Mariners Game Preview: Nate Karns gets the Ball for Seattle on Saturday

The Mariners will look to get back on track after losing to the Astros on Friday night in Houston.

The Seattle Mariners (17-12) will take on the Houston Astros (11-19) in game three of their four-game weekend series this evening at Minute Maid Park. The series is currently split, as Seattle took the opener and Houston won on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 pm PT.

It will be a rematch of starting pitchers from the M’s 11-1 win against the Astros last week at Safeco Field, as Nate Karns (3-1, 3.81 ERA) will be on the bump for the Mariners and Dallas Keuchel (2-4, 5.11 ERA) will toe the rubber for the home side.

Karns got off to a bit of a rough start with the Mariners, going 1-1 with a 5.28 ERA through his first three outings this season. However, he has been much more effective as of late. The 28-year-old right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in his last two starts. His most impressive outing of the season came last week against these very same Houston Astros when he hurled 7 shutout frames en route to earning the win. Hopefully we will see a repeat performance tonight in Houston.

Dallas Keuchel is the reigning Cy Young winner, but he has been less than stellar thus far in 2016. The 28-year-old southpaw won 20 games last year, but he enters play tonight with a record of 2-4 and a 5.11 ERA. In his last outing versus the Mariners, Keuchel allowed 5 runs on 6 hits through 6 innings while taking the loss at Safeco Field. I’m hopeful his struggles will continue tonight in Houston.

Mariners’ skipper Scott Servais and Astros’ manager A.J. Hinch have released the following lineups for tonight’s game:

Pick to Click

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Dae-ho Lee will see his first game action since belting a pair of home runs while leading the Mariners past the Oakland A’s on Wednesday afternoon. The 33-year-old Korean import has been a spark plug for the M’s offense this season, slashing .281/.343/.656 with 4 home runs and 6 RBI through 15 games. Lee is only hitting .250 against lefties in 2016, but he went 1 for 2 against Keuchel last week. I predict Lee will take advantage of the short porch in left field, yanking a home run down the line tonight.

Final Score Prediction

The Mariners are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now, and they are currently tied with the Chicago White Sox for the best road record in the American League at 12-5. Houston got off to a miserable start in April, but they are 4-2 since the calendar flipped to May. I expect Karns to have another solid outing and the M’s to win 5-3 on Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.

Next: M’s Can’t Overcome Early Deficit

Tonight’s game will be televised locally on Root Sports Northwest, and MLB.tv subscribers can watch worldwide on connected devices. Make sure you follow SoDo Mojo on twitter for live updates throughout the game, and check back after the final out has been recorded for a full recap.