The Detroit Tigers (6-3, 2-1 away) are coming off of their first series loss of the season. The Seattle Mariners (4-6, 2-1 home) are coming off of their first series win of the season. The two teams, both idle on Thursday, meet at 10:10 PM ET Friday night at Seattle’s Safeco Field.
The Mariners are -180 MLB money line favorites over the +160 Tigers and the over/under is 7.
Detroit will be starting right-handed Jeremy Bonderman (1-0, 1.80 ERA). Bonderman was a pleasant surprise for the Tigers in his first start, earning his first win in nearly two years against the Cleveland Indians. He allowed one run and one hit in five innings. It was the only win this season for the Tigers that did not require a comeback.
Felix Hernandez (0-0, 3.29 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Seattle Mariners. Hernandez, who won 19 games in 2009, is making his third start of the season. With the exception of a few control problems in the season opener, he has been stellar. He has suffered from low run support, getting a total of just four runs from his offense. The right hander has been dominant against Detroit, winning his last five consecutive decisions and allowing just one home run in over 50 innings.
Fortunately for Hernandez, Seattle’s offense began to show some signs of life recently. They came up with 11 hits in a 4-2 victor of the Oakland A’s on Wednesday. They were particularly impressive in pressure situations – all four runs were scored with two outs.
Unfortunately for Hernandez, Detroit employs two of the few players in baseball who have had success against him. Tigers LF Johnny Damon is 8-15 (.615) against the ace and 1B Miguel Cabrera is 6-11 (.545) against him.
The Detroit Tigers are currently a half game out of first place in the AL Central. The first place Minnesota Twins host the Kansas City Royals earlier in the evening. The Mariners, after a slow start, are in third place in the AL West. They will attempt to build from the momentum from winning two out of three games in their most recent series with the division leading Oakland A’s.
