Tanaka, Yankees target series win over M’s
The Mariners may be 20-10 in their past 30 contests at Safeco Field, but signs of weakness are cropping up at the worst possible time.
Having lost 5-1 on Tuesday evening to the Yankees, Seattle will try to claim the rubber match this afternoon. The two squads meet at 3:40 p.m. ET, with online sports book BetDSI giving Scott Servais’ troops odds of -111 to prevail. Conversely, New York represents a +101 underdog. The over/under run total rests at seven.
Hisashi Iwakuma (14-8, 3.78 ERA) is tasked with helping the M’s straighten things out shortly. The 35-year-old continues to perform like a bona fide ace in the Pacific Northwest, as evidenced by that 3-1 mark with a 1.69 ERA since July 30. Most recently, he limited the Angels to a pair of earned runs across seven innings.
Joe Girardi answers with his own frontline option on the hill. After an inconsistent 2015 campaign, Masahiro Tanaka (10-4, 3.24) now finds himself riding a three-start winning streak. He’s 2-0 with a 0.62 WHIP in two career appearances in the Emerald City.
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Seattle still paces the AL West in homers (175), OBP (.327) and slugging percentage (.433). Yet last night’s defeat left Servais’ crew two games back in the wild-card race. Expect Iwakuma to recognize the heightened stakes here, leading to a stellar duel against his former Japanese league teammate.
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