Let’s Make It Three In a Row

The Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers Thursday night 10-2 to make it two wins in a row. The Tigers are not good either hitting or pitching so it would be nice to see the third win a row Friday. Actually getting a sweep would be good too.

Thursday night the Mariners faced Tiger starter Drew Verhaegen who now has an ERA of 14.40. Looking at his stats Thursday night was his first start of the season which sort of surprised me.

Verhaegen had appeared in ten games prior to Thursday night. May 4 was his worst performance where he gave up six runs in one inning. Every one of his ten appearances he didn’t go any more than one inning.  He spent early on in the season on the injured list and until Thursday he was in triple-A for a couple months.

Erik Swanson pitched as the opener for the Mariners going two innings giving up a walk and striking out three. He didn’t give up any runs but he didn’t have his best control.

Wade LeBlanc came in as the main pitcher or whatever name you want to call it in the third inning. He gave up a home run in the top of the third inning to former Mariner catcher John Hicks; however, the Mariners scored five runs in the bottom of the third inning  primarily on a grand slam home run by Tim Beckham to take a 5-1 lead.

The Detroit Tigers scored another run in the 5^th inning because of an error which shouldn’t surprise us at all. Kyle Seager though hit a home run for the Mariners in the fifth inning to make the score 8-2.

Dan Vogelbach hit a double in the corner of left field in the 8^th to score two more runs making the game a runaway 10-2. Wade LeBlanc pitched six innings giving up the two runs which one was earned on four hits, walked one and struck out four. LeBlanc though I am sure he doesn’t like coming in out of the bullpen has done his best coming in after the opener.

Sam Tuivailala came in and pitched the ninth inning for the Mariners. It is his third game since coming off the injured list on July 15. The Mariners are hoping Tuivailala will be able to stay healthy so he can be a major player next season coming out of the bullpen.

Hunter Sutherland the Mariners closer at the beginning of the season is on a rehab assignment. The Mariners are hoping he will be ready to be activated next week when the team goes on the road. The Mariners are hoping to get Felix Hernandez going so and be able to send him out on a rehab assignment. Not sure of his time table though. Felix did say he hopes to pitch before the season is over especially if he wants to get a pitching job next year.

Tim Lopes who came up when Dee Gordon went on the injured list started his first game at second base in the major leagues. It turned out to be an interesting game for him. Lopes walked in his first at-bat in the third inning and scored. Later he was hit in the head by a pitch but stayed in at the time. In fact, he ended up stealing second base and scored for the second time. He did get an official at-bat, however no-hit in the game. The Mariners did take him out of the game replacing him with Dylan Moore. It will be interesting to see whether he will be back in the lineup on Friday. Stay tuned.

Tim Lopes finally made it to the major leagues. He was drafted in the 6^th round by the Mariners in 2012. In September 2016 he was traded by the Mariners to the Toronto Blue Jays as the player to be named later. The Mariners signed him this last off-season as a minor league free agent.

Tim Lopes was having his best season in pro-ball when the Mariners recalled him in the place of Dee Gordon. He was hitting .302 with 10 home runs and 60 RBI’s. The most he had done in his minor league career. No surprise he stole a base in his first start either since he had 24 stolen bases in Tacoma. Dee Gordon is expected to be out for a while so Lopes should get his opportunities to play we just hope he is fine. Go M’s.