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Red-hot Rangers host Mariners Monday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 8/29/2016  at  11:41:00 AM
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SEATTLE MARINERS (68-62)

at TEXAS RANGERS (77-54)

First pitch: Monday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Seattle +160, Texas -170, Total: N/A

The Rangers will be looking to win their third straight game when they host the Mariners on Monday.

Seattle has been struggling mightily recently, losing two straight games and five of its past six. The Mariners have been hoping to earn one of the two AL Wild Card spots, but they must start to string some wins together soon. Texas, meanwhile, is looking like a serious World Series contender at the moment. The Rangers have rattled off eight wins in their past 12 games and are hoping to win yet another series in this three-game set against the Mariners. The starters in this contest are set to be RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (14-9, 3.81 ERA, 118 K) for Seattle and RHP Yu Darvish (4-3, 2.91 ERA, 81 K) for Texas. Iwakuma being on the mound is good news for the Mariners, as the team is 21-8 against the money line when he is pitching in a game where the total is 8 to 8.5 since 1997. The Rangers, however, are also going to be extremely confident coming into this one. They are 75-49 against the money line in games played on grass this season and also 58-37 against the money line against right-handed starters as well.

The Mariners are not playing well at the moment and they’ll send Iwakuma to the mound to end their struggles on Monday. The righty has pitched very well for Seattle recently, allowing three or fewer earned runs in eight of his past 10 starts. He allowed no earned runs in three of those outings as well. One thing Iwakuma will need to do in this game is miss a few more bats. Although he pitches well to contact, Iwakuma has only struck out seven batters total in the past three games. That is not a very good number and he is making it far too easy on hitters to get a piece of his pitches. Offensively, two guys to look out for in this game are 3B Kyle Seager (.290, 24 HR, 83 RBI) and OF Seth Smith (.257, 11 HR, 49 RBI). Both guys have done very well against Darvish in their careers, as they are a combined 14-for-40 with seven doubles and 10 RBI against him in his career. Nine of those hits and four of those doubles came from Seager, so he is somebody that will really be looking to get out there on Monday.

Yu Darvish has been extremely productive since coming back for the Rangers this season, as he has allowed three or fewer earned runs in all 11 of his starts this year. In his only appearance against this Mariners team, Darvish allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings of work on Jun. 3. The Rangers would certainly like him to work deeper into this game, but they won’t complain if he is to shut the Mariners down for a shorter span. Darvish is, however, capable of throwing over 100 pitches at this point in the season and should be able to get to at least the sixth inning in this one. A few guys in this Rangers lineup are going to have this game circled, as there are a couple of guys that have hit Iwakuma well in their careers. Those players include 3B Adrian Beltre (.287, 23 HR, 84 RBI), OF Carlos Beltran (.221, 9 HR, 29 RBI) and 2B Rougned Odor (.271, 24 HR, 64 RBI). The three of them have combined to go 24-for-75 with five doubles, four homers and eight RBI against him. It’d be big if the three of them can come through for Texas on Monday night.


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