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2021 Series #20 | Mariners @ Indians | June 11-13, 2021

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Wham with the Right Hand

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The Mariners are 31-33 overall but are better at home with a 17-14 record against 14-19 on the road. They won three of four from the Indians in Seattle last month, outscoring the Tribe 19-10. They beat McKenzie, Civale, and Bieber as the Tribe bats were silent. The M's have lost six of their last nine.

The M's are a pretty bad team offensively, ranking 12th in the A.L. in runs per game, last in the majors in on-base percentage (the Indians are second-to-last), and last in the A.L. in slugging percentage. Their team BA is .209. Their wRC+ on the road is 90. The Indians, by the way, rank last in the majors in home wRC+ with a mind boggling number of 80 despite playing in a park that is pretty good for hitting. If the Indians want to be serious contenders they need to start hitting better at home. I'm talking to you, Eddie.

With the two worst teams in the majors in terms of on-base percentage hooking up, this series has the potential to be a major snoozefest, like a 3-1 game with all the runs coming on homers.

The M's are 12th in the A.L. in team ERA, so the Indians have a chance to put some runs on the board. They only face one of the starters they saw against the M's in May.

Mitch Haniger is their big bat with a line of .258/.830. He hammered the Indians last month with two doubles and two homers in the four-game series, batting .375. However, he's only hitting .244/.701 so far in June. Hopefully he won't be seeing too many belt high fastballs this weekend

Kyle Seager is only hitting .214 but has 12 HR's and 39 RBI's. He makes the most of his hits. He hit .184 in May and .194 so far in June so he can be pitched to, but don't make a mistake.

They have three guys with OPS between .710 and .718 and everybody else is under .700.

Tonight Civale goes against 25-year-old RHP Justin Dunn, 1-2, 3.18. Dunn averages five innings per start. In his last five starts he has allowed 1-2 earned runs each game for a 2.52 ERA. He's pitched very well lately, but he's definitely a five-and-fly guy. Opponents are hitting .168 against him. He's really pitching very well, but he walked 27 in 45 innings so it pays to be patient, especially since he appears to have great stuff. He did not face the Indians last month.

Civale allowed five runs in 6.2 innings against the M's a month ago.

Tomorrow it's McKenzie against LHP Yusei Kikuchi, 3-3, 4.05, who we have not seen this year. Kikuchi has been doing a solid job and nothing really stands out. The first time through the order batters are hitting .170 against him. That improves to .211 and .254 the second and third time they face him, so it's a matter of being patient and trying to get to him in the middle innings.

McKenzie was burned for five runs in 4.1 innings in his start against the M's last month. He gave up a three-run homer in the 4th to Dylan Moore, who has been out with a calf injury but played in a minor league game two days ago and could be back.

Sunday it's Bieber against RHP Logan Gilbert, 1-2, 4.98. The Indians faced Gilbert last month in his first major league start and got four runs off him in four innings. They hit 13 fly balls against zero ground balls. On the season, Gilbert has allowed 47 fly balls to 16 ground balls. If the weather is warm we could see some home runs on Sunday afternoon.

In his last two starts Gilbert has allowed three runs in 11 innings. He's their #1 prospect and seems to be pulling it together.

Based on the Mariners' lack of offensive firepower, the Indians pathetic lack of offense at home, and the fact that the M's are starting three pithers who have pitched very well lately, I'm not too opimistic. However, in their last eight games the Tribe scored six runs twice and 10 runs twice so they're showing signs of hitting a little better as of late. Haniger has cooled off in June and Seager is under .200 the last six weeks. The Mariners are a bad road team; they just lost two of three to Detroit. Could be a very low scoring series.
 
If the Indians want to be serious contenders they need to start hitting better at home. I'm talking to you, Eddie.:disdain (29):
 
It will be interesting to see who is removed from the roster for TMac to start on Saturday. I suspect it will be either Kyle Nelson or Sam Hentges.

Then there will be the return of Luplow in the next week or so (I believe that is when Owen Miller gets sent back to AAA) and then the remaining returns of the wounded brigade (in some order: R Perez/ Plesac/ Reyes)
 
Miller's gotten 4 ab's in the last 3 games - no reason for him to be up here - send him down for an arm - any arm - and let him remember that he can hit the baseball even if at a different level
 
And looky who's batting in the 7 hole for the Mariners.
 
Even better, Look where they have Jake playing....
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FYI:
OF Jordan Luplow is starting a rehab assignment with Columbus (in Iowa) tonight (Friday 6/11/21). He is hitting 3rd and serving as the DH..
 
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Sounds like a small strike zone tonight...
 
Tight strike zone early.

No damage, but a lot of pitches.

Not what we need, when we have to get innings from Civale and Biebs.
 
I hope our guys noticed the size of the zone.
 
Nice to see an opponent without a centerfielder.
 
The merry go round is operating.
 

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