It took the Seattle Mariners more than half the season to display the offense many thought they would have. Scoring runs in bunches hasn’t meant more wins, but they are a more exciting team to watch. They look to continue their surge against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the middle of a three-game interleague set.
ODDS ANALYSIS
Arizona put the skids on a recent stretch that saw them lose seven of nine games by taking the final two from Milwaukee over the weekend. Since getting back to the .500 mark with a win over Texas on July 8, the Dbacks struggled but got a pair of shutout wins at home to feel a little bit better about their situation. The Dbacks cashed the under in their last three games and the under is 6-2 in their last eight games.
The Mariners have showed some punch on the offensive end recently, scoring 17 runs while taking two out of three from the Blue Jays over the weekend and cashing the over in all three games. Seattle has won four of its last six games overall up 2.51 units on the moneyline with the over at 5-1 in that span. The Mariners look for a little more consistency at Safeco Field where they are 5-5 in their last 10 and 21-28, in the red 14.24 units, for the season. The over is 9-1 in Seattle’s last 10 home games but just 20-28-1 for the year.
PITCHING MATCHUP
Zack Godley (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his second career start after becoming the first pitcher in the modern era to pitch six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and no walks in his debut, which came Thursday against the Brewers. The righty has little experience above A-ball and wasn’t an elite prospect when acquired from the Cubs in the Miguel Montero deal. He had a promising season in the minors with a 2.72 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 89.1 innings between High-A and Double-A.
Hisashi Iwakuma (2-1, 4.50 ERA) pitched a strong game earning a no-decision at Detroit on Thursday. He allowed two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings locked in a pitcher’s duel with David Price. Iwakuma went 0-1 with a 7.17 ERA in his first four starts of the year, but is 2-0 with a 1.74 ERA over his last three turns after spending most of the first half on the disabled list with a strained lat. Projected to be the No. 2 starter behind Felix Hernandez at the start of the season, he appears to be rounding into form following his lengthy stay on the DL. This will be his first start against Arizona.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“He just did a beautiful job of following the game plan we gave him. He obviously has really good stuff. He fit right in and didn’t seem to be bothered by anything.” – Arizona manager Chip Hale after the debut of Zack Godley.
LIVE BETTING or SITUATIONAL BETTING
Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon spent a good part of the season’s first half tinkering with his batting order. The one combination he never touched was All-Star slugger Nelson Cruz batting behind Robinson Cano. Until last week. The manager’s move to flip-flop his two most established hitters, with Cano moving to the cleanup spot and Cruz up to third in the order, has rejuvenated the heart of the Mariners’ batting order and kick-started the team’s offense. Cano is hitting .379 with seven RBIs in seven games as the cleanup hitter. Cruz, meanwhile, has 12 hits in 28 at-bats in his last six games and hit his fourth home run in that span on Sunday. He also has seven RBIs and seven runs scored in that time. Seattle’s offense is finally showing signs of life scoring 37 runs in the seven games since McClendon mad his latest lineup shuffle.
PROP TALK
No one has hit more home runs in interleague since the start of last season than Nelson Cruz. And if that’s not enough, the Seattle slugger has been locked in during recent home games. Cruz has 15 homers in 31 interleague games since the start of 2014, five more than the next closest batter. Cruz has regained his power stroke with four homers in his last six games while batting .429. He went 7 for 12 this weekend with Seattle taking two of three from Toronto. Cruz hit the game-tying two-run homer in Sunday’s win and drove in three runs. He’s been hot at Safeco Field batting .485 in his last nine games there.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Behind Nelson Cruz and Robinson Cano, the Mariners are showing off their offense for the first time this season. And with Hisashi Iwakuma back to throwing like the stopper he’s been, the M’s might have a second half run in them. Arizona’s Zack Godley had a sparkling debut for a guy who had just a few outings at the Double-A level. The kid wasn’t considered much of a prospect when he came over from the Cubs and was handed the ball because the Dbacks wanted Josh Collmenter to stay in the bullpen. His luck runs out against a suddenly hot-hitting M’s squad that’s averaging 5.6 runs over their last seven games.
Seattle 5, Arizona 2
The MLB lines for this contest will first be released by BookMaker Sportsbook. Gamble on the game between every half inning with BookMaker’s live betting feature. Along with an adjusted in-game moneyline, you can wager on what will happen in the next at-bat or how many runs will be scored in the next inning. Live betting is the most exciting way to play!
Access live betting lines from your mobile device at BookMaker Sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker’s live betting platform. Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here so start betting with BookMaker today! The ballgame pitting the Arizona Diamondbacks versus the Seattle Mariners will commence Tuesday, July 28, 2015, at 10:10 p.m. ET at Safeco Field. You can watch the contest live on the MLB Network.
