Still trying and trying again to find their offensive consistency, Seattle had a wonderful homestand conclude on Thursday after taking three out of four against Houston, sweeping the Angels, and winning two of three against the soon-to-be-Vegas Athletics.
Pitching has been out of this world good, and it’s been that way for a vast majority of the season to date. Every starter in the staff would rank in the top one, two or three of each club across the league. Going into the 2024 season, analysts saw Luis Castillo and/or George Kirby as SP1/SP2. Yes, they have been nothing short of spectacular, but how about the other three: Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo? The run those five have been on collectively of late has been magnificent.
Oakland-native Bryan Woo lowered his ERA to 1.07 after Thursday's start. He passed Randy Johnson, and became a franchise-best in ERA in the first six starts of a season. Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
Seattle continues to reign as top dog in the American League West. As of Friday morning, before opening up a three-game series in Kansas City, the Mariners have won eight of their last ten, and hold a five-game advantage over the 2023 World Series-champion Texas Rangers.
A few updates you may have missed …
- Bench Coach & Offensive Coordinator Brent Brown was relieved of duties on May 31st.
- LHP Gabe Speier: 15-Day Injured List – Left Rotator Cuff Strain (Retroactive to May 30th).
- RHP Andres Munoz: Lower Back Strain – “Optimistic about avoiding injured list” after collision at home plate on June 4th.
- RHP Gregory Santos: Threw condensed bullpens from the mound in Oakland on Wednesday & Thursday. According to Shannon Drayer, Seattle Sports, “Ball comes out easy. Was up to 95 (MPH) in his last session”.
- OF Victor Robles: Signed to Major League contract, added to active roster on June 4th. INF Luis Urias was outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding move.
Top stats from series win @ Oakland…
- Tuesday, June 4th – SEA 4, OAK 3: 2B Josh Rojas (3-5, RBI), 1B Ty France (1-3, 2 RBI), LF Luke Raley (2-4, RBI), SP George Kirby (W, 5 IP, 2 ER, 9 K)
- Wednesday June 5th – SEA 1, OAK 2: CF Julio Rodriguez (1-3, HR – off RHP Mason Miller), SP Logan Gilbert (7 IP, ER, 5 K)
- Thursday June 6th – SEA 3, OAK 0: DH Mitch Garver (2-2, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI), SP Bryan Woo (W, 6 IP, 0 ER, 6 K)
The Mariners, who are eight games above .500, still rank 29th in team batting average and hits, 26th in OBP and 25th in SLG, and dead last in strikeouts with 638 collectively. Coincidence or not… but since Brent Brown was relieved of his duties, strikeouts have been down, slugging has gone up, etc. Small sample size, but something to keep an eye on as after three in Kansas City beginning Friday evening, the M’s will return home to take on the last-place Chicago White Sox and then the Texas Rangers the following weekend.
The Kansas City Royals have certainly opened some/most eyes as we are almost 40% into the 2024 season. Backed by future hall-of-famer Salvador Perez and young superstar Bobby Witt Jr, the Royals find themselves nine games above .500, trailing just the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central. But maybe Seattle visits them at the right time… as KC has lost seven of their last ten.
Here are the pitching probables for the weekend:
- Friday June 7th, 5:10 PM PT: RHP Bryce Miller (5-5, 3.18 ERA) vs. LHP Daniel Lynch IV (0-0, 1.50 ERA)
- Saturday June 8th, 1:10 PM PT: RHP Luis Castillo (5-6, 2.99 ERA) vs. RHP Alec Marsh (4-3, 3.76 ERA)
- Sunday June 9th, 11:10 AM PT: RHP George Kirby (5-5, 4.05 ERA) vs. LHP Cole Ragans (4-4, 3.21 ERA)
American League West standings as of Friday June 7th at 12:00 PM PT:
- Seattle Mariners (36-28), --GB
- Texas Rangers (30-32), 5.0 GB
- Houston Astros (28-35), 7.5 GB
- Oakland Athletics (25-39), 11.0 GB
- Los Angeles Angels (24-38), 11.0 GB
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