Texas @ Seattle preview
T-Mobile Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 3, 2010 ) Texas 2, Seattle 3
The Seattle Mariners ended their seven-game losing streak Tuesday in a return to Safeco Field.
Now Mariners right-hander Doug Fister will try to end an even longer drought when he faces the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night in the second of a three-game series.
Before Tuesday’s game, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu got a vote of confidence from general manager Jack Zduriencik. The Mariners (40-67) boosted it with a 3-2 victory over the Rangers, who still lead the American League West by eight games.
Fister would love to follow suit. The 6-foot-8 California native is just 3-7 but has been respectable in almost every game and has a 3.57 ERA. He has fallen victim to what almost every Seattle starter must overcome: lack of run support.
Still, Fister has not won since May 14 at Tampa Bay, going 0-6 with a 5.03 ERA in 10 starts. He last won at Safeco Field on April 19, a stretch of 15 starts.
Fister, who was on the 15-day disabled list for a fatigued shoulder and missed almost all of June, pitched better in his last outing Friday against Minnesota, when three of his five runs were unearned in the 5-3 loss.
Wakamatsu called it Fister’s best outing since coming back from the DL in late June.
Texas will start left-hander C.J. Wilson (10-5, 3.11), who is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in two starts against Seattle this season and 3-0 with a 1.77 ERA since the All-Star break.
He and Fister had a spirited duel on May 2 at Safeco. Fister threw eight scoreless innings of three-hit ball and Wilson allowed just one hit in seven innings. The Rangers sent the game into extra innings in the ninth and won 3-1 in 11 innings.
Texas right fielder Josh Hamilton returned to the lineup Tuesday night. He had missed two games after getting a cortisone shot for pain in his right knee. Hamilton, who leads the majors with a .358 average, was 0-for-4, snapping an eight-game hitting streak.
Vladimir Guerrero was not in the starting lineup for the Rangers on Tuesday, although he made the last out as a pinch-hitter. He has put up monstrous numbers at Safeco Field, hitting .358 with 13 homers and 44 RBIs in 50 career games.
Seattle third baseman Jose Lopez (strained left hamstring) is expected to return for tonight’s game.
The Mariners got bad news, however, on Ontario native Erik Bedard. The left-hander will have surgery on his throwing shoulder Friday, the third consecutive year his season has ended with shoulder surgery. He never threw a pitch this season.