Seattle Mariners Look To Win Series With Oakland Athletics (Gameday Preview)

I was looking forward to posting today’s gameday preview. That means we can put last night behind us. Last night was a tough pill to swallow. Felix did what he normally does, Sonny Gray looked like the pitcher the M’s faced earlier in the season and the game was 2-2 going into the 10th.

But the Fernando Rodney Express blew past the station and derailed last night as the M’s lost Game 2 of the three-game series. More importantly, the M’s fell out of the 2nd AL wild-card spot, now a game behind the Royals.

The Mariners will have their hands full yet again today with Jon Lester on the hill for Oakland. Here is the gameday preview.

Gameday Preview Details:

Seattle Mariners: 80-67. Last 10: 6-4.

Oakland Athletics: 82-66. Last 10: 3-7.

Game time: 1:10 PM Pacific time. Location: Seattle, Washington. Safeco Field.

MATCHUPS:

Pitching:

Seattle Mariners RHP Chris Young (12-7, 3.35 ERA) vs. Oakland Athletics LHP Jon Lester (14-10, 2.52)

Edge? Lester.

Young is 8-3 with a 2.53 ERA at Safeco this season, but is 1-2 with a 4.35 ERA against Oakland this season. Lester on the other hand has had a run of 16 straight quality starts. He has only faced Seattle once this season, earlier this month in Oakland. He took the loss despite allowing only two earned runs in 8 IP.

Lineups:

Mariners:

Austin Jackson 8

Chris Denorfia 9

Robinson Cano 4

Kendrys Morales DH

Corey Hart 7

Kyle Seager 5

Justin Smoak 3

Chris Taylor 6

Jesus Sucre 2

Of Note: Lloyd McClendon with a massive shake up of the lineup against the lefty. Denorfia getting the start in right and batting 2nd. Hart and Smoak getting the start today as is the young Sucre behind the plate. We’ll see if the shakeup has the desired effect.

Athletics:

Coco Crisp 8

Sam Fuld 7

Josh Donaldson 5

Adam Dunn DH

Brandon Moss 3

Jed Lowrie 6

Josh Reddick 9

Derek Norris 2

Eric Sogard 4

Of Note: The Athletics have only won 3 of their last 10 games and are hoping that they can get out of Seattle with a series win. These two teams will not face each other again this season unless it’s in the playoffs.