Cole Hamels and Mike Fiers could soon find themselves in a pennant race. Both veterans can increase their chances of joining a championship contender with
solid starts on Saturday afternoon.
The two pitchers will be the mound opponents when the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers play the third game of a four-game series at Detroit’s Comerica
Park. They have split the first two games.
Both teams are floundering
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Fiers.
Hamels, a 34-year-old Texas left-hander, knows about the trade rumors but is more concerned with improving upon his recent outings.
“It’s not a big deal,” he told MLB.com after his last start. “It’s out of my control. I have to go and pitch, and hopefully that’ll be the last time I have
to answer that question.”
Hamels had stellar road outings against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kansas City in mid-June, but he lasted just five innings in each of his last two
starts. He gave up a season-high seven runs and nine hits to the Chicago White
Sox on Sunday.
Hamels (4-7, 4.05 ERA) is 4-2 with a 3.69 ERA in six career starts against the Tigers.
Fiers has been at the top of his game in his last two starts. He held Oakland to one run and five hits in seven innings, then worked a season-high eight
innings on Monday in Toronto. The Blue Jays managed just one run and three hits,
but he wound up with no-decision when the bullpen couldn’t hold a one-run lead
in the ninth inning.
Fiers (5-5, 3.79) has kept opponents off-balance by mixing well-located fastballs with a healthy dose of curveballs and changeups.
“He was changing speeds, locating the ball,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said afterward. “He paints the strike zone. When the catcher sets up away and in
front, he throws away and in front.”
Fiers issued 62 walks in 29 outings last season with Houston and was left off the playoff roster. He has shown much better control this year, issuing 20 free
passes in 16 starts.
“Just throwing a lot of strikes, changing speeds,” Fiers told the Detroit News. “I’m just glad I got the opportunity here.”
Texas has solved Fiers in the past. He’s 1-3 wth an 8.10 ERA in seven career appearances against the Rangers.
Texas didn’t have any luck on Friday night against Detroit pitcher Jordan Zimmermann after Shin-Soo Choo smacked a leadoff homer. Zimmermann struck out a
season-high 11 batters in the Tigers’ 3-1 victory.
Zimmermann pitched eight innings, allowing Gardenhire to go straight to fill-in closer Joe Jimenez. Detroit’s regular
closer
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“Best thing we’re all seeing is we’re pounding the strike zone right now,” Gardenhire said. “Pitchers are getting deeper into games. That’s really going to
help our baseball team.”
Choo’s on-base streak increased to 45 games with the homer, his 17th this season. His bat hasn’t cooled off despite a nagging right quad injury. Choo is
batting .291 with a .401 on-base percentage.
The Rangers had scored five or more runs in eight of their previous 12 games.
Denard Span came to the plate in the eighth inning, knowing the situation was why the Seattle Mariners traded for him three weeks ago.
The veteran outfielder kept his cool and stroked a pinch-hit double that scored two runs, leading the Mariners to a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox
on Friday night.
Span, batting for Guillermo Heredia with one out, hit a liner to the right-field corner off Matt Barnes (0-2) after Ryon Healy walked and Ben Gamel
singled to left.
”I just tried to stay calm as possible,” Span said. ”Kind of a calm angry. This is huge for me. I’m the new guy around here and I just want to help these
guys as much as I can and feel like I’m one of them.”
The Mariners acquired Span and reliever Alex Colome from Tampa Bay on May 25.
”He’s a huge addition to our club,” said Seattle manager Scott Servais. ”He has so much experience in those situations, so he understands how to slow things
down. We’re going to have a lot more situations like that this season.”
Ryan Cook (1-0) got the win with a scoreless eighth inning and Edwin Diaz earned his major league-leading 26th save by working the ninth.
But Rob Whalen, who was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on Thursday, was the difference, pitching four scoreless innings of relief.
”This team is unbelievable,” Whalen said. ”It felt like a World Series game out there tonight. I just wanted to do whatever I could to keep us in the
game.”
It was the 20th time this season the Mariners have come from behind to win. Seattle is 22-10 in one-run games.
Xander Bogaerts hit a three-run homer as part of a six-run third inning that gave Boston a 6-3 lead, but a spectacular defensive play by Seattle second
baseman Dee Gordon on a hard-hit ball up the middle by Bogaerts that ended the
sixth inning kept the Red Sox from adding another run.
The Mariners led 3-0 when Boston sent 11 men to the plate and had six hits and walk to chase starter James Paxton. The Mariners also committed two errors
in the inning.
Paxton entered the game with a 0.39 ERA and 2-0 record in three previous starts against the Red Sox. Five of the six runs against Paxton were earned. He
also threw two wild pitches.
”Pax had good stuff tonight, we just didn’t help him
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carried us this year, so it was nice to get him off the hook.”
Boston tied the game at 3 on four singles and an error by third basemen Kyle Seager, before Bogaerts hit his 11th home run.
”We had a good inning and got a lot of runs,” Bogaerts said. ”But that one big hit, seems like Span always does that against us. I remember when he did it
at Tampa early on in the year. Same thing down the same line.”
Jean Segura gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead in the first inning when he launched Rick Porcello’s fastball over the scoreboard in left field, a 420-foot shot.
Seattle made it 3-0 in the second.
Mike Zunino knocked in two runs, including his 11th home run of the season to start the bottom of the seventh and cut it to 6-5 before Span came through one
inning later.
”With him, you have to attack,” Boston manager Alex Cora said of Span. ”He keeps working the count. He’s a veteran guy. If you’re ahead, you have to bury
him and we didn’t.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: LHP Drew Pomeranz (left biceps tendinitis) made some throws in the outfield Friday for the first time since going on the 10-day DL on June 5,
retroactive to June 2.
Mariners: RHP Juan Nicasio (knee swelling) threw in the bullpen Friday and is expected to throw live batting practice Saturday. Servais said it’s possible
Nicasio could come off the 10-day DL on Tuesday in New York when the Mariners
start a three-game series with the Yankees. ”He just needs to get that
inflammation out of his knee,” Servais said. … RHP Nick Vincent (groin strain)
will throw in the bullpen Saturday.
FILIA RETURNS: The Red Sox returned minor league OF Eric Filia to the Mariners Friday after Filia failed his physical. Filia was the player to be
named in the deal that sent LHP Roenis Elias to the Mariners on April 23. The
Mariners completed the trade with cash considerations.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: RHP Steven Wright (2-0, 1.21) will take the longest active scoreless streak in baseball into Saturday’s game against the Mariners. Wright has thrown
22 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, including back-to-back scoreless starts
when he went seven innings in a win against Detroit and 6 2/3 innings in a
no-decision at Baltimore.
Mariners: Wade Leblanc (7-3, 4.26) will make his ninth start of the season Saturday. Leblanc has allowed only 11 earned runs in his previous eight starts
for a 2.45 ERA. The Mariners are 6-2 in those games.
