Mariners v. Mets Game 1: Ariel Miranda v. Rafael Montero

In Game 1 of the Mariners series with the New York Mets, Ariel Miranda gets the ball against Rafael Montero. This is good news for the M’s chances of pulling back to .500, as Miranda has been relatively solid in 2017.

On the year for the Mariners, last year’s Dipoto deadline acquiree is 7-3 with an ERA of 4.30. In 20 starts he’s logged 115 innings. That figures out to just over 5.2 innings a start. While that isn’t great, he’s had moments of dominance, such as his June 4 start against Tampa Bay when he hurled nine shutout innings with 9 Ks.

His July has been tough, seeing his ERA go from 3.82 to 4.30, but in his most recent start, he returned to “good Miranda” form, tossing 5.2 innings, surrendering just two runs on five hits.

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The Mariners will be looking to get a solid night out of him as they look to start the series out on a high note.

His opponent from the Mets’ side will be Rafael Montero. New York’s fifth starter has had a tough campaign in 2017, but his last two months have been much better than the start of the year. After posting ERAs of 9.45 and 7.62 in April and May respectively, he bounced back with a June ERA of 1.46 in three games after a brief stint at AAA. In July he’s taken a small step back and posted an ERA of 4.50 in four appearances, but has still been solid.

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The interesting thing about Montero, he’s been used in the rotation sporadically in 2017 (i.e. a start at the beginning of May followed by five appearances out of the pen, bookended with another start to close the month). He’s somewhat similar to Yovani Gallardo in that regard. The Mariners will no doubt want to take full advantage of getting the fifth starter and get the bats rolling in Game 1.