Game 147, Reds at Mariners – Kyle Lewis Is Fun

marc w · September 12, 2019 at 5:13 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

Justin Dunn/Tommy Milone vs. Tyler Mahle, 7:10pm

Kyle Lewis has hit an absolutely crucial home run in the last two games, and the M’s continue to destroy the Cincinnati Reds. I propose we move the M’s to the NL Central. It’s just much more fun to watch when the M’s have MLB debutantes who really hit the ground running. And hey, tonight we’ll try for another, as Justin Dunn makes his big league debut as the opener.

I think we’re all sick of Milone/LeBlanc appearances, which is nothing against those two crafty hurlers, but they simply don’t matter for 2021. Justin Dunn, on the other hand, really does. The M’s need new starters, especially if Marco Gonzales isn’t going to be a top of the rotation arm, as now seems pretty clear. Dunn’s got upside that Marco, and even potentially Justus Sheffield, simply doesn’t possess. I’m really curious to see how his first appearance goes, and how his great slider works against the Joey Vottos of the world.

Dunn posted the best K/9 and BB/9 numbers of his career this year, but he struggled just slightly with HRs, a consequence of a fairly extreme fly ball approach. MLB in 2019 has not been kind to such approaches, but then strikeouts cover a multitude of sins. Punchouts, Justin… Punchouts.

Righty Tyler Mahle is a bit similar, in that he’s got a great K:BB ratio, but he’s getting stung by homers, which are even more prevalent in his home park. Like a lot of young pitchers, his real problems are platoon splits. He throws a four-seam fastball, a curve, and an intriguing splitter, which should help him avoid platoon splits, but big league lefties haven’t gotten the memo, and are slugging .544 off of him this year.

1: Long, LF
2: Nola, 1B
3: Seager, 3B
4: Narvaez, C
5: Lewis, RF
6: Vogelbach, DH
7: Moore, 2B
8: Walton, SS
9: Bishop, CF
SP: Dunn/Milone

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Comments

3 Responses to “Game 147, Reds at Mariners – Kyle Lewis Is Fun”

  1. mrakbaseball on September 12th, 2019 10:42 pm

    Nerves got the best of Dunn tonight, hopefully he will go out the next outing and put forth a better showing.

    Kyle Lewis, a triple away from the cycle, 3 straight games with a homer and nice catch on the line. So far, so good.

  2. heyoka on September 13th, 2019 5:42 am

    Before I get too excited about Kyle Lewis, I have to remind myself that Willie Bloomquist hit .455 in his M’s debut.

  3. Stevemotivateir on September 13th, 2019 10:37 am

    ^Apples and Oranges!

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