Seattle Vs. Detroit
Ending a lengthy road skid could give the Seattle Mariners the momentum they need to play better at home. A visit from the Detroit Tigers also might help.
The Mariners hope to build on their latest victory when they open a three-game set with the Tigers on Monday night.
Brendan Ryan's two-run single in the seventh inning snapped a tie and helped Seattle (5-11) beat Kansas City 3-2 on Sunday, snapping a seven-game road losing streak. It was just the Mariners' third win in 14 games overall since opening the season with two victories at Oakland.
"I think I can safely speak for everybody we're not having fun right now," said Ryan, hitting .238 in his first season with the Mariners after four years in St. Louis. "I'm not having any fun. This is not how I wanted to start out the season, personally and as a team. We're going to get better. Hopefully things will start falling and start going our way, because they haven't."
Facing the Tigers (7-9) could give the Mariners some confidence as they try to improve on a 2-4 home record.
Detroit averaged 3.2 runs while going 1-4 at Seattle last season. The Tigers showed a similar lack of punch over the weekend, scoring three times total while dropping the final two of a four-game set in Oakland.
"Right now we're struggling offensively, and you can't say it's just the last two games," manager Jim Leyland told the Tigers' official website. "You don't just win games - you have to have a little mean streak in you."
Seattle is also struggling at the plate, totaling 15 runs in its last six games.
Scoring doesn't figure to get any easier for the Mariners against Detroit's Max Scherzer (2-0, 4.76 ERA), who takes the ball looking for a third straight solid outing and trying to continue his success against Seattle.
After allowing six runs off four homers in five innings of a 10-7 win at New York in his season debut, Scherzer has given up three total runs - and no home runs - over 12 innings in his last two starts. He yielded two of those runs and struck out seven in six innings but did not factor in the decision of a 3-2 win over Texas on Wednesday.
The right-hander has won both of his career starts against Seattle - both last season - while limiting the Mariners to three runs in 14 innings. He was on the mound for the Tigers' only win in the season series at Safeco Field, a 4-2 victory exactly one year ago Monday.
Batting a career-low .254 this season, Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki is 1 for 6 against Scherzer.
Plagued by tendinitis in his right Achilles', Detroit outfielder Magglio Ordonez is batting .214 and played only one game in Oakland. With two doubles and a home run in six at-bats against Seattle's scheduled starter Jason Vargas, Leyland would probably like to have Ordonez in the lineup Monday.
Vargas (0-1, 4.86) has allowed one run and five hits in 6 2-3 innings in two of his three starts, including Wednesday when the bullpen turned a late 2-1 lead into an 8-3 loss to Toronto. He has received four total runs of support in his three outings.
"I feel like I've gone out there enough and proven I can pitch," Vargas told the Mariners' official website. "I don't think it's something where I need to worry about my previous outing and feel like I have to put pressure on myself to throw a gem. It's just go out there every fifth day and do my best."
The left-hander was not at his best versus Detroit in 2010, going 0-1 in two starts while yielding eight runs and 15 hits in 9 1-3 innings.
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