Mariners GameDay — September 11 vs. Arizona

Game #142: Mariners (77–64) vs. Diamondbacks (45–96) | First Pitch: 6:10 pm PT | T-Mobile Park

Starting Pitchers: RHP Chris Flexen (11–5, 3.56) vs. RHP Humberto Castellanos (1–1, 3.65)

Radio: 710 ESPN and the Mariners Radio Network…also Mariners.com (for MLB.tv subscribers)

TV: The game will be televised in HD on ROOT SPORTS.

Live Stats: MLB Gameday (live box score with pitch-by-pitch data)

Starting Lineups: Starting lineups will be posted on MarinersMedia.com and Twitter when they become available

Pronunciations: Name pronunciations for the Mariners 40-man roster can be found on Mariners.com.

AS YOU KNOW…Casey Sadler and Drew Steckenrider both tossed scoreless relief appearances in last night’s 5–4 win…Sadler struck out the only batter he faced, stranding a baserunner while registering his 12th hold…Steckenrider struck out the side in order in the top of the 9th, shutting down the Diamondbacks en route to his 8th save this season, but…DID YOU KNOW?…that Sadler and Steckenrider own the 2 longest active scoreless innings streaks in the Majors?…Sadler has not allowed a run over his last 19 appearances since July 27, spanning 17.1 innings…Steckenrider has not allowed a run over his last 15 appearances since Aug. 6, spanning 17.1 innings.

TONIGHT’S TILT…the Mariners continue a 6-game homestand with the 2nd of 3 games against the Arizona Diamondbacks (1–0)…are coming off a 4–2 road trip at Arizona (3–0) and Houston (1–2)…the Mariners also welcome the Boston Red Sox (3 G, 9/13–9/15) to T-Mobile Park on the homestand…tonight’s game will be televised on ROOT SPORTS NW, as well as broadcast on 710 ESPN and the Mariners Radio Network.

ODDS AND ENDS…the Mariners defeated Arizona by a 5–4 score last night, winning their 2nd straight…have won 7 of their last 9 games and 8 of their last 11…are 18–9 over their last 27 games, 19–10 over their last 29, 21–15 over their last 36, 26–18 over their last 44, 32–22 over their last 54, 43–28 over their last 71, 46–29 over their last 75 and 56–38 over their last 94…are 31–20 in day games and 46–44 at night…are 41–29 at T-Mobile Park and 36–35 on the road…are 61–22 when scoring at least 4 runs and 16–42 when scoring 3 or fewer runs…are 49–9 when out-hitting their opponent.

• High Water Mark — Seattle (77–64) is a season-high 13 games above .500 for the 2nd time this season…they were also 13 games above .500 at 75–62 on Sept. 5…the last time the Mariners were 14+ games above .500 was when they closed the 2018 season with an 89–73 record.
• Series Record — The Mariners own a 15–7–2 series record since June 14, winning or splitting 17 of their last 24…the Mariners own a 23–17–5 overall series record this season.
• 21 Remain — Seattle has 21 games remaining in the regular season, including a combined 10 games against the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics.
• Interleague Play — Seattle is 9–9 in 18 games against National League clubs.

ONE-RUN KINGS…the Mariners improved to 30–17 (.638) in 1-run games this season…the 30 wins are most in the Majors, with New York-NL (27) ranking 2nd…Seattle’s 47 one-run games lead the American League and are tied for 3rd-most in MLB with Philadelphia, trailing New York-NL (56) and Atlanta (49)…the Mariners .638 winning percentage in 1-run games is 2nd-best in MLB to Los Angeles-AL (.688, 22–10).

NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS…Baseball-Reference pegs the Mariners playoff chances at 13.4 percent coming into play today…FanGraphs pegs the Mariners playoff chances at a season-high 9.5 percent…Seattle’s playoff chances have increased by 12.1 percent in the last 30 days via Baseball-Reference.

THE FRENCH QUARTER…Ty France leads American League first basemen with 1.8 Wins Above Replacement (FanGraphs) in the 2nd half of the season…his defense is graded as the best in the Majors this season by FanGraphs…his 7 defensive runs saved and 3.3 ultimate zone rating both lead AL first basemen…he committed his first error at first base this season in last night’s game, snapping an 84-game, 722.2-inning errorless streak at first base to begin the season.

YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE FRANCING…Ty France is batting .333 (67x201) in the 2nd half of the season with 33 runs scored, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 8 home runs, 24 RBI, 11 walks, 9 hit-by-pitches and has gotten on-base at a .392 clip, slugging .498 with an .889 OPS in that span…his .333 batting average ranks 2nd in the AL in the 2nd half to Nicky Lopez-KC (.339/63x186).

J.P. SETS CAREER-HIGH…J.P. Crawford hit a leadoff home run last night, his 3rd leadoff homer this season…he’s homered in back-to-back games, with last night being his 8th home run of the season which represents a career-high…Crawford has reached base safely in 10 consecutive games (8/30-c) and hit safely in 9 of his last 10…he’s batting .341 (14x41) with 10 runs, 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 7 RBI and 7 walks in that span, getting on-base at a .438 clip, slugging .537 with a .974 OPS.

CAN’T SPELL T-MOBILE WITHOUT ‘TOM’…Tom Murphy went 2-for-3 with a pair of home runs last night…it was Tom’s 5th career multi-homer game and his first since Aug. 19, 2019…in his last 11 games, Murphy is batting .321 (9x28) with a .474 on-base percentage, .536 slugging percentage and 1.009 OPS…10 of his 11 home runs this season have come at T-Mobile Park.

DOMINATE THE ZONE…since August 1, the Mariners pitching staff has the fewest walks (87) and lowest walks-per-9 innings (2.38) in the Majors…the 87 walks are 11 fewer than next-closest Oakland and St. Louis (98) in that span…in 36 games since August 1, Mariners pitchers are 21–15 with 13 saves and a 3.58 ERA (131 ER, 329.2 IP) with 87 walks and 276 strikeouts…the 3.58 ERA over that span ranks 5th in the Majors and 3rd in the American League, trailing Toronto (3.52) and New York (3.56).

COMING FOR THAT #1 SPOT…the Mariners have the 2nd-best bullpen in the Majors this season by FanGraphs WAR (6.8), trailing only Tampa Bay (7.1) and ranking ahead of New York-AL (6.3)…Seattle relievers are 39–24 with 42 saves and a 3.80 ERA (227 ER, 537.2) with 181 walks and 528 strikeouts this season…the bullpen’s 3.64 Fielding Independent Pitching also ranks 2nd in the Majors, trailing only Tampa Bay (3.57)…the 39 relief wins are tied for 4th-most in the Majors and rank 2nd in the AL to Tampa Bay (51).

CATCH 22…in 61 games since being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on June 15, Luis Torrens is batting .256 (50x195) with 25 runs, 9 doubles, 1 triple, 12 home runs, 34 RBI and 23 walks…he’s gotten on-base at a .333 clip, slugging .497 with an .831 OPS…he has a 128 wRC+ in that span.

THE HOT CORNER…Kyle Seager’s 34 home runs rank 5th in the AL and his 94 RBI are tied for 7th…his 18 home runs since the All-Star Break are 2nd-most to only Salvador Perez-KC (21)…Seager’s 44 RBI since the break rank 3rd in the AL to Perez (51) and Teoscar Hernández-TOR (46)…24 of Seager’s 40 hits (6 doubles, 18 home runs) since the break have gone for extra bases…Seager is on pace for 39 home runs and 108 RBI.

MITCH ON THE CUSP…Mitch Haniger has 299 career runs scored and 98 career doubles…he also has 96 runs scored this season, leading American League outfielders…with 4 more runs, Mitch would become the first Mariners outfielder to score 100 runs in a season since Ichiro Suzuki scored 103 in 2008.

PITCHES PER PLATE APPEARANCE…Seattle batters are averaging 4.00 pitches per plate appearance this season, 2nd-most in the Major Leagues…the New York Yankees lead MLB with 4.08 pitches per plate appearance…Detroit (3.97), San Francisco (3.97) and the Chicago White Sox (3.95) round out the top five.

STACKING THE WINNING MONTHS…the Mariners are 6–2 in September…they finished August with a 15–13 (.536) record, their 3rd straight winning month…the Mariners went 14–12 (.538) in June and 14–10 (.583) in July…Seattle last recorded 3 consecutive winning months from March/April-June 2017…this season, the Mariners have put together a winning record in 4 of 5 months…they went 15–12 (.556) in April and 13–15 (.464) in May…the Mariners have put together a winning record in 5 of their last 6 months, going 12–11 (.522) in Sept. 2020.