Pitchers: Francisco Liriano (6-9, 4.96) hooks up with Felix Hernandez (4-4, 3.23). Frankie has been pretty solid in his last three or four outings, and hopefully has placed the first half blahs in his rear view mirror. He's 2-1, 3.57 in four starts this month with eight walks and 23 K in 22-2/3 IP. Francisco is 6-2 , 2.61, .194 OBA against the Mariners but hasn't seen them since 2011. King Felix is making his second start after missing some time with a calf strain. He's lost a foot or two of his heater (90 MPH) and plays around the edges more - his K rate is at its lowest (7) and walk rate its highest (3.6) per game in his career - but he still features the same five pitch toolkit, and his sinker is getting a 53% ground ball rate, so he's still effective. Hernandez is 2-0, 1.17 in three career starts against Pittsburgh but hasn't faced them since 2013. We're looking forward to some sweet slinging tonight.
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| Frankie looks to continue his roll (photo USA Today) |
Lineup: JJ 1B, Gregory Polanco RF, Cutch CF, Starling Marte LF, Jung Ho Kang 3B, Fran C, Adam Frazier 2B, Jordy SS, Frankie P. Josh gets another off day; he's hitting .202 in June/July. JHK gets the start at third though he's hitting .179 for July (Of course, Freeser is 0-for-21 with 11 strikeouts against Hernandez). For that matter, Andrew is 4-for-25 with six strikeouts in his last six games.
Preview: The Mariners are 50-48, won 5-of-8 and 25-25 on the road. The Bucs are 51-47, on a 5-2 roll and 28-22 at home. It's a pretty even series by the numbers.
- Eric Fryer is back from paternity leave, so Elias Diaz is on his way back to Indy.
- Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports posted a piece on Ryan Vogelsong and his beaning, throwing a little shade at Jordan Lyle.
- The Orioles signed 34-year-old lefty Tom Gorzelanny to a minor league deal.
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