Mariners face the Rays after Kikuchi's strong outing

Updated Jun. 19, 2021 3:20 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Tampa Bay Rays (43-28, first in the AL East) vs. Seattle Mariners (36-36, third in the AL West)

Seattle; Saturday, 10:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Josh Fleming (6-4, 3.20 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 33 strikeouts) Mariners: Logan Gilbert (2-2, 4.13 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 29 strikeouts)

LINE: Mariners +123, Rays -142; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Seattle heads into the matchup fresh off a strong showing by Yusei Kikuchi. Kikuchi pitched seven innings, giving up one run on four hits with six strikeouts against Tampa Bay.

The Mariners are 21-15 on their home turf. Seattle has a team on-base percentage of .290, last in the American League. Ty France leads the lineup with a mark of .354.

The Rays are 24-14 on the road. The Tampa Bay pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.37, Ryan Yarbrough leads the staff with a mark of 3.91.

The Mariners won the last meeting 5-1. Yusei Kikuchi earned his fourth victory and France went 3-for-4 with a double for Seattle. Michael Wacha registered his second loss for Tampa Bay.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kyle Seager leads the Mariners with 42 RBIs and is batting .216.

Austin Meadows leads the Rays with 15 home runs and is slugging .496.

LAST 10 GAMES: Mariners: 6-4, .262 batting average, 3.90 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs

Rays: 5-5, .234 batting average, 3.31 ERA, outscored opponents by three runs

INJURIES: Mariners: Will Vest: (health protocols), Casey Sadler: (shoulder), James Paxton: (left forearm), Ljay Newsome: (elbow), Andres Munoz: (elbow), Nick Margevicius: (shoulder), Ken Giles: (elbow), Justin Dunn: (shoulder), Kyle Lewis: (knee), Sam Haggerty: (shoulder), Jake Fraley: (undisclosed), Evan White: (hip).

Rays: Chaz Roe: (shoulder), Cody Reed: (thumb), Colin Poche: (elbow), Tyler Glasnow: (elbow), Oliver Drake: (forearm), Yonny Chirinos: (elbow), Jalen Beeks: (elbow), Chris Archer: (forearm), Nick Anderson: (elbow).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.