The red-hot Seattle Mariners hope to go into the All-Star Break on a 14-game winning streak in Sunday’s finale of a four-game series with the Texas Rangers. It took extra innings for the Mariners to come away with the victory at Globe Life Field on Saturday evening. They’ll try to limit the drama in the finale with Chris Flexen slated to start at pitcher against Texas’ starting righty Glenn Otto.
The Mariners are on the verge of going into the All-Star break on a 14-game winning streak, assuming they take care of business in Sunday’s finale with the Rangers. Nothing is ever guaranteed in this league, even against a team the Mariners have dominated throughout the season in the head-to-head meetings.
But they’ll clearly need every win they can get if they have any hope of catching the Houston Astros in the AL West standings.
The good news for the Mariners is the fact that Chris Flexen has been red-hot on the mound. He has won his last four straight games as a starter, and he hasn’t yielded more than one run in his last two outings against the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres. The Mariners are hopeful he finds the same success on Sunday against a Rangers team that does have some power at the plate.
Flexen is throwing a 3.84 ERA with a 1.4 0 WHIP on top of a 6-8 record. He’s a part of a strong rotation that’s terrorizing opponents in the first-half of the season. Do you want to know what else is scary? The bats are coming alive for the Mariners.
They’ve scored six-plus runs in four of their last six outings. If they can find that sort of success at the plate in the finale, it will be more than enough pressure to break the Rangers.