Mariners Game #66 Preview, 6/13/23: Miami at Seattle

Two bright young pitchers take the mound in tonight’s contest

After a lopsided win finally went the Mariners’ way last night with the offense showing some over-the-fence power and Bryce Miller, Ty Adcock, and Gabe Speier combining to allow a season-low one hit (the team’s first one-hitter since June 28 of last year against Baltimore), the Mariners will try to keep the good vibes alive, sending George Kirby to the mound for his own shot at a get-right start.

Unfortunately, the Marlins pitching doesn’t let up. Tonight the Mariners hitters will face off against young fireballer Edward Cabrera, a huge part of why the Marlins rotation is the hardest-throwing in MLB. The one knock on Cabrera is that he’s had some command issues—he’s in the bottom 7th percentile in MLB for walks, and his big fastball can play down sometimes when he’s having command issues, allowing batters to hit it hard (and he’s actually getting lucky on the pitch, per Statcast: a SLG of .447 vs. an xSLG of .574). The Mariners hitters will need to combine being patient at the plate, if Cabrera is having trouble locating, with being aggressive on the fastball before he gets to his wicked changeup or curveball, both of which elicit whiffs at well above league average (38% on the change and 42% on the curve).

Lineups:

The Marlins will be running it back with the exact same lineup tonight, while the Mariners will free their lefty hitters, with the exception of Kolten Wong, who sits for a second straight day in favor of José Caballero, whose OBP is .150 points higher than Wong’s. Hopefully Caballero will continue doing Caballero things and getting on base any way he can to get the lineup turned over.

Today’s game information:

Tonight’s game will be televised on ROOT Sports with Dave Sims and Aaron Goldsmith on the call, and will also be broadcast on 710 AM Seattle Sports by Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr. As a reminder, tonight is another value game at the park, as is tomorrow’s; this weekend starts a fun slate of promotions that include Pride Fireworks Night on Friday, a Steelheads replica jersey giveaway for Salute to the Negro Leagues on Saturday’s day game, and the talking Eugenio Suárez bottle opener for Sunday’s Father’s Day matinee. Pro tip: I got a chance to examine one of the Steelheads replica jerseys, and they’re pretty nice, with a cool color scheme and real buttons. For my goth babes and black-clothing lovers, it’s a nice way to show some team spirit while maintaining your alliance to the forces of darkness.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1994: Proving that ‘90s-era Griffey was Tungsten Arm before that was a thing, Ken Griffey Jr. collected a career-high six RBI and hit a grand slam in a 17-9 loss at Texas.
• 2015: Sometimes it’s nice to be the one who gets to select which historic Mariners moments will get featured, because in a milestone relevant only to me, Mike “Make Way for Ducklings” Montgomery recorded his first MLB win, allowing 1 run on 6 hits over 6.0 IP to lead the Mariners to a 8-1 win at Houston. Also, Logan Morrison was the hitting hero of the day, with two home runs and five runs driven in.
• 2017: The Mariners got blown out by the Twins, 20-7, allowing a club-record 28 hits and season-high 20 runs, the second most in franchise history (only topped by allowing 22 runs on August 15, 2015 to the Red Sox at Fenway, which shouldn’t even count). Hey, not all the history is good history.
• 2018: Mitch Haniger had an incredible game with a pair of amazing throws and a three-home run game, the last of which walked off the Angels in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Mariners in a sweep the Angels.

It also led to the LL staff favorite “Haniger in the rain” photos, which, bless.

Miss you, Mitch.