Mariners GameDay — April 17 vs. Houston

Game #10: Mariners (4–5) vs. Astros (5–3) | First Pitch: 1:10 pm PT | T-Mobile Park

Starting Pitchers: RH Matt Brash (0–1, 3.38) vs. RH José Urquidy (1–0, 1.80)

Radio: Seattle Sports (710 AM) and Mariners.com

TV: ROOT SPORTS

Live Stats: MLB Gameday (live box score with pitch-by-pitch data)

Starting Lineups: Starting lineups will be posted on MarinersMedia.com and Twitter when they become available

Pronunciations: Name pronunciations for the Mariners 40-man roster can be found on Mariners.com.

AS YOU KNOW…Matt Brash takes the mound for Seattle today…it will be his second career Major League start and his first at T-Mobile Park…he made his Major League debut on April 12 at Chicago-AL (L, 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 1 HR on 85 pitches (58 strikes), but…DID YOU KNOW?…that Brash is the 15th Canadian-born player to appear in a game for the Mariners?…the 15 ranks 4th-most in the Majors since the Mariners became a franchise in 1977, ranking behind Toronto (28), Washington (16) and Philadelphia (16)…the 15 players are Andrew Albers, Jason Bay, Erik Bedard, Brash, Rob Ducey, Mike Gardiner, Dave Pagan, James Paxton, Ryan Radmanovich, Michael Saunders, Steve Sinclair, Paul Spoljaric, Abraham Toro, Dave Wainhouse and Jordan Zimmerman.

TODAY’S TILT…the Mariners continue their first homestand of the season today with the last of 3 games against the Houston Astros (1–1)…following an off day tomorrow, Seattle will also host the Texas Rangers (3 G; 4/19–4/21) and the Kansas City Royals (3 G; 4/22–4/24) during the opening homestand…the Mariners are coming off a 3–4 road trip to Minnesota (2–2) and Chicago-AL (1–2) to start the season…today’s game will be televised live on ROOT SPORTS with Dave Sims and Mike Blowers on the call…the game will also be broadcast live on Seattle Sports (710 AM) with Rick Rizzs and Aaron Goldsmith.

ODDS AND ENDS…the Mariners dropped last night’s middle game by a 4–0 score after winning Friday’s opener by an 11–1 score…Seattle has a chance to win its first series of the season in today’s rubber match against Houston…the Mariners went 11–9 in rubber games during the 2021 season.

• Hoppy Easter — Seattle is 13–9 (.591) on Easter…today marks the club’s first game on Easter since April 21, 2019 at LAA (L 6–8) after not playing on Easter in 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic) or 2021 (scheduled off day)…it will be the Mariners first home game on Easter since April 1, 2018 vs. CLE (W 5–4).
• The Blues — The Mariners went 6–4 in their Sunday Cream uniforms in 2021.
• Feast or Famine — Seattle has homered in 7 of 9 games this season and have been shut out in the other 2 contests…the Mariners have been shut out twice over their last 6 games after going 100 consecutive games (6/12/21–4/10/22) without being shut out, the 3rd-longest streak in franchise history.

ROSTER MOVES…yesterday the Mariners recalled INF Donovan Walton from Triple-A Tacoma and placed OF Mitch Haniger on the Injured List…the Mariners also acquired RHP Riley O’Brien from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations…O’Brien was born in Seattle and attended Shoreline High School…the right-hander has made 1 Major League appearance, starting for the Reds on Sept. 28, 2021 at the Chicago White Sox.

I WALK FOR MILES…the Mariners lead the American League in drawing walks (39) as an offense…Baltimore has the 2nd-most walks (37) and Detroit has the 3rd-most (32) in the AL…Jesse Winker leads the AL in walks (10) and is tied for 2nd in the Majors.

IN A FRANCE TRANCE…Ty France went 2-for-4 last night, the sole Mariners player to reach base safely multiple times in the game…since Aug. 1, 2021, France has the highest on-base percentage (.392) in the American League among players with at least 200 plate appearances in that span…he is batting .308 (78x253) over that time frame, which spans 66 games.

GETTING ON-BASE HALF THE TIME…J.P. Crawford has reached base safely in each of the Mariners 9 games this season…overall this season, J.P. is batting .379 (11x29) with 5 runs scored, 3 doubles, 1 RBI, 4 walks, 1 stolen base, 3 hit-by-pitches, a .500 on-base percentage and a .483 slugging percentage (.983 OPS)…among American League leaders, J.P. ranks T6th in hits (11), 6th in batting average (.379) and T5th in on-base percentage (.500).

PICKING UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF…in 9 games this season, the Mariners bullpen is 1–0 with 2 saves and a 2.79 ERA (9 ER, 29.0 IP) with 17 hits allowed, 9 walks and 37 strikeouts…Seattle relievers have allowed opponents to hit just .165 (17x103)…Matt Festa leads the bullpen in appearances (4), Erik Swanson leads in innings pitched (4.1), Festa and Andrés Muñoz share the lead in strikeouts (8), while Drew Steckenrider and Diego Castillo have each registered a save…Muñoz, Steckenrider, Anthony Misiewicz, Sergio Romo and Paul Sewald have each recorded a hold.

ANDRÉS THE GIANT…right-hander Andrés Muñoz has made 3 relief appearances for the Mariners this season, going 1–0 with 1 hold and a 6.00 ERA (2 ER, 3.0 IP) with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts…in his last appearance on April 14 at Chicago-AL (HLD, 1.0 IP, 3 SO), he registered the 2 fastest pitches in Mariners history (since 2015 via Statcast)…Muñoz threw pitches with speeds of 102.5 and 102.8 mph, surpassing the previous-high of 102.2 mph thrown by both Edwin Díaz (Aug. 8, 2016) and Arquimedes Caminero (Sept. 16, 2016)…Muñoz has struck out each of the last 8 batters he’s faced.