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Seattle Mariners

Mariners Pregame: Trouble at closing time, lineups and starters

Seattle Mariners’ Nelson Cruz rounds the bases on his solo home run during the first inning against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, May 16, 2017, in Seattle. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

Game 41: The Seattle Mariners (18-22) host the Oakland Athletics (17-22) at 7:10 p.m. in the finale of a three-game series at Safeco Field.

The M’s got an eighth-inning homer from Kyle Seager to break a late-game tie, but Steve Cishek and Marc Rzepczynski both allowed home runs in the ninth and the M’s fell to the A’s 9-6 on Tuesday.

Cishek and Rzepczynski both failed to get the job done, but both also allowed their taters to opposite-handed hitters. With Edwin Diaz now relieved of the closer role for the time being, manager Scott Servais is going to have to pick-and-choose with his relievers.

That may mean playing matchup in the ninth instead of trying to rely on one guy to come in for three outs, like he did with Cishek on Tuesday in the veteran’s second appearance since being activated from the disabled list.

As for the rotation, Servais will turn to Sam Gaviglio for Thursday’s series opener against the Chicago White Sox. It will be the righties’ second big league appearance and first start. Gaviglio becomes the 10th starter the Mariners have used this season, which will lead MLB. The Mariners have had 11 seasons in their history when they haven’t used as many as 10 starting pitchers.

Transaction: The M’s recalled RHP Casey Lawrence from AAA Tacoma and optioned RHP Chase De Jong to Tacoma.

Lawrence, 29, made one relief appearance with Tacoma after being claimed off waivers from Toronto on May 11. He allowed one run on one hit while striking out one in one inning. Prior to being designated for assignment on May 8, he went 0-3 with an 8.78 ERA (13 ER, 13 1/3 innings) with seven strikeouts and 11 walks in four games (two starts) with Toronto.

Lineups and starters

Courtesy @MarinersPR
Courtesy @MarinersPR

Starters: RHP Christian Bergman (0-1, 4.15) vs. RHP Jesse Hahn (1-2, 2.74)

Mariners Notes

  • SS Jean Segura has a hit in 15 consecutive games entering play tonight, the four4th longest streak by a Mariners shortstop in team history? A hit on Wednesday would match the third longest streak by a Mariners SS. Yuniesky Betancourt (2007) and Alex Rodriguez (1996) each hit in 20 straight games for the club record.
  • The Mariners have scored first in 18 (9-9) of their last 24 games, dating back to April 20.
  • Mark Canha’s home run off Marc Rzepczynski on Tuesday marked the first homer Rzepczynski had allowed to a right-handed batter since Sept. 4, 2015.
  • DH Nelson Cruz has reached base safely in 16 of 17 games at home this season, including recording at least one hit in 15 games. Overall he is batting .358 with eight walks in 17 games at Safeco Field this season.

This Day in Mariners History

In 1993, Mike Blowers became the 13th-player in Major League history to hit grand slam home runs in two consecutive games. He hit the first off Bobby Witt at Oakland May 16 and the second off Criag Lefferts May 17 at Texas.