Seattle Mariners pitcher Justin Dunn looked like an ace

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MAY 29: Justin Dunn #35 of the Seattle Mariners pitches. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MAY 29: Justin Dunn #35 of the Seattle Mariners pitches. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
Justin Dunn of the Seattle Mariners fist bumps Jose Godoy.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – MAY 29: Justin Dunn #35 fist bumps Jose Godoy #78 of the Seattle Mariners before being pulled. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

Justin Dunn has surprisingly been the best starting pitcher in the Seattle Mariners starting rotation and he continued his great season last night. The 25-year-old right-hander has definitely had his fair share of control problems but when he can minimize the walks, he has proven to be solid.

Justin Dunn gave the Seattle Mariners 5.2 innings of one-run baseball

The Seattle Mariners offense is still struggling for the most part so the pitching has been a deciding factor. The first two games against the Texas Rangers were low-scoring games and that trend continued last night.

The Mariners scored an early run in the bottom of the second thanks to an RBI single from Jose Godoy, but that was the only Seattle run for a while. Justin Dunn was fantastic and allowed just one runner through the first three innings.

The Boston College product was rolling through until the fourth inning came around. Justin Dunn hit a batter and walked a batter to start the inning. After a mound visit, he was able to strike out Adolis Garcia but the damage wasn’t over.

Justin walked another batter to load the bases, and the Rangers were able to score a run on a sacrifice fly. Luckily, that was the only run Texas was able to get in what seemed like a game-losing situation.

Besides that fourth inning, Justin Dunn had no problems at all. His final line: 5.2 innings, two hits, one run, two walks, and eight strikeouts. The Seattle Mariners starter only through 62 strikes out of 98 pitches so he wasn’t the most efficient, which forced Scott Servais to pull him during the sixth inning.

Even then, Justin Dunn was able to strike out eight batters, which is the second-most for him this season and keep the Rangers to just one run which ended up being crucial for the Seattle Mariners.

As the rotation tries to become more consistent and healthy (Marco Gonzales), Justin Dunn will be heavily relied on to produce great outings like yesterday. At the moment, Justin Dunn is our interim ace and he’s done a find job.

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