Seattle @ Texas preview
Globe Life Field
Last Meeting ( Mar 20, 2021 ) Seattle 5, Texas 6
Kyle Seager is a believer in the law of averages.
Which means the Seattle Mariners' offense is due for a turnaround.
The Mariners, who open a three-game series Friday at Texas, saw their team batting average drop to a major league low .201 after being no-hit Wednesday by Baltimore's John Means.
"We're still winning ballgames so you know the offense will come around," the veteran third baseman Seager said. "It's not a great start, but you know you can flip that as well. ... (Former teammate Robinson) Cano used to talk about it all the time -- you look up at the end of the year, your numbers will be where they're supposed to be."
The only Mariners player who finished Wednesday's game with a batting average above .250 was leadoff hitter Mitch Haniger (.254). Second baseman Dylan Moore (.129), first baseman Evan White (.140) and catcher Tom Murphy (.141) all are batting less than .150.
Means would've thrown the 22nd perfect game in the major leagues' modern era if not for a wild pitch on a third strike in the third inning that allowed Seattle's Sam Haggerty to reach base.
"I'm confident in our guys, but we're in one of those stretches right now and then when you run up against a hot pitcher like that (Means). ... He just dominated us," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "The guys that have been driving the train here (Haniger, Ty France), they have slowed down a little bit and the other guys at the bottom (of the lineup) haven't been able to get much going, either."
Means threw first-pitch strikes to 26 of the 27 batters he faced.
"You're constantly battling, battling and being in bad counts all the time," Servais said. "We've got to get back to doing what we do well, get into our strengths. If you like the ball in, hunt the ball in. We need to get the ball down. There's no question about that. You're going to have streaks like this. We're in a little funk right now but I do feel very confident we will come out of this."
The Mariners hope to fare better Friday against Rangers right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (1-3, 4.32 ERA). After a rough first few appearances of the season, Foltynewicz is 1-0 with a 3.12 ERA over his past three starts. But he's 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA in three career appearances against Seattle, including one start.
The Mariners, with starters Marco Gonzales and Nick Margevicius as well as reliever Keynan Middleton on the 10-day injured list, haven't yet announced their rotation for the series at Globe Life Field.
While the Mariners had a day off Thursday, the Rangers defeated host Minnesota 4-3 in 10 innings to take three of four games in the series.
The Rangers improved to 4-0 in extra innings this season with their ninth come-from-behind victory.
"Honestly, I think we're all really close with each other, and I feel like that plays a big part when you believe in one another," said Willie Calhoun, who drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the 10th. "No matter what situation, we're all really comfortable with each other. I just feel like coming together as a team and being able to do that at this level is pretty special, and it speaks for itself."
--Field Level Media