Mariners Game #146, 9/13/23: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Seattle

La Piedra takes the mound for Seattle in the season finale against the Angels

The Mariners close up their season series against the Angels today with a matinee finale before a much-needed off-day tomorrow. The Angels will be deploying a bullpen day, so the Mariners will likely mix and match from their bench depending on which Angels reliever is on the mound. Luis Castillo will take the ball for Seattle and hopefully provide some length for a Mariners bullpen that’s been running on fumes, but got a nice bump last night thanks to some heroic mop-up duty from Eduard Bazardo.

Lineups:

Much to the chagrin of the assembled Japanese media, Shohei Ohtani remains out for another day. Instead, the Angels are going with a heavy “let the kids play” lineup.

News:

Jarred Kelenic is out of the lineup today after fouling a ball off his foot in Monday’s game. X-Rays were negative. Servais is hoping a second day of rest, plus the off day tomorrow, help get Kelenic back to 100%, but says he could be available off the bench if needed.

Milestone watch:

• Matt Brash currently sits at 97 strikeouts; with 3 more, he will become just the fifth Mariners relief pitcher with 100+ strikeouts in a season, joining Bill Caudill (111 SO, 1982), J.J. Putz (104, 2006), Edwin Díaz (124, 2018), and Paul Sewald (104, 2021).
• In addition to setting new career highs in homers and walks, J.P. Crawford’s next RBI will tie a career high for him (54) that he set in the 2021 season. Two more RBI will set a new personal record for him.
• Teoscar Hernández has a 27-game on-base streak, which currently leads the majors for active streaks. If he reaches base in today’s game, he will have the longest on-base streak for a Mariner since Robinson Canó’s 34-game on-base streak in the 2016 season.
• Julio Rodríguez is two away from a 100-RBI season. If he achieves that mark, he would join Alex Rodriguez and Ronald Acuña Jr. to become just the third player age-22 or younger to have a 30/30 season and 100 RBI in the same year.

Today’s game information:

Today’s game starts at 1:10 PT and will air on television on ROOT Sports NW, with Aaron Goldsmith and Mike Blowers on the call, and on the radio at 710 AM Seattle Sports (or streamed via At Bat or Mariners.com) with Dave Sims and Rick Rizzs on the call there. Today’s game is also the free MLB TV game of the day, if you’re able to access those.

As a reminder, tomorrow is an off-day before the final series of this homestand, a three-game set against the Dodgers. Also, we have a programming note to tell you about: MLB has decided that the AL West race is actually of national interest, and as such has made a couple key AL West games nationally televised. The home game against Houston on Tuesday, September 26 will move to a 7:10 PT start and be nationally televised on TBS. However, it will still be available on ROOT Sports NW if you prefer a more local flavor. The game at Texas on Saturday, September 30 moves up to 4:15 PT and will be nationally broadcast exclusively on FOX.

Today in Mariners history:

• 1995: Jay Buhner hits a three-run home run to cap off a comeback win for the Mariners against Minnesota, 7-4.
• 1996: Alex Rodriguez becomes the first-ever Mariner to collect 200 hits in a season. He would conclude the season with 215 hits.
• 2009 - Ichiro records his 200th hit of the season, surpassing Willie Keeler to become the first player in MLB to record 200 hits or more in 9 consecutive seasons… only Ty Cobb (9) and Pete Rose (10) have recorded as many 200-hit seasons in a career.
• 2016: Taijuan Walker throws his first complete game shutout, an 8-0 win over the Angels.