Hisashi Iwakuma (0-2, 7.17 ERA) and the Seattle Mariners (38-45) meet Kyle Ryan (1-2, 4.55 ERA) and the Detroit Tigers (42-40) in the second of a three-game series at Safeco Field. The Tigers won the last game 12-5 and Detroit leads the series 1-0. The game gets underway at 10:10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Jul. 7 and will air on FSN-DET and ROOT-NW.
Iwakuma is 1-2 with a 3.54 ERA against the Tigers in his career, and faces a solid Detroit offense that’s hitting .281 on the year. Seth Smith (.258, 27 Rs, 7 HRs, 22 RBIs) went 1 for 3 yesterday with two runs. The Tigers were unsuccessful the last time Ryan pitched. He tossed, going 4.0 innings, allowing two runs, striking out four and walking five in an 8-4 loss to the Pirates. Miguel Cabrera (.350, 43 Rs, 15 HRs, 54 RBIs, 1 SB) has been doing well offensively for the Tigers, going 2 for 2 yesterday with one RBI.
Seattle is a -145 favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is seven runs. The Mariners are 20-28 as the favorite and have an overall money line of -1,145. They have a winless record (0-3) in games played as the favorite during their last 10 games. Over their past 10 games, Seattle’s pitchers have been playing lights out, only allowing 2.8 runs per game, below their season average of 3.9.
Switching gears, the Tigers come into this game with a win percentage of .429 when playing as the underdog (15-20) and an overall money line of -219. Over the last 10 games, they were winless as the underdog with a 0-4 record and 4-6 SU. Detroit is the top hitting team in the AL with an average of 9.7 hits per contest. The last 10 games have really brought the worst out of the Detroit pitchers. They allowed 6.5 runs per game during that span, which is higher than their season average of 4.6.
So far this season, the Tigers are 1-0 against the Mariners. The Mariners will take on a left-hander (Ryan) in this game and have a 7-10 record against left-handed starting pitchers this season. The right-handed Iwakuma will take the mound against the Tigers, who have a 30-32 record against righty starters this season.
Predictions: SU Winner – DET, O/U – Under
Notes
The Mariners are 4-6 in games that go into extra innings. Meanwhile, the Tigers are 3-5 in such matchups.
The Tigers are coming into this meeting after a high-scoring game where they scored an impressive 12 runs. The Mariners have a 0-3 record when opponents score that many runs or more.
When they outhit their opponents, the Mariners are 21-13. The Tigers have a 36-10 record when outhitting opponents.
Ranking 29th, Seattle is near the bottom of the league in runs, scoring 283 this season. Detroit ranks in the top 10 at seventh with 371.
Ranking 18th, Seattle is in the bottom half of the league in walks, notching 226 this season. Detroit ranks in the top half at 14th with 241.
The Mariners are 31-20 when they hit at least one home run. The Tigers perform similarly when they hit one or more homers with a 31-17 record.
