Seattle Mariners Gameday Preview at the Rays

Initial Thoughts:

Even though Felix Hernandez didn’t get the win in last night’s contest, he was still King and had yet another career day against this Tampa Bay Rays squad.

He struck out 15 batters– a career high– in just 7 innings pitched. It looked like the game was going into extras, perhaps, until the M’s offense woke up for 5 runs with 2-outs in the 9th inning.

Today a very different caliber of pitching comes to the mound for the Mariners, as they aim to take the 4-game wraparound series 3-1 and improve to 7-1 in the month of June.

Game Details:

Seattle Mariners 33-29. Tampa Bay Rays 24-40. Game Time: 10:10 AM Pacific. St. Petersburg, Florida. Tropicana Field.

MATCHUPS:

Pitching:

Seattle Mariners RHP Erasmo Ramirez (1-4, 6.82 ERA) v. Tampa Bay Rays LHP David Price (4-5, 4.03 ERA)

EDGE: Price. Ramirez hasn’t won since his first outing of the regular season, and lasted only three-innings in Atlanta after being called up from Triple-A Tacoma.

Price has not been as dominant as in recent years, but he has a sub-3.00 ERA in his two career starts against the Mariners.

Projected Lineups:

Mariners:

James Jones 8

Stefen Romero 9

Robinson Cano 4

Kyle Seager 5

Cole Gillespie 7

John Buck 2

Dustin Ackley DH

Brad Miller 6

Willie Bloomquist 3

Of Note: The Mariners offense was dead-silent until there was only 1-out left in the top of the 9th inning.

Then Miller smoked a triple. Willie got walked. Then Endy Chavez gorked one through the middled to score a run.

Then Jones joined the hit parade and drove Endy and Willie in with a triple. Cano gets walked. And Seager knocks a double to right field and the Mariners go up 5-0 on Grant Balfour, closer for the Rays.

Rays:

Desmond Jennings 8

Kevin Kiermaier 9

Evan Longoria 5

James Loney 3

Ben Zobrist 4

David DeJesus DH

Matt Joyce 7

Yunel Escobar 6

Jose Molina 2

Of Note: the Rays were silenced last night by Mariners pitching. Felix K’d 15 in 7 innings, and lefty Charlie Furbush punched out the last two hitters in the 9th to drive that total up to 17 Rays strikeouts in just 9 innings of baseball.

They only managed 4 hits in the game, and only walked twice, stranding all six of their baserunners.

Other Notes:

The Mariners have started June HOT, to the tune of a 6-1 record. They sit now 4 games over .500, the first time this season.

With a win here in Tampa Bay today, the Mariners would solidify themselves in the Wild-Card race. Though it’s only the month of June, the Mariners are fast approach a 50% chance to make the playoffs on many sites, including ESPN.

Final Thoughts:

The bats woke up late last night, and will stay awake in today’s wraparound day game. Erasmo has been bad, but the Rays haven’t hit consistently all season.

Price has been decent, but it’s time for the Mariners to run him out of a game early and pour on some runs.

The Mariners win this one convincingly, reminding baseball that this team is more than just Cano and Felix.

Score Prediction:

Mariners 6, Rays 3.