The Seattle Mariners will finally get their home opener on Monday, the first of a three game series against the division rival Houston Astros. Seattle’s season is off to a rocky start after a 1-6 first week that’s left Scott Servais’ team a bit on edge. The M’s are hopeful some good home cooking is just what they need to right the ship as they’ll get a chance change the season’s course against the same Astros team that set them on a wayward direction in a four game series to open the year.
This series will be contested from Monday, April 10, 2017 through Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at Safeco Field in Seattle. Tuesday’s showdown will be televised live on MLB Network.
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Pitching Matchups
The Astros will turn to their back-end starters in this three game set against their division rivals.
For Houston, Charlie Morton gets the ball on Monday. Morton had a pretty good game his first time out, holding this same Mariners team to just a pair of runs over two innings.
Following Morton, Houston will send out Joe Musgrove on Tuesday and Mike Fiers on Wednesday.
To counter that trio of Astros hurlers, the Mariners will send James Paxton out to the mound on Monday afternoon and then will follow on in the last two games with Ariel Miranda and Yovani Gallardo.
The Monday pitching matchup should be the best one. Morton was signed by the Astros in free agency despite missing much of the 2016 season. Morton has never been a top of the rotation arm, but when healthy has proven to be a reliable starter during his stay in Pittsburgh. Particularly in 2013 and 2014, Morton was a very good pitcher with a 3.26 and 3.72 ERA respectively those two years.
In his first start of the season, as noted above, Morton pitched pretty well, but he was out pitched by Paxton who he matched up against the first time he pitched as well. Paxton also went six innings like Morton, but he held the Astros scoreless, allowing just a pair of hits and one walk while striking out five. In the end, The Astros won the game, but that was on the bullpen with Brad Peacock getting the win and Chase De Jong taking the loss.
In Tuesday’s matchup, both Musgrove and Miranda go into action off a five inning, two run outing in their respective first starts while Fiers has the advantage on Wednesday. Gallardo’s first start didn’t go too well. He faced the Angels and gave up three runs on eight hits and two walks in just five innings of work, lucky to get out of five only giving up those three runs.
Fiers, meanwhile, held the Royals to two runs—just one earned—over six innings of work, though he did walk three.
Who’s Hot?
Well, it’s easy to say the Houston Astros are hot and the Mariners are…umm…not. While that would certainly be partially accurate, it would also be partially not.
At 4-3, Houston is doing okay a week into the season, but it’s the Angels that lead the division and the Astros are still looking for a few offensive players to take flight.
For now, we’ll stick with George Springer and Marwin Gonzalez in the who’s hot category. Springer is the Houston leadoff hitter and he’s been getting things off on the right foot quite often. He’s already slammed four home runs and has eight RBIs in seven games. He’s batting just 7-for-28 overall, but he’s made those seven count as only two of them have been singles.
As for Gonzalez, he’s not even supposed to be a starter on this team. He’s a utility player that saw some time at first last year, but Yulieski Gurriel is the starter there. Gurriel’s gotten off to a slow start earning Gonzalez some ABs and he’s delivering. He’s got just 15 at bats, but has five hits—including three home runs—and a pair of walks.
Moving to the pitchers, Ken Giles has converted his first two save chances though he has allowed a couple earned runs in three innings. Michael Feliz, Will Harris and Brad Peacock have combined for 9.1 innings of scoreless ball.
For Seattle, most of the big names have yet to get going, leading to their rough start, but new shortstop Jean Segura is doing his part. He’s already collected 10 hits in 30 at bats and has a home runs and three steals. Mitch Haniger has done his part to hold down the job in right with three home runs and four RBIs, though he has also struck out 10 times. He’s essentially capitalizing on mistakes, be he can be pitched to.
Who's Not?
While Houston has a few relievers on the hot list, they’ve also go Luke Gregerson on the not side. The Astro’s main setup man has allowed six runs on seven hits—including a pair of home runs—in his first 3.1 innings of work spread over four outings.
Meanwhile, we’ve already noted Gurriel’s early struggles. Young third baseman Alex Bregman is off to a slow start, too, hitting .167 through his first week.
The big boys in Seattle are not hitting well. Sure, Robinson Cano does have a home run and a couple doubles, but he’s just 7-for-29 with a couple walks. They need more than that from him, particularly with Nelson Cruz has just two hits in 25 at bats and Kyle Seager is 3-for-23 with both of them yet to hit one out of the park.
The speedsters are also not getting on base with Leonys Martin and Jarrod Dyson yet to make pitchers. Each have one steal, but they’ve combined to reach base just seven times all week.
In the pitching department, the starters—save for Gallardo—have been pretty good, but the bullpen hasn’t done its job. Edwin Diaz is getting strikeouts, but he’s also getting hit.
The Mariners’ pen has allowed 19 earned runs in 23.1 innings, nine of those coming in Sunday’s loss. Nick Vincent and Casey Fien each struggled, but the worst part was the three runs allowed by Diaz to blow the save.
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