Former Mariners All-Star Taking Mound on Critical Day in American League West Race
The Seattle Mariners enter play on Saturday at 4.0 games back of the Houston Astros in the American League West race. They are also 4.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins in the battle for the American League wild card.
If the M's are going to gain ground on Saturday, they'll obviously need to win against the Los Angeles Angels, but they'll also need some help from the Kansas City Royals - who are playing Houston.
The Royals have lost each of the first two games against the Astros in this series, but there are two more chances this weekend for them to help the M's out. The M's would love to trim the division deficit to three games by Sept. 1, which is Sunday.
And if they are going to do that, they are going to need the Royals to get to former Mariners All-Star Yusei Kikuchi, who is on the mound for Houston.
The 33-year-old from Japan was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Astros at the trade deadline this summer. He's 6-9 overall with a 4.39 ERA, but he's been excellent since getting to the Astros. He's gone 5.2 innings in each of his last three starts with the Astros and has only allowed more than one earned run once.
Kikuchi made the All-Star team as a member of the Mariners back in 2021, but he was extremely inconsistent and didn't even finish the year in the starting rotation as the M's missed the playoffs on the final weekend of the season.
The Astros and Royals will play at 5:10 p.m. PT while the Mariners will play the Angels at 6:38 p.m. PT.
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