boston Red Sox. This gives the Mariners a 46-25 record with ninety-one games remaining.

Mookie Betts lead off the game with a single then LeBlanc gave way by getting twenty-two batters out straight before giving up a single to Eduardo Nunez in the eighth inning with two outs. Nine of the twenty-two outs were by the strike out. LeBlanc didn’t walk a batter either and it was the first time he pitched into the eighth inning in any of his starts. LeBlanc is third in the major league for a pitcher who has started at least eight games with an era of 2.06.

The Mariners scored their lone run in the third inning when Dee Gordon was able to reach on a single and he was moved over to second on another single then came home on a hard hit through short to score Gordon. Neither the Red Sox nor Mariners could score another run.

The Mariners are showing right now that they can compete with the top teams in the American League. After finishing up tomorrow against the Red Sox the Mariners will go to New York to take on the Yankees and then the Red Sox again next weekend. After the Red Sox they will finish the road trip with four games against the struggling Orioles in Baltimore before finishing the month of June at home against the Kansas City Royals. Most people figured that June would be a tough month for the Mariners but they are showing that they are up for the challenge.

In July before the all-star break they will face the Angels once again at home along with the Colorado Rockies then go on the road to face both of them as well. We will really see what they will be like at that point. Also we will see if Dipoto goes out and picks up a pitcher or two before the trading deadline. All I know is that the Mariners are making believers out of everyone.

The question is who will be the one coming out of the rotation if the Mariners do get a starting pitcher. Felix Hernandez is the only questionable pitcher at this point. Do you keep him in the rotation if he continues to sputter or send LeBlanc or Gonzales to the bullpen or go with what they had talked about early on going to a six-man rotation. One thing we know it is good to have a hard question like that. At the beginning of the season no one knew except maybe Dipoto and Servais that they would have as strong a rotation as they do. We knew that James Paxton would be the ace and Mike Leake would eat up innings but the other three spots were questionable for sure.

Anyway LeBlanc we congratulate you on a wonderful outing and we hope it continues for you. It is so nice to see the Mariners twenty-one games over five hundred. We hope that at the end of the next road trip the Mariners will be around the same spot however a team that never seems to give up who knows they could be higher than  twenty-five games above .500 Go M’s.