Mariners GameDay Information — Sept. 28 vs. Texas

Game #154: Mariners (83–70) vs. Rangers (66–87) | First Pitch: 6:40 pm PT | T-Mobile Park

Starting Pitchers: RH George Kirby (7–4, 3.30) vs. LH Martín Pérez (12–6, 2.90)

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

TV: ROOT SPORTS

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

AS YOU KNOW…Cal Raleigh has 25 home runs and has accumulated 1.6 defensive Wins Above Replacement (Baseball-Reference) this season…he is the only catcher in the Majors with 20+ home runs and 1.5+ defensive WAR, but…DID YOU KNOW?…that Cal is 1 of just 4 catchers in Major League history to meet those criteria at the age of 25-or-younger?…the 25-year-old backstop joins Hall of Famers Johnny Bench-CIN (5x, 1969–73), Carlton Fisk-BOS (1973) and Mike Piazza-LAD (1993) as catchers with 25+ homers and 1.5+ defensive WAR in a season at the age of 25-or-younger.

TONIGHT’S TILT…the Mariners continue their final homestand of the regular season tonight with the 2nd of 3 games against the Texas Rangers (0–1)…the Mariners will also host the Oakland Athletics (3 G, 9/30–10/2) and Detroit Tigers (4 G, 10/3–10/5) on the 9-day, 10-game homestand…tonight’s game will be televised live on ROOT SPORTS with Aaron Goldsmith and Mike Blowers on the call and broadcast live on Seattle Sports (710 AM) with Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims.

ODDS AND ENDS…the Mariners dropped last night’s series opener to the Rangers by a 5–0 score…the Mariners are 14–12 in their last 26 games, 16–13 in their last 29, 21–16 in their last 37, 28–21 in their last 49, 46–28 in their last 74, 49–29 in their last 78, 54–31 in their last 85 and 62–41 in their last 103 games…Seattle is 67–17 (.798) when scoring at least 4 runs and 16–53 (.232) when scoring 3 or fewer runs this season…they are 39–33 at home and 44–37 in away games.

• Rodríguez Wins Baseball America’s 2022 MLB Rookie of the Year — Outfielder Julio Rodríguez is Baseball America’s 2022 MLB Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Mariner to ever win the award.
• Going For The Record — Cal Raleigh leads MLB catchers with 25 home runs this season…he is tied for the most homers hit by a Mariners catcher in a season with Mike Zunino, who hit 25 HR in 2017.

KIRBY SUPER STAR…George Kirby is 7–4 with a 3.30 ERA (44 ER, 120.0 IP) with 18 walks and 124 strikeouts in 23 starts this season…the right-hander has been the best rookie pitcher in the American League this season by fWAR (2.9), ranking ahead of Reid Detmers-LAA (2.0) and Joe Ryan-MIN (1.8)…Kirby also leads AL rookies in ERA (3.30), strikeouts-per-9 innings (9.30), walks-per-9 innings (1.35) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.89) among those with at least 100.0 innings pitched this season…Kirby has the 2nd-highest strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.89) through a pitcher’s first 23 career starts in Major League history, trailing only Roy Oswalt-HOU (7.60) from 2001–02.

JULIO RODRÍGUEZ: AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR FRONTRUNNER…Julio Rodríguez ranks among Major League rookie leaders in nearly every category this season…he ranks 1st in bWAR (5.7), 1st in fWAR (5.0), 1st in home runs (27), T2nd in runs (81), 2nd in RBI (73), 1st in total bases (251), 1st in slugging percentage (.502), 1st in wRC+ (143), 1st in OPS (.844), 1st in OPS+ (144), 3rd in hits (140), 2nd in times on base (188), 2nd in stolen bases (25) and 2nd in extra-base hits (54)…the Mariners are 73–55 (.570) when Julio is in the starting lineup and 10–15 (.400) when he is not…Rodríguez became the 3rd rookie in Major League history, and the 1st player in his debut season to reach 25+ home runs and 25+ stolen bases…Rodríguez also became the fastest player in Major League history (125 career games) to reach those feats, surpassing Mike Trout-LAA (128 career games).

GENO AMONG ELITE THIRD BASEMEN…Eugenio Suárez was reinstated from the 10-day Injured List yesterday…the third baseman leads the Mariners in home runs (31), RBI (84) and extra-base hits (56) this season…overall this season, Suárez has been among the best third basemen in the American League, ranking 1st in home runs (31), 4th in RBI (84), 4th in extra-base hits (56), 3rd in walks (72), 4th in total bases (240), 5th in slugging percentage (.467), and 3rd in bWAR (4.5).

TY GOES TO THE HITTER…Ty France reached base twice last night, going 1-for-3 with a walk…over his last 26 games since Aug. 28, he is batting .272 (28x103) with 17 runs, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 6 home runs, 19 RBI, 5 walks and 3 hit-by-pitches with a .534 slugging percentage and .855 OPS.

THE BULLPEN…the Mariners bullpen is 21–10 with 27 saves and a 2.72 ERA (86 ER, 284.2 IP) with 103 walks and 303 strikeouts over their last 85 games since June 21, leading the team to a 54–31 (.635) record in that span, 2nd-best record in the American League…during that stretch, Seattle relievers rank 1st in the AL in ERA (2.72), opp. batting average (.194), WHIP (1.04), hits-per-9 innings (6.13) and opponent OPS (.579)…overall this season, Seattle relievers rank 1st in the AL in opp. BA (.210), WHIP (1.10) and opp. on-base percentage (.284).

25 UNDER 25…Julio Rodríguez (27 home runs) and Cal Raleigh (25) are just the 2nd Mariners duo age 25-or-younger to hit 25+ home runs in a season, joining Jim Presley, who hit 27 home runs in his age-24 season, and Danny Tartabull, who hit 25 homers in his age-23 season, for the 1986 Mariners.

HE WENT TO JARRED…in 5 games since being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma, Jarred Kelenic is batting .316 (6x19) with 5 runs, 3 doubles, 1 home run, 2 RBI, 3 walks and a 1.041 OPS…he has reached base safely in each of the 5 games since his recall, hitting safely in 4 of 5.

THIS IS 50…the Mariners have 5 relievers with 50+ strikeouts out of the bullpen this season: Andrés Muñoz (92), Paul Sewald (67), Penn Murfee (67), Erik Swanson (62) and Matt Festa (59)…Diego Castillo (49) is 1 strikeout away from tying the franchise record of 6 pitchers, set in 2014: Danny Farquhar (81), Fernando Rodney (76), Dominic Leone (70), Tom Wilhelmsen (68), Yoervis Medina (60) and Charlie Furbush (51)…Seattle also had 5 relievers register 50+ strikeouts in 2013 and 2017.

POWER BATS…Seattle leads the American League in home runs (73) since Aug. 1, ranking T4th in the Majors in that span…Eugenio Suárez has 15 homers in that span, 2nd-most in the Majors behind Aaron Judge-NYY (18) since Aug. 1…Cal Raleigh (11 HR) ranks 6th in the AL in that span, while Carlos Santana (10) ranks T7th and Julio Rodríguez (9) ranks T15th.

BULLPEN BULLETS…Andrés Muñoz has 92 strikeouts this season, most among American League relievers…Paul Sewald over the last 2 seasons has the lowest WHIP (0.889) in Mariners history among pitchers with at least 100.0 innings pitched….Erik Swanson so far has the 6th-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.00) and 7th-best ERA (1.85) in a season in Mariners history (min. 40 IP)…Matt Brash has 39 strikeouts in 30 relief appearances this season…Brash’s 13.0 K-per-9 ranks 3rd among AL relievers (min. 25 IP) this season, trailing only James Karinchak-CLE (14.0) and teammate Andrés Muñoz (13.4).

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