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Seattle Mariners

Mariners Pregame: M’s look for sweep of road-weary Twins, lineups and starters

Seattle Mariners’ Mike Zunino points toward the stands as he scores on his home run in the third inning on June 7, 2017, in Seattle. The Mariners won 6-5 on Zunino’s walk-off homer. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

Game 61: The Seattle Mariners (30-30) host the Minnesota Twins (29-26) in the last of a three-game series at 7:10 p.m. at Safeco Field.

The M’s used a walk-off home run by Mike Zunino – his second of the game – to take the second game of the series 6-5 on Wednesday.

Since returning from AAA-Tacoma on May 23, Zunino is hitting .326/.360/.674 with four doubles, four home runs and 15 RBIs in 13 games.

Seattle has won nine of its last 10 and a season-high five straight games. It is the Mariners first five-game winning streak since an eight-game streak from Sept. 7-14, 2016. Seattle has had three four-game winning streaks this season.

Starters and lineup

Courtesy @MarinersPR
Courtesy @MarinersPR

Starters: RHP Christian Bergman (3-2, 4.36) vs. RHP Kyle Gibson (2-4, 7.23)

Mariners Notes

  • C Mike Zunino’s two-run walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning last night, his second of the game, gave the Mariners a 6–5 win over the Twins. Zunino is the fifth Seattle catcher to hit a walkoff home run, joining Donnie Scott (1985), Scott Bradley (1988), Tom Lampkin (1999 ), and Chris Iannetta (2016).
  • RHP Nick Vincent has held opponents scoreless in 21 of his last 22 appearances, including tossing 7.0 scoreless innings over his last 9 games.
  • OF Ben Gamel has hit safely in a career-high 10 consecutive games, batting .410 over the stretch.
  • DH Nelson Cruz has hit 14 home runs this season, and now has 298 career homers He’s looking to become just the ninth active player with 300 career homers

This Day in Mariners History

In 2009, M’s select OF Dustin Ackley from the University of North Carolina with the second overall pick in the First Year Player Draft. Ackley was the M’s highest overall selection since Alex Rodriguez was chosen first overall in 1993.