The Mariners head to Texas to face their reeling division rival.
That three-game sweep against the Giants feels like a lifetime ago. The Mariners have lost just four games since that series in San Francisco and have won seven straight series since then. The offense is firing on all cylinders and the pitching has been good enough. Still, the M’s are sitting on a knife’s edge with all the injuries that are piling up. A positive result on this inter-divisional road trip would alay a lot of the concerns surrounding the team.
The Rangers got off to a hot start this year, but have come crashing back down to earth over the last few weeks. It might have started with that sweep in Seattle, though they followed that series with a sweep of the Angels. But since then, they’ve lost four straight series and have gone 4-9 during this stretch. Texas is still being propped up by their pitching staff — they’ve got the best starting rotation in baseball by a pretty wide margin and their bullpen had been solid until some more recent hiccups. The real problem is their lineup. As every Mariner fan knows, fantastic pitching means nothing if you can’t score runs and the Rangers are having real trouble scoring runs. During this 13-game stretch, they’ve scored just 3.1 runs per game and that includes a 15 run outburst on Tuesday.
In an effort to shake up their lineup and provide some sort of spark, the Rangers are reportedly optioning Jake Burger to Triple-A today and promoting long-time farmhand Blaine Crim. Burger was one of Texas’s headlining acquisitions this offseason which makes the timing of this move pretty surprising. Burger’s struggles haven’t been the only problem. Marcus Semien, Joc Pederson, and Adolis García have all gotten off to atrociously poor starts. One other bit of good news: Corey Seager, sidelined with a hamstring injury for the past few weeks, is aiming to be activated off the IL this weekend, foregoing any rehab assignment.
Probable Pitchers
Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images
Despite a phenomenal college career and a lofty draft pedigree, Jack Leiter has had some real trouble adjusting to professional baseball. Command issues have plagued him throughout the minor leagues and his brief cup of coffee in the majors did not go very well last year. He added a sinker and a new changeup to his arsenal this offseason, dominated in spring training, and was fantastic during his first two starts during the regular season. A blister issue forced him to miss a few weeks on the IL, but he returned earlier this week, though his third start wasn’t nearly as good as the first two. The widened repertoire gives him a few more tools to keep batters off balance but he really needs to show that he’s developed his command to really stick in the big leagues.
Patrick Corbin helped the Nationals win a World Series in 2019 and burnt himself out in the process. He hasn’t been the same since that year and he’s sort of just existed as an innings-eating back-end starter for the Nationals while he played out the end of his massive contract he signed ahead of that championship season. The Rangers signed him during spring training to cover for some of the injuries they picked up in February and March and he’s made four decent starts for Texas so far. Corbin’s calling card is still his wipeout slider but he also added a cutter to his pitch mix last year which gives him an intermediary pitch between his big breaking ball and his sinker.
From a previous series preview:
Jacob deGrom hasn’t pitched in a full season since the pandemic shortened 2020 season. He’s dealt with a litany of injuries that have limited him to under 200 innings total over the last five years. He’s healthy right now, but there’s no telling how long he’ll stay that way, so every inning the Rangers get out of him is a precious commodity. In an effort to reduce the strain on his arm, he’s throwing a little softer this year; for him, that means his heater is averaging 96 mph rather than 98 or 99. All three of his secondary offerings are just as effective as ever so the real question is if he can continue to be one of the best pitchers in baseball with diminished fastball velocity.
The Mariners handed deGrom his worst start of the season back in early April, scoring three runs on three hits and four walks across four innings of work.
The Big Picture:
The Athletics jumped into second place in the division after taking three of four from the Rangers earlier this week. They’ll head to Miami to face the Marlins this weekend. The Astros just won their series over the Tigers and have a road series against the White Sox on the docket.