Mariners Game #52 Preview: Pittsburgh at Seattle

Seattle hopes to right the ship and fire back at the visiting Pirates.

Today the Mariners are taking aim with La Piedra, Luis Castillo, hoping to sink the Pirates ship that fired off so many cannon balls over the outfield wall in last night’s matchup. Setting up across from him for the Pittsburgh crew will be the revenant raider Vince Velasquez, back from injury and activated today for the start.

The Pirates are mostly bringing a similar lineup, and one composed of two-thirds left or switch handed hitting, to go up against the righty Castillo. Andrew McCutchen is the most notable absence from yesterday’s lineup, with Marcano slotting into his leadoff spot, and Jason Delay gets the start at catcher on the short rest. On Seattle’s side, the lineup order is mostly the same as it has been, but with some notable position swaps. Eugenio Suárez is slotting into the designated hitter role, and José Caballero will be operating the Good Vibes Only hot corner of the ship.

At his pre-game presser Scott Servais addressed Eugenio getting the start at DH, pointing out they are in the middle of a thirteen game, multi-city stretch with no off days. “He’ll be in there today, we certainly need his bat in the lineup, but we’ll get Cabby in at third. Cabby does a good job wherever you put him, you know, second is his natural position, but he’s played plenty of short, plenty of third, so that’s what we’ll roll with today.” Ever the Dad of the Good Ship Mariner, he also had this to say about the weather: “The ball was jumping out of here last night. We’ll see what happens today. There’s a marine layer today.”

Today’s game information:

First pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 1:10 pm Pacific, and the television broadcast will be on its usual home of ROOT Sports NW, with Aaron Goldsmith and Ryan Rowland-Smith on the call. The radio feed will be broadcasting from Seattle Sports (710 AM), and Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr. will be the tandem calling that feed.

Today in Mariner’s history:

• 1988 - The Mariners set a ML record for most infield assists in a 9-inning game with 22, as Bill Swift notched a complete game win.
• 1994 - Ken Griffey Jr hits his 22^nd HR before the end of May. A Major League record (see May 23).
• 1998 - Edgar Martinez blasts a three-run homer and becomes the first player ever to hit the lower catwalk at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay. Seattle wins the game 5-2.
• 2001 - Paul Abbott tosses his first career CG at Kansas City (9.0,6,3,3,3,6,HR-2).
• 2003 - Jamie Moyer beats Kansas City 5-2, to finish May a perfect 5-0 with a 3.23 ERA. Moyer went 7.0 innings, allowing 2 earned runs to improve to 8-2 on the season.
• 2007 - Adrian Beltre strokes four extra-base hits to tie a franchise record in the Mariners’ 12-5 rout of Anaheim. The Seattle third baseman collects 12 total bases with a pair of doubles and two home runs.
• 2011 - Adam Kennedy delivered a walk-off single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the Mariners a 5-4 win over the Yankees. David Pauley picked up the win with 2.0 shutout innings, becoming first Mariners pitcher with wins in back-to-back days while pitching at least 2.0 innings in each game.
• 2018 - Mariners earned their 16^th comeback win of the season in a 2-1 victory over the Rangers after Kyle Seager plated the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the 6^th inning.