Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images. Pictured: Shohei Ohtani.
Mariners vs. Angels Odds
| Mariners Odds | +145 |
| Angels Odds | -175 |
| Over/Under | N/A |
| Time | Friday, 9:38 p.m. ET |
| TV | MLB.TV |
| Odds as of Friday and via BetMGM | |
Can anyone stop the Mariners? The Angels tried, and failed on Thursday night and will give it another go here at home against their division rivals. With an injury to Justin Dunn, could Seattle be susceptible to a loss here, which has been uncommon lately?
Let’s see if we can find some value here in the numbers.
_BookPromo=19
Seattle Mariners
Coming off a big win in the opening game of this series, Seattle has now won eight of 11 and stands to improve its chances in the division with another win here, which would get them over .500 on the year.
Taylor Trammell is back in the majors, Ty France is healthy and this team is absolutely rolling on offense despite Jarred Kelenic hitting just .107. The Mariners have ranked right around league average in wRC+ over the past two weeks and stand slightly above average at 108 over the last seven days. That’s on the back of nine home runs over that span, as the rest of their numbers look pretty unspectacular.
What’s carried the Mariners on this run is pitching. Friday could be the first time they really face adversity in that department, though, without Justin Dunn healthy to start.
Instead, Robert Dugger and his 6.23 ERA will serve as the opener with left-hander Hector Santiago right behind him. Santiago, if you recall, was the driving force behind one of the few Seattle losses lately, allowing three runs over 2 2/3 innings in relief of Marco Gonzales in a 12-6 loss to the A’s on Tuesday.
This Mariners bullpen has been a real problem over the past two weeks with a 5.71 ERA, but perhaps there’s some hope with a 3.11 FIP behind it. All season long, generally speaking, the relievers for the Mariners have been fine, and they’re also still without Drew Steckenrider, who’s on the COVID-19 list.
Los Angeles Angels
Below the Mariners in fourth place out in the AL West, six games under .500, are the Angels.
Los Angeles has fallen on hard times with Mike Trout’s injury, hitting .231 as a team over the past two weeks. This lineup is simply putting together bad at-bats, walking just 7.6% of the time and striking out at nearly a 25% clip. The Angels are chasing the 12th-most pitches out of the zone, which is partly to do with that.
Still, we know this lineup has talent, and all that’s normally required when Shohei Ohtani pitches is a couple of runs. The two-way sensation is coming off a strange outing against the A’s that saw him go five scoreless but wound up exiting after being charged with three earned runs after giving up one in the sixth and two in the seventh.
As it stands, that was Ohtani’s only loss of the year, and he’s trying to pick up where he left off in May, when he posted a 2.38 ERA.
Ohtani could pose problems for the Mariners, who are ninth in swinging strike rate over the last two weeks. His whiff rate currently ranks among the top 8% in baseball and his 32.5% strikeout rate isn’t far behind in the top 11%.
Mariners-Angels Pick
This doesn’t exactly profile as a great matchup for the Mariners offense, which is the second-worst fastball hitting team this year and having issues chasing pitches out of the zone. Ohtani should be pretty effective here, and leave enough time for the Angels offense to get to the Mariners bullpen.
While the peripherals are good, this Angels offense is too talented and has been just good enough lately to take advantage. Seattle has been able to rely on its pitching over the course of this run, but with a bullpen game on tap I don’t think this is in the cards.
I’ll back the Halos in the first five innings, during which Ohtani has thrived this season.
Pick: Angels First Five Innings -0.5 (-120)
_BookPromo=351