The Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers will continue a three-game series on Wednesday night at Comerica Park. Tuesday's series opener was a blowout with the Mariners winning 9-3 to cash in as a -170 favorite. Seattle currently holds the second AL Wild Card spot at 71-58 while the Tigers are well out of contention at 50-79.
This was a one-sided matchup last season with the Tigers taking six of the seven meetings.
It's usually the pitching that carries the Mariners, but the bats got going early and often on Tuesday as they handled the Tigers. Ty France, Cal Raleigh and Carlos Santana all went deep in the first five innings, and a six-run third was the difference as four different Mariners recorded an RBI single in the frame.
Rookie George Kirby cruised to another impressive win with five scoreless innings, allowing just two runs and one walk while striking out five. Chris Flexen covered the rest of the game for his first career save. France had a three-hit game as he appears to finally be breaking out of a slump.
The Mariners have been a very profitable team on the money line this year while going 66-62 on the run line. Overs are an even 61-61-6 for Seattle, with three of its last four games going over the betting total.
Despite the strong season the Mariners offense is still well within the bottom 10 in scoring at 4.11 runs per game on a .695 team OPS. Pitching is the strength as the Mariners rank seventh with a 3.58 combined ERA including a mark of 3.35 from an outstanding bullpen.
Julio Rodriguez has been terrific as a rookie with a .790 OPS, 21 homers, 23 steals and 65 RBI, all leading to 3.5 WAR. Eugenio Suarez has also proven to be a nice pickup with a .775 OPS, 24 homers and 72 driven in, matching Rodriguez atop the leaderboard at 3.5 WAR.
Marco Gonzales will be on the mound for the 26th time, looking to follow up a brilliant outing as he held the Cleveland Guardians to one run on four hits and one walk over six innings on Thursday, striking out four in a win. The 30-year-old has been solid this year, going 9-12 with a 3.97 ERA over 140.2 total innings.
Utilityman Dylan Moore hit the IL on Tuesday with a strained oblique, while catcher Tom Murphy has missed nearl y the entire year after undergoing shoulder surgery. Reliever Matthew Boyd is nearing a return from a strained flexor, while Casey Sadler (shoulder surgery) and Ryan Borucki (strained flexor) are also out.