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The Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers continue their current series at Globe Life Field on Wednesday night.
Seattle defeated Texas 3-1 in their series opener on Tuesday as Tyler Anderson allowed just one run on three hits in six innings to earn his first win with the team since he was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates last July 28th.
This will be the 12th time that these two teams have played each other this season. Seattle leads the current season series 11-6 and has taken the last three head-to-head meetings between these two teams.
Seattle Mariners
The Mariners have won six out of their last eight games played and are 64-56 on the season. They are currently 6.5 games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West team standings and are four games behind the Oakland A’s in the race for the second wild card spot in the AL.
Seattle is scoring an average of 4.19 runs per game and they are ranked 20th in batting average at .222. The Mariners are also 29th in OBP and 25th in slugging at .299 and .382, respectively. Ty France leads the Mariners with his .285 batting average while Kyle Seager leads the team with 74 RBI and 26 home runs.
Left-hander Marco Gonzales will toe the rubber for Seattle on Wednesday. Gonzales is 4-5 on the season with an ERA of 4.35 and a WHIP of 1.26. He allowed one earned run in a complete game against the Rangers last week. Gonzales has given up just two runs in his last 21.2 innings pitched.
Texas Rangers
The Rangers ended a three-series losing streak by taking two of three games from the A’s during their last series. However, after losing Game 1 on Tuesday, they face another potential series defeat. Texas is just 7-22 since the All-Star break and they are currently at a season-low 35 games below the .500 mark, very much out of playoff contention.
Texas is averaging 3.77 runs scored per game. They are 29th in the league in batting average at .223. The Rangers are also 30th in on-base percentage at .289 and 29th in slugging percentage at .369. Isiah Kiner-Falefa leads Texas with his .260 batting average while Adolis Garcia leads the team with 70 RBI and 26 home runs.
Right-hander Mike Foltynewicz will make the start for the Rangers. Foltynewicz is 2-11 on the season with an ERA of 5.66 and a WHIP of 1.30. He allowed three runs in seven innings against the Mariners last week. Although he’s struggled this season, Foltynewicz has allowed three or fewer runs in his last three starts for Texas.
Who Wins?
Seattle is 5-1 in their last six games played. The Mariners are 5-0 in their last five games against a right-handed starter, 4-1 in their last five games played on grass, 5-1 in their last six games against the American League, and 7-1 in their last eight road games when the total is set between 7.0 to 8.5.
Texas is 20-49 in their last 69 games played overall. The Rangers are 4-11 in their last 15 games against a left-handed starter, 7-20 in their last 27 Game 2s of a series, 3-9 in their last 12 against the American League West, 5-15 in their last 20 games against an opponent with a winning record, and 13-40 in their last 53 games as betting underdogs.
Please Note
Texas has long given up on their season so, despite Foltynewicz having an excellent pitching month, it’s hard to trust the Rangers with my money. Texas has lost four out of its last six games and it has struggled on the mound in those games, giving up 36 runs.
Marco Gonzales has allowed just two runs on 10 hits in his last 21.2 innings pitched. Gonzales has also pitched well against the Rangers, giving up just two runs in his last two starts against Texas.
Even if Foltynewicz gets some good innings, Texas has struggled on the mound and the Mariners are bound to score runs here. Seattle may not turn this into a track meet but for sure, they will be able to score more than enough runs to beat the struggling Rangers.
Seattle is on a good streak and they need to win games like this to be able to get a shot at a wild card spot. I trust the Mariners to deliver the timely hits to win this game.
Prediction: Seattle Mariners
Over/Under Betting
The total has gone under in 10 out of the last 13 games played by the Mariners. The under is 5-0 in their last five road games, 4-0 in their last four games against a right-handed starter, 8-3 in their last 11 games played on grass, 15-6-1 in their last 22 games as betting favorites, and 5-2 in their last seven games when the total is set between 7.0 to 8.5.
The total has gone over in six out of the last nine games played by the Rangers. The over is 6-3 in their last nine games against the American League, 4-1 in their last five games as betting underdogs, 4-1 in their last five Game 2s of a series, 16-5-1 in their last 22 Wednesday games, and 6-2 in their last eight games against the AL West.
Head to head, the total has gone under in four out of the last five games played between these two teams.
Over
8.5 (-125)
Under
8.5 (+105)
Odds from BetOnline as of 08/18/2021
If you look at the overall stats of the two starting pitchers for the entire season, it would be easy to pick the over. However, if you base it on their recent form, the under has good betting value here.
Gonzales is coming off his first game of the season where he shut down Texas last week. On the other hand, Foltynewicz has given up three or fewer runs in each of his last three starts, including three earned runs in seven innings against Seattle last month.
These are the two worst lineups in baseball and with Gallo no longer with the Texas Rangers, I am going to pick the under.
Prediction: Under 8.5
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