8/1/20: Open Game Thread

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome To August Baseball Folks

Whoa there!

August baseball is already here, and would you look at that, the M’s sit comfortably at .500 and just half a game behind the Astros for first in the AL West! (just as all MLB pundits expected for this 2020 season).

Tonight’s matchup is game two in the home opening series with your very own Seattle Mariners taking on the Oakland Athletics.

After leap frogging the A’s last night in a closer than it could’ve been game, they’re going to try to even things up in the series with Mike Fiers on the mound who will try to rebound from a 4 inning, 9 earned run season debut in his last game.

Here is the full Oakland lineup for tonight:

For the M’s, J.P. Crawford is hoping to continue a slew of hot games from the leadoff spot and with fellow breakout youngster Kyle Lewis staking down the 3 spot once again.

Unfortunately Tim Lopes, Dee Gordon and Mallex Smith all figure to have comfy seats on the pine for most of tonight (if not all). While you can’t really make an argument that any of these guys, bar Lopes, are must-starts right now (see Mallex Smiths impressively bad -12 wRC+ to open the year) these guys are all fun for me so it bums me out.

Instead we are treated to a heaping helping of Marmolejos, Dylan Moore and Austin Nola. So, yay?

Yusei Kikuchi is on the mound tonight where he will be looking to put it together in his second outing of the young season. In his first game against Houston, Kikuchi looked incredibly sharp at times while looking very not at others this combined with a good helping of bad luck helped make the boxscore of his first outing much worse that it actually was.

The Full Lineup for The M’s:

Update: a bit of injury news today, as the Mariners announced reliever Brandon Brennan is going on the 45-day IL with an injured left oblique. No replacement for his spot on the 40-man was announced, but the Mariners likely won’t replace him on the 30-man, as the deadline to cut that number down to 28 is fast approaching.

Game Time:

Time: 6:10 PST

TV: Root Sports NW

Radio: 710 ESPN

Streaming: mlb.tv

Hotel?: Trivago