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AS YOU KNOW…Julio Rodriguez leads the Mariners this season with 24 stolen bases, followed by Dylan Moore (15) and Sam Haggerty (11), and…AS YOU MIGHT KNOW…Haggerty leads the Mariners with a .841 OPS (min. 100 PA), just ahead of Rodríguez (.814), but…DID YOU KNOW?…Haggerty and Rodriguez are 1 of only 3 sets of teammates in MLB with OPS over .800 each and 10+ bases stolen this season?… Julio and Sam are joined by José Ramírez and Andrés Giménez of the Guardians and Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers.

TILT TODAY…the Mariners continue an 8-game, 10-day homestand (2-3) tonight with the 3-game final against the Atlanta Braves (1-1) … after tomorrow’s day off, the Mariners welcome the San Diego Padres (2 G, 9-13-14) to T-Mobile Park…they opened the homestand with a 3-game set against the Chicago White Sox (1-2)…today’s game goes live broadcast on CARROT SPORTS of Dave Sims and Mariners Hall of Famer Dan Wilson during the call and broadcast live on Seattle Sports (710 AM) of Aaron Goldsmith and Gary Hill Jr.

ODDS AND END…the Mariners won last night’s game 3-1 to tie the series with the Braves (1-1)…the Mariners are 9-3 in their last 12 games, 11-4 in their last 15, 16-7 in their last 23, 23-12 in their last 35, 41-19 in their last 60, 44-20 in their last 64, 49-22 in their last 71 and 57-32 in their last 89 games… Seattle is 62-15 (.805) in scoring at least 4 points and 16-46 (.258) in scoring 3 or fewer points this season… they are 37-31 at home and 41-30 in away games.

  • seriously impressive — The Mariners have a 15-5-2 record in their last 22 series.
  • Rubber Matches — Seattle has an 8-8 record in 16 rubber games this season.
  • Decisions decisions — Since the beginning of the 2018 season, Marco Gonzales leads the Majors by 99 decisions, ahead of Gerrit Cole (97) and Patrick Corbin (97).
  • No Hit Wonder — Paul Sewald ranks 3rd in the Majors with a .130 opponent batting average (min. 40 IP), behind only Ryan Helsley-STL (1.26) and Jason Adam-TB (.128).

GARDEN WORK…Eugenio Suarez has tally 3 home runs in his last 3 games, and has 12 home runs in his last 36 games dating back to Aug 1…. in that period (8/1-c), his 12 home runs are 2nd in the Majors., only behind Aaron Judge-NYY (13)….generally since August 1, Geno hits .240 (30×125) with 22 runs scored, 4 doubles, 1 triple, 12 home runs, 28 RBI and 18 walks while on base reached on a .347 clip and slugging .576 with a .923 OPS… in that period (8/1-c), his .923 OPS ranks 4th among MLB third basemen, behind only Alex Bregman -HOU (1.053), Manny Machado-SD (1.009) and Nolan Arenado-STL (.976).

ROARING TWENTIES…the Mariners pitching staff has a 2.07 ERA (42 ER, 183.0 IP) over their last 20 games (8/19-c) with 37 walks and 171 strikeouts in that period, while keeping opponents on a .219 batting average keep…the Mariners 2.07 ERA is the second-lowest in any 20-game period in the American League this season, trailing only a 2.03 ERA by Houston from May 2–22… the 2.07 ERA is the 9th best over 20 games in Mariners club history, and best since August 1–23, 2014, when the club posted a 2.02 ERA over 20 games.

BOMBS AWAY…Sam Haggerty and Eugenio Suarez each checked in with a solo home run during last night’s game… the Mariners have hit multiple home runs in each of their last 3 games and 10 of their last 13 games dating back to August 27… the Mariners have hit 54 home runs in 36 games since August 1, the most in the American League in that period, ahead of the Angels (53) and behind only the Cardinals (64) and Dodgers (56) for the Major League lead.

J-ROD: ALREADY ROOKIE OF THE YEAR FRONTRUNNER…Julio Rodriguez went 2-for-4 with 1 double and 1 RBI in last night’s game…he hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games since Aug 30, hitting .341 (15×44) with 9 runs, 3 doubles, 2 homeruns , 4 RBI, 7 walks and 1 stolen base, while reaching base with a clip of .431 and knocking off .546 (.977 OPS) in that span… of the Major League rookies this season, he ranks 1st in bWAR (5.1), 1st in home runs (23), 1st in runs (74), 1st in total bases (228), 1st in multi-hit games (35), R1st in fWAR (4.3), 2nd in RBI (69 ), 2nd in hits (130) , 2nd in times on base (175), 2nd in stolen bases (24) and 2nd in extra basehits (49).

FOR STARTERS…Mariner’s starting pitchers are 10-2 with a 1.79 ERA (20 ER, 100.2 IP) with 10 walks and 95 strikeouts in 17 starts since Aug. 23, leading the Majors in ERA (1.79)… during that period, the Seattle-starters are tied for the Major League lead with Atlanta starters with a 0.89 WHIP… Seattle starters lead the Majors in walks per-9 innings (0.89) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.50) and surface OPS (.553).

CAL RALEIGH: SILVER AND GOLD?…Cal Raleigh leads Major League catchers with 23 home runs this season … the 25-year-old backstop among American League catchers this season ranks 1st in slugging percentage (0.483), 2nd in extra-base hits (42), 4th in RBI (54 ), 4th in total bases (156) and 4th in OPS (0.763)…Raleigh’s 23 home runs are the 2nd most by a Mariners catcher in a season in franchise history, behind only Mike Zunino (25 HR) in 2017.. Raleigh ranks 3rd AL catchers in defensive runs saved (14) via FanGraphs…he is the only MLB catcher to have more than 20 home runs and a defensive WAR of 1.0+ worth (Baseball Reference)…he is 1 of 7 MLB players to meet both criteria, along with Nolan Arenado-STL, Mookie Betts-LAD, Willy Adames-MIL, Marcus Semien-TEX, Christian Walker-ARI and Daulton Varsho-ARI.

LOS BOMBEROS…in 71 games since June 21, the Mariners bullpen is 18–8 with 26 saves and a 2.33 ERA (62 ER, 240.0 IP) with 83 walks and 255 strikeouts, taking the Mariners to an American League-best 49-22 record led during that stretch… during that period, the Mariners led MLB bullpens in ERA (2.33), opposing team batting average (.187), hits-per-9 innings (5.89) and inherited runners scored percentage (19.1) … Seattle has 5 relievers (Andres Munoz88; Paul Sewald66; Penn Murfee60; Erik Swanson55 & Matt Festa55) with 50+ strikeouts from the bullpen this season…if Diego Castillo (46 SO) reaches that point, it will equal a franchise record (set in 2014) for most pitchers (6) who record 50+ strikeouts from the bullpen.

J-ROD: FORCE SPEED THREAT…Julio Rodriguez is 1 of 13 rookies in Major League history to hit 20+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases in a season and 1 of 5 freshman rookies to reach the 20/20 club… he became the fastest player (81 career G) in major league history who reached 15+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases…he became the first player in major league history to reach 15+ home runs, 50+ RBI and 20+ stolen bases in his first 90 games in his career…he became the fastest player (107 career games) in American League history to hit 20+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases and the 2nd fastest in Major League history…he is 2 home runs away and 1 stolen base away from becoming just the 3rd rookie in Major League history with a 25+ home run, 25+ stolen base season and would join Chris Young-ARI (2007) and Mike Trout-LAA (2012) add.