If you’re feeling down, just think that at least you’re not a Seattle Mariners fan. The Mariners tricked their fans into believing they’re headed somewhere this season after a hot start. That seems to be so long ago, as Seattle is now one of the worst teams in baseball, occupying the cellar of the American League West division. The Houston Astros are on top of that division, and are looking to capitalize on having to face a soft opponent at home. The Mariners are +20000 to win the AL West, while the Astros are +500 to win the World Series.
Starters: Tommy Milone (1-2, 3.35 ERA) vs. Wade Miley (6-4, 3.51 ERA)
Pitching:
Milone had an average performance in his last start, allowing just three earned runs on four hits with six strikeouts in 5.0 inning of an 8-4 home loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Jun. 22. After two straight starts of not issuing a free pass, Milone struggled a bit with his accuracy in the Orioles game, having given up three walks. He limited the Astros to just a run on three hits in 5.1 innings of an 8-7 home loss earlier this month. Miley surrendered four earned runs on two hits with four walks given up in five innings of a 7-5 road loss to the New York Yankees on Jun. 22. He got charged with three earned runs on three hits in five innings of an 11-5 road win over the Mariners on June. 4.
Hitting
Domingo Santana is 5-for-5 in career vs. Miley.
Jake Marisnick is 3-for-6 in his career vs, Milone.
Kikuchi got his first win of the month on Jun. 23, when he held the Orioles down to three earned runs on five hits in 6.0 innings of a 13-3 home victory. He obviously got a boost from the Mariners’ offense, but he can’t expect to get that many runs behind him every start, so he will have to be more accurate with his pitches. Kikuchi has 12 issued balls in 19.1 innings this month thus far.Verlander went seven innings deep in his last start, allowing three earned runs on four hits in seven innings of a 9-4 victory over the Yankees on Jun. 23. He is 1-0 with four earned runs allowed on seven hits in 12.1 innings (two starts) against the Mariners this year.
Hitting
Kyle Seager is 8-for-29 with three homers in career vs. Verlander.
Michael Brantley is hitting .346 against lefties this season as of this writing.
Prediction: Astros win, 6-3.
GAME 3
Starters: Marco Gonzales (9-6, 4.34 ERA) vs. Gerrit Cole (7-5, 3.42 ERA)
Pitching:
Gonzalez, in his first start this June, got blasted with 10 runs by the Los Angeles Angels in a loss at home. Since then, though, Gonzalez has not allowed more than two earned runs in each of his succeeding four starts. He is 5-2 with a 2.85 ERA in nine road starts this season. Cole has also been solid this month. He is 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA in five June starts. Back in April, he tossed for six innings and struck out 11 with just two earned runs on four hits during a 3-2 road win over the Mariners.
