After a wild opening game yesterday against the Minnesota Twins, the Mariners find themselves with a chance to take the series in tonight's contest. The Mariners are now back up to 10 games over .500, and hold a 5.5 game lead over the second place Houston Astros. While it seemed that the Twins had control of the game for most of the game, you just can't count out the Mariners and chaos ball.
For just the ninth time this season, the Mariners won a game without hitting a home run. They won yesterday's game with great pitching and small ball. Three bunts, with two of them working in the Mariners' favor, and a swinging bunt in the 10th from Cal Raleigh marked the difference. While this team can hit the long ball, they need to start scoring from playing small ball. Hitting home runs is not the most consistent way to score runs if they have designs on advancing in October.
Tonight's probable pitchers
- Bryce Miller will start tonight's game for the Mariners. Miller (6-6, 3.90 ERA) will make his 17th start of the season tonight. Bryce has been lights out in T-Mobile Park this year. In fact, his home/road splits are crazy. He has made eight starts at home, and eight starts on the road. At home, he has a record of 4-2 with a 1.82 ERA, adding 59 strikeouts with just three walks in 49.1 innings. On the road, he is 2-4 with a 6.28 ERA. He has given up 11 home runs, walked 13 and struck out just 26 in 43 innings of work. Be thankful that tonight's game is at home.
- As for the Twins, they will give the ball to former Mariners prospect Pablo Lopez (7-6, 5.11 ERA). In what maybe the worst deal made in the Jerry Dipoto era, Lopez was sent to the Marlins back in 2017 for reliever David Phelps. Phelps pitched in just 10 games (8.2 innings) before getting injured. Lopez has had quite the career for himself. He finished seventh in Cy Young voting last season, and was a favorite to win the award this season. He has struggled some this year, which shows with his inflated ERA. Lopez actually leads the league in earned runs with 50. He is still a strikeout pitcher, and does not walk many batters. Look for the Mariners to either hit Lopez hard, or endure another strikeout fest.
Starting lineup for the Mariners, June 29
1. J.P. Crawford, SS
2. Julio Rodriguez, CF
3. Cal Raleigh, C
4. Mitch Garver, DH
5. Luke Raley, LF
6. Ty France, 1B
7. Jorge Polanco, 2B
8. Mitch Haniger, RF
9. Josh Rojas, 3B
Starting lineup for the Twins, June 29
1. Willie Castro, 2B
2. Trevor Larnach, DH
3. Carlos Correa, SS
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Max Kepler, RF
6. Jose Miranda, 3B
7. Byron Buxton, CF
8. Ryan Jeffers, C
9. Austin Martin, LF
Where can I stream today's game?
- Tonight's first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PST.
- MLB.tv (Subscription required)
- fubo.TV (Free trial available)
Where can I watch today's game?
- Local Mariners fans can watch tonight's game on ROOTNW
- Local Twins fans can watch tonight's game on Bally Sports North
- Mariners and Twins fans who are out of market can watch tonight's game on MLB Network
Where can I listen to today's game?
- Mariners fans can listen to tonight's game on KIRO 710
- Twins fans can listen on TIBN, WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM and Audacy
Game notes
- The Mariners are 40-15 when their starting pitchers go 6.0+ innings.
- The Mariners are 36-6 when scoring 4+ runs in a game.
- The Mariners lead all of Major League Baseball in home ERA (2.52), opponent batting average (.194), WHIP (0.92), hits-per-9 innings (6.31), walks per nine innings (1.92), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.82) and FIP (2.93).