Mariners Game #35 Preview: 5/6/24, SEA at MIN

The Mariners face off against a tough AL opponent in the Twins

The good news is, after getting a weirdly rare divisional matchup in the previous series, the Mariners get to play another AL opponent over the next four games. The bad news is it’s the Twins, maybe the hottest team in baseball over the last couple of weeks.

Tonight’s game, headlined by Luis Castillo vs. Simeon Woods Richardson, is the only game the Mariners are actually favored to win. (Once again, Logan Gilbert has drawn the toughest opponent of the other team’s ace in Pablo López and has been given the worst odds of the series. We saw how that worked out last time; hopefully Walter will be similarly motivated this time.)

Lineups:

Luis Urías sits again as Haniger returns to the lineup and Raley will man left—probably not the worst idea to not trial Rojas in left in spacious Target Field, but it does feel like a poor reward for Urías coming through with a clutch base knock yesterday.

The Twins are sitting one of their hottest hitters in Ryan Jeffers in favor of Christian Vázquez’s less potent bat but superior glove work. The Mariners really need to take advantage of this version of the Twins lineup, because things will get tougher from here.

Game information:

Game time: 4:40 PT

TV: ROOT Sports NW, with Mike Blowers and Aaron Goldsmith

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims

Today in Mariners history:

• 1982: Gaylord Perry wins his 300th game, only the 15th pitcher to win 300 games.
• 1990: Edgar Martinez’s record-tying four-error game. He turned out okay, though.
• 2000: Kazuhiro Sazaki’s earns his first MLB win.