This story was originally published by Dead Spin
After struggling offensively for much of the season, the Seattle Mariners have surged at the plate while trying to stay in the American League West race.
The Mariners (72-70) have won three games in a row — by a combined score of 28-8. They will try to sustain that push Saturday night when they visit the St. Louis Cardinals (71-70) for the middle contest of a three-game series.
Seattle is second place in the AL West, 4 1/2 games behind the Houston Astros. The Cardinals have fallen six games out of the final wild-card slot in the National League.
Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez liked his team’s mindset entering the series.
“I feel everybody has a situation in the game, like a situation overall, that I feel like we are approaching with calmness,” Rodriguez said. “(We’re) just kind of ready to do what we need to do in that moment, and staying within ourselves. And it doesn’t matter what’s been happening.”
Rodriguez has helped Seattle’s attack during his nine-game hitting streak.
“I just feel like I’m doing the right things,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting on time early, looking in the zone, and just kind of staying there. I feel like that’s something that’s been really helping me out — to continue to drive the ball and take the bad pitches. And I feel like that’s something that I will continue to work on.”
The Mariners on Saturday will turn to right-hander Logan Gilbert (7-10, 3.19 ERA), who struck out nine and walked just one in six innings of a no-decision in his most recent start, Seattle’s 5-4 loss to Oakland on Monday. Gilbert allowed four runs on four hits.
This will be his first career appearance against the Cardinals.
While the Mariners have offensive momentum, St. Louis will try to restart its offense after mustering just one run — on a Jordan Walker homer — and five hits on Friday in a 6-1 loss.
“The way we lead off the game, with hard contact, I liked that approach,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “We took some other good at-bats, but nothing to show for it. I felt like we hit some balls hard, not enough, obviously, with the score, but we did hit some balls hard right at people today.
Marmol said Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson “had some good swings, but not a whole lot to show for it at the end of the night.”
The Cardinals on Saturday will counter Gilbert with right-hander Kyle Gibson (8-6, 4.39 ERA), who is coming off one of his best starts of the season. He allowed one run on five hits in seven innings of a 6-5 victory over the New York Yankees last Saturday. He struck out six, walked none and induced 11 ground-ball outs.
He has seen the Seattle Mariners often in his career, going 4-6 with a 4.92 ERA in 15 starts. Last season, the Mariners shelled Gibson for 14 runs on 19 hits in just 8 1/3 innings while he was with the Baltimore Orioles.
Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado exited Friday’s game for a pinch hitter in the ninth inning due to a shoulder strain. His availability for Saturday’s contest was not immediately known.
–Field Level Media
