Mariners Game #67 Preview: 6/9/24, SEA at KC

After losing the first two games of this series in soul-crushing and regular-crushing ways, the Mariners look to avoid getting swept today at the hands of the Royals. Unfortunately, the Royals are sending their ace Cole Ragans to the hill, and the Mariners are sending...well, the same offense out, with a key difference. Brace yourselves, this one could be brutal.

Lineups:

Look at the text on this graphic, everyone just wants this to be over with. Not even a mention of Locklear making his MLB debut? The least we get to get excited over is a debut!

News:

If you’re asking yourself “wait, who is Locklear,” fair question. You’ll probably have also noticed there’s no Ty France in the lineup. France has a slight hairline fracture in his heel and is headed to the IL. 1B Tyler Locklear has been summoned from Tacoma to take his place, making his MLB debut after a brief stay in the minors that could have been even shorter if he hadn’t gotten hit by a pitch in 2023 and missed significant time with a broken wrist. The Mariners also selected RHP Matt Bowman from Tacoma, and optioned Collin Snider back to Triple-A. To make room for Locklear and Bowman on the 40, RHPs Levi Stoudt and Eduardo Salazar were both DFA’d.

Game information:

Game time: 11:10 PT

TV: ROOT Sports NW, with Mike Blowers and Aaron Goldsmith

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Dave Sims

Today in Mariners history:

• 1979: “Willie Horton Night” honors the Mariners DH who belted his 300^th career home run June 6^th, the 43^rd player to reach that milestone. A crowd of 40,314 was in the Kingdome.
• 1990: Ken Griffey Jr. hits the third-deck façade in RF (478’) at Coors Field to tie for the sixth-longest home run in Coors history.
• 2014: Félix Hernández earns American League Pitcher of the Week (June 1 - June 8) for the second time in his career. Hernández went 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA, one walk and 23 strikeouts in 14.0 innings over two starts.