Seattle @ Minnesota preview
Target Field
Last Meeting ( Jul 31, 2010 ) Seattle 0, Minnesota 4
The Seattle Mariners will be glad to turn the calendar on a miserable July and try to avoid their seventh consecutive loss in Sunday afternoon’s series finale against the Minnesota Twins.
While much has been made of Minnesota’s major league-leading batting average (.283), the Twins’ starting pitching has been nothing short of dominant. Twins starters are 9-0 with a 1.38 ERA during that span.
Minnesota is riding a season-best seven-game winning streak into today’s game.
Left-hander Francisco Liriano (9-7, 3.35 ERA) tries to continue his team’s success against Seattle’s Luke French (0-1, 6.39).
Liriano is 3-0 and has allowed just two runs and struck out 22 in 21 2/3 innings since the All-Star break. He has not allowed a run in 14 innings and gave up three hits in seven innings of a 19-1 rout of Kansas City on Monday.
In eight starts against Seattle, Liriano is 4-2 with a 3.19 ERA. He allowed three runs in six innings of a 5-4 victory at Seattle on May 31.
The Mariners lost their sixth consecutive game Saturday night, falling to Minnesota 4-0 as Kevin Slowey allowed three hits in eight innings.
Seattle finished 6-22 in July, matching the franchise record for losses in a month set in August 1977.
There is speculation that manager Don Wakamatsu could be on thin ice, and he has not gotten a public endorsement from general manager Jack Zduriencik.
Seattle’s freefall has been felt on every level. Even leading hitter and 10-time All-Star Ichiro Suzuki has not been immune.
Suzuki struck out in three consecutive at-bats Saturday night for just the third time in his career. He finished July with a .246 average (28-for-114), marking the first time since September 2008 he has not hit at least .300 in a full calendar month. It was his lowest monthly batting average since August 2006, when he hit .233 (27-for-116).
The Mariners are besieged by trouble all around. They demoted first baseman Justin Smoak to Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday and placed Milton Bradley on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right knee.
Smoak is batting just .159 with five RBIs in 16 games for Seattle since being acquired as the centerpiece of the Cliff Lee trade with Texas on July 9.
French will be making his second start of the season and second career start against the Twins.
He allowed two runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings against Minnesota on July 3, 2009, when he was with Detroit.
The left-hander gave up four runs in four innings June 14 against St. Louis. He allowed one run on three hits in three innings of relief July 9 against the New York Yankees.
Minnesota did not escape Saturday night unscathed. Catcher Joe Mauer is expected to be out a couple of games after getting a cortisone shot in his right shoulder after the game. He has had tendinitis in the shoulder since taking a foul tip off it early last month, but he still hit .344 in July.