Mariners Game #14 Preview, Colorado at Seattle

The Mariners wrapped up their first road trip of the season and are back in the truly friendly confines of T-Mobile Park to start a long homestand against a trio of NL opponents: the Rockies, the Brewers, and the Cardinals. Here’s how things line up for the opener for this long tour through the formerly mysterious lands of the National League:

Jurickson Profar is with Colorado now, as is Kris Bryant and C.J. Cron, as the Rockies continue to mix veterans in with their young homegrown player group. Longtime Cardinals prospect Austin Gomber is also now with Colorado, having come over as the headliner in the Nolan Arenado deal. Don’t let Gomber’s lousy numbers last year or rough start to this year fool you; he’s still a very capable pitcher who’s just suffered some lousy batted-ball luck, and should find the chilly offensive environment at T-Mobile Park much more to his liking. (Even at his best, is the trade package a fair return for a future Hall of Famer in Nolan Arenado? Certainly not, but that’s not Gomber’s fault.) You can read more about Gomber and the rest of the Rockies in the series preview here.

For the Mariners, this is Marco Gonzales’s scheduled start day, but he’s been placed on the paternity list after his wife Monica went into labor with their second child (hashtag-girl-dad-x2). The stalwart Tommy Milone has been summoned from Tacoma in his place to make a spot start. Thank goodness for that off-day and a hopefully rested bullpen. To make room for Milone on the 40-man roster, RHP J.B. Bukauskas was DFA’d.

You’ll also notice that Jarred Kelenic is getting a rare start against a lefty. It’d sure be nice if his teammates could score a few runs so Jarred could take some nice, low-stress, low-leverage at-bats against a lefty. Just kinda ease him into it before every manager in baseball empties their pen of lefties against Jarred.

In other news:

• Nick Solak, acquired on March 31 from Cincinnati for cash and DFA’d to make room for José Rodríguez on the roster, was claimed on waivers by the White Sox. He’ll replace the injured Yoan Moncada on Chicago’s roster.

Tonight’s game information:

Tonight’s game starts at 7:10 PT. Dave Sims and Mike Blowers will be on the television side, airing on ROOT Sports, and Aaron Goldsmith and Rick Rizzs will hold things down on Seattle Sports 710 AM on the radio. If you’re thinking about going to the game, hopefully you’re reading this preview already standing in line to get your hands on a Cal Clinch bobblehead. Tickets are still available on the Mariners website and you can get in for as low as $26 before fees, which is way cheaper than they seem to be going on the secondary market. It should be a fun one, as I’m guessing there will be a lot of in-game content surrounding Cal’s drought-busting hit, so the dopamine should be flowing regardless of how the game goes.

Today in Mariners history:

• It was the best of times, 1985 - Phil Bradley caps a five-run Mariners 7^th inning with a bases loaded triple to lead the Mariners over the Minnesota Twins, 5-1. The victory gives the Mariners a three-game sweep of the Twins, and the club’s sixth straight win, the best start ever by a Mariners team.
• It was the worst of times, 1991 - The Mariners jump to a 5-0 lead in the second inning versus nemesis Dave Stewart and the Oakland A’s, but cannot hold the lead. Mark McGwire’s bottom of the ninth-inning, RBI single beats the Mariners, 7-6, dropping the Mariners to 0-6, the team’s worst-ever start.
• It was the Roeniest of times, 2014 - Roenis Elias allowed one run in 6.2 innings to earn his first Major League win in the Mariners 7-1 win at Texas. Mike Zunino went 2-for-4 with a home run. Seattle scored 6 runs in the top of the 6^th inning.