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Seattle Mariners

Mariners Pregame: Shipping up to Boston, lineups and starters

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo reacts as he leaves the game after being relieved against the Oakland Athletics on May 15, 2017, in Seattle. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

Game 49: The Seattle Mariners (21-27) face the Boston Red Sox (25-21) in the first of a three-game series on Friday at 4:10 p.m. at Fenway Park.

The M’s snapped a five-game losing streak on Thursday, beating the Washington Nationals 4-2 behind Ariel Miranda’s quality start. The lefty (4-2) allowed two runs on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts, while the big blow was a three-run home run by Nelson Cruz.

Boston has won four in a row and is 15-9 at Fenway this season. The Sox are in third place in the A.L. East, three games behind the New York Yankees and a half-game behind the Baltimore Orioles.

Injury update: LHP James Paxton will make a rehab appearance for the Arkansas Travelers against the Frisco RoughRiders. Paxton will be appearing in his first game since being placed on the disabled list on May 2 with a strained forearm. Overall this season, Paxton has posted a 3-0 record with a 1.43 ERA in six starts. He has struck out 45 while walking only 11 in 37 2/3 innings.

Transactions: The team announced that INF Mike Freeman and RHP Chris Heston were both claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Dodgers after being designated for assignment earlier in the week. Freeman hit .067 (2 for 30) in 16 games for the M’s this season while Heston was 0-1 with a 21.60 ERA in two games and one start. The 40-man roster is at 39 players after the transactions.

Lineups and starters

Courtesy @MarinersPR
Courtesy @MarinersPR

Starters: RHP Yovani Gallardo (2-4, 5.84) vs. LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (3-1, 3.10)

Mariners Notes

  • DH Nelson Cruz hit a 3-run homer yesterday in Washington DC, his 12th longball of the season. Cruz now has 296 career homers. He’s looking to become just the ninth active player with 300 career homers. Cruz has hit 19 career homers against the Red Sox, including eight in Fenway Park.
  • Among all active players (min: 120 plate appearances) Nelson Cruz and Robinson Canó rank second and third, respectively, in batting average in Fenway Park. Cruz is a career .353 hitter at Fenway with eight home runs, while Canó is a career .342 hitter with 14 home runs at the home of the Red Sox.
  • SS Jean Segura was 2 for 4 on Thursday with a walk. It was his 17th multi-hit effort of the season (in 36 games played). In his last 28 games played (since returning from the 10-day disabled list on April 25) he is batting .341 with 21 runs scored, eight doubles, three homers and 17 RBIs.
  • The Mariners are 8-18 in 26 road games this season and have lost 6 of 7 and 8 of last 11 away from Safeco.

This Day in Mariners Baseball

In 1995, After homering in the fifth inning Ken Griffey Jr. made a spectacular catch crashing into the outfield wall to rob Baltimore’s Kevin Bass. The result was two fractured bones in his left wrist. Junior underwent surgery the next day and was out until August 15.