Mariners Game Notes: M’s Go For Sweep on Wednesday

The Seattle Mariners (50-58) will go for the sweep this afternoon against the Colorado Rockies (44-61) at Coors Field. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 pm from Denver, CO. Taijuan Walker (8-7, 4.73 ERA) recorded a 1-hitter his last time out, and hopefully he can duplicate his performance on Wednesday for the M’s. Chris Rusin (3-4, 4.61 ERA) will get the ball for the home side in the series finale. Root Sports Northwest will carry the game live locally, and MLB.tv subscribers can watch worldwide on connected devices.

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Seattle’s recent winning streak has helped their standing in the American League West immensely. The M’s are 10 games back of the division leading Houston Astros, and they are just 6 games out in the wildcard hunt. I’m still not convinced the Mariners can make a run, but it is nice to see them making things interesting.

Mariners’ skipper Lloyd McClendon and Rockies’ manager Walt Weiss have released the following lineups for today’s finale:

Pick to Click

Aug 1, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Seattle Mariners right fielder Nelson Cruz (23) celebrates after hitting a home run in the sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

The Mariners hung 10 runs on the Rockies a night ago, and nearly everyone in their lineup contributed something. That has been a trend lately for Seattle. However, the point of this section is to highlight an individual, so I am going with Nelson Cruz as my pick to click today. Cruz clubbed a solo home run last night to extend his home run streak to 5 games, and his hitting streak to 15. The 34-year-old slugger is hitting .433 with 10 home runs and 14 RBI’s during his impressive streak. I predict he will extend his home run streak to 6 games today, and finish with at least 2 hits and 2 RBI’s.

Final Score Prediction

The Mariners are winners of 3 consecutive games for the first time since late May. Seattle is playing some quality baseball right now. They are getting strong performances at the plate and on the mound so far this week. Taijuan Walker had his best outing of his career in his last start, and his stuff is as good as anyone in the game. It seems the key to determining Prince Tai’s effectiveness is his fastball velocity. He typically struggles when his fastball hovers in the 92-94 mph range, but he dominates when his average fastball is 95 mph and above. I think we will see some home runs today from both sides, but I predict the M’s will sweep the Rockies with an 8-5 win.

Next: Mariners Game Recap: M's Top Rockies 10-4

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