The Rockies are still looking for their first series win of 2024. Can they do it at home against the Mariners?
After being swept by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Colorado Rockies return home to face the Seattle Mariners. The Rockies are 25-29 all-time against the Mariners, and were most recently swept in 2023.
The Mariners have been a surprising team as of late, making the playoffs for the first time ever as a Wild Card in 2022 but just missing the cutoff in 2023. They are currently 9-10 on the young season.
But who better to tell you about the 2024 Mariners than Lookout Landing managing editor Kate Preusser?
The Mariners were once again busy this off-season reshaping their lineup, looking to cut down strikeouts and make more contact. They shipped off high-power/high-strikeout third baseman Eugenio Suárez to the Diamondbacks and have replaced him with a platoon of the contact-oriented Luis Urías and Josh Rojas, acquired from the same Diamondbacks last season in the highly unpopular Paul Sewald trade. So far Rojas has been taking the lion’s share of reps at third, as Urías was slowed by an injury this spring. The Mariners also attempted to upgrade second base for the seemingly millionth time by trading for Jorge Polanco, who is off to a rough start both at the plate and in the field. The most successful off-season addition so far has been the re-addition of Mitch Haniger, who looks to be healthy and productive at the plate after struggling with the San Francisco Giants. However, none of these changes have resulted in much offensive improvement for the Mariners, who are currently tied for second in all of baseball for the most strikeouts, alongside the Los Angeles Dodgers, and rank fifth-to-last for lowest OPS in the AL.
That wouldn’t be so bad except the pitching staff, traditionally the bedrock of this team, has stumbled out of the gate. Logan Gilbert has been excellent, carrying a 2.33 ERA while pitching the second-most innings of any starter in MLB and collecting the fifth-most strikeouts, and has been rewarded with exactly one win by his offense. However, George Kirby and Luis Castillo have both uncharacteristically struggled to start the season, putting the already-catatonic offense in a tough spot. As for the young pitchers, Emerson Hancock has also struggled, pressed into service in place of the injured Bryan Woo, who should be eligible to return this series if he’s healthy. Bryce Miller, who added a splitter over this off-season, struggled with location in his season debut but was sterling his next two times out. The back end of the rotation will have to contribute strong outings while the two stars at the top of the rotation figure out whatever is going wrong for them.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday, April 19: RHP Emerson Hancock (1-2, 7.98 ERA) vs RHP Dakota Hudson (0-3, 4.15 ERA)
Saturday, April 20: RHP Luis Castillo (0-4, 5.82 ERA) vs LHP Kyle Freeland (0-3, 13.21 ERA)
Sunday, April 21: RHP George Kirby (2-2, 6.64 ERA) vs RHP Cal Quantrill (0-3, 4.15 ERA)
Game Start Times
Friday, April 19: 6:40pm MT
Saturday, April 20: 6:10pm MT
Sunday, April 21: 1:10pm MT
Poll
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