Seattle will put its trust in James Paxton (2-3, 3.91 ERA) to kick off the second half of the season. The Mariners are hopeful that he can replicate his performance against the Royals on July 7, during which the 27-year-old southpaw logged in eight innings of two-run ball despite garnering the loss. Paxton should be able to do so especially when you consider that he played solidly in his lone career start versus Houston on April 4, 2015. He gave up just two runs and struck out seven batters through seven frames.
However, the Mariners are bound to face some difficulty in getting some hits or runs against the Astros’ starter, Doug Fister (8-6, 3.55 ERA). He holds a pretty impressive track record versus their division rivals, owning a 3-1 win-loss mark along with a quality 3.18 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and .195 opponents’ batting average.
The Mariners also boast a scary offense, which is racking up 4.89 runs per game (9th-best in the majors). And a testament to this success at the plate is the pair of Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz.
The former currently leads the team in batting (.313), OBP (.368) and hits (114), while Cruz has done his part to hit some balls out of the park. He has 23 homers in total this season, the fourth-most in the majors right now.
Cano, in particular, enters tonight’s game with a lot of momentum on his side. He has a career triple-slash line of .367/.408/.559 against Houston, and is also aiming to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
Writer’s Prediction: Seattle (-120) draws first blood, 6-3, in this three-game series.
