It's Smooth Sailing For Seattle In Series Opener Against Oakland
Seattle (23-29) at Oakland (25-25)
When: 10 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
MLB Pick: Mariners First-Half RL + Full-Game RL
A glance at Seattle starter Wade LeBlanc's (2-1, 7.36 ERA) ERA may scare Seattle supporters away. But his ERA is so high because of only one start, his last one, in which nothing worked for him. Overall, he's had an unfortunately tough set of opponents. Three of his four starts came against lineups that rank top-six in runs scored per game. The one exception was the White Sox, against which he conceded two runs in six innings. In runs per game, the Chi Sox rank 21st and Oakland ranks 15th.
LeBlanc is in a nice bounce-back spot. Since he became a regular starter last year, he's allowed multiple home runs in four different starts (excluding his last one). With one exception, he allowed one run or zero in his next start. The one exception came in notoriously hitters-friendly Coors Field, Colorado.
He has developed over the years into a pitcher who stays away from throwing the fastball. Instead, he relies on a sinker, cutter, change-up combo. All three pitches compose 86 percent of his arsenal together. LeBlanc is a great example of a pitcher who is effective without significant velocity. His sinker and change-up are elusive with strong arm-side movement. HIs cutter has above-average dip. He concentrates their location inside against left-handed batters and away from righties.
Last year, LeBlanc constructed a strong history against Oakland. In two starts, totaling 11 innings, he allowed zero earned runs and only six hits combined. He went 1-0 and his team won in both starts, generating +2.35 units.
Seattle's bullpen will be fresh. In particular, Brandon Brennan and Connor Sadzeck have allowed zero runs in their last 6.1 innings combined.
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Oakland's Daniel Mengden (1-1, 3.65 ERA) seeks his first win at home since May of 2018. Last year against Seattle, he allowed six runs in 7.1 innings. Overall, he struggled against the opponents that were most familiar with him. Against fellow AL West teams, he went 2-6, yielding -4.2 units.
Mengden relies on five different pitches with between 10 and 33 percent frequency. The variety in his pitching arsenal can help him be more effective by keeping him less predictable. The problem is that it takes time for him to develop comfort with his high number of pitches on a start-to-start level. As a result, he's 1-6 in his career in his first three starts of the season compared to 12-12 in all other starts. Of those six initial losses, he went 0-5 at home, where he yielded an ERA over 5.00 in his last four. He'll make his third start of the season tomorrow.
This year, opponents are slamming Mengden's curveball, with the result that he throws it less often. He's struggling to command its location, for which reason it's landing for a ball 53% of the time. This tendency is representative of most of his pitches. When he throws them for a strike, he often leaves them in the middle, more hittable parts of the strike zone. As a result, he doesn't generate many whiffs and he's allowing hard contact at a 57.1% rate.
In terms of hitters, Jay Bruce and Edwin Encarnacion each has hit a homer off Mengden in four at-bats combined. Tim Beckham loves playing in Oakland, where his career BA is .324 and career slugging .588.
Seattle (23-29) at Oakland (25-25)
When: 10 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
MLB Pick: Mariners First-Half RL + Full-Game RL
A glance at Seattle starter Wade LeBlanc's (2-1, 7.36 ERA) ERA may scare Seattle supporters away. But his ERA is so high because of only one start, his last one, in which nothing worked for him. Overall, he's had an unfortunately tough set of opponents. Three of his four starts came against lineups that rank top-six in runs scored per game. The one exception was the White Sox, against which he conceded two runs in six innings. In runs per game, the Chi Sox rank 21st and Oakland ranks 15th.
LeBlanc is in a nice bounce-back spot. Since he became a regular starter last year, he's allowed multiple home runs in four different starts (excluding his last one). With one exception, he allowed one run or zero in his next start. The one exception came in notoriously hitters-friendly Coors Field, Colorado.
He has developed over the years into a pitcher who stays away from throwing the fastball. Instead, he relies on a sinker, cutter, change-up combo. All three pitches compose 86 percent of his arsenal together. LeBlanc is a great example of a pitcher who is effective without significant velocity. His sinker and change-up are elusive with strong arm-side movement. HIs cutter has above-average dip. He concentrates their location inside against left-handed batters and away from righties.
Last year, LeBlanc constructed a strong history against Oakland. In two starts, totaling 11 innings, he allowed zero earned runs and only six hits combined. He went 1-0 and his team won in both starts, generating +2.35 units.
Seattle's bullpen will be fresh. In particular, Brandon Brennan and Connor Sadzeck have allowed zero runs in their last 6.1 innings combined.
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Oakland's Daniel Mengden (1-1, 3.65 ERA) seeks his first win at home since May of 2018. Last year against Seattle, he allowed six runs in 7.1 innings. Overall, he struggled against the opponents that were most familiar with him. Against fellow AL West teams, he went 2-6, yielding -4.2 units.
Mengden relies on five different pitches with between 10 and 33 percent frequency. The variety in his pitching arsenal can help him be more effective by keeping him less predictable. The problem is that it takes time for him to develop comfort with his high number of pitches on a start-to-start level. As a result, he's 1-6 in his career in his first three starts of the season compared to 12-12 in all other starts. Of those six initial losses, he went 0-5 at home, where he yielded an ERA over 5.00 in his last four. He'll make his third start of the season tomorrow.
This year, opponents are slamming Mengden's curveball, with the result that he throws it less often. He's struggling to command its location, for which reason it's landing for a ball 53% of the time. This tendency is representative of most of his pitches. When he throws them for a strike, he often leaves them in the middle, more hittable parts of the strike zone. As a result, he doesn't generate many whiffs and he's allowing hard contact at a 57.1% rate.
In terms of hitters, Jay Bruce and Edwin Encarnacion each has hit a homer off Mengden in four at-bats combined. Tim Beckham loves playing in Oakland, where his career BA is .324 and career slugging .588.
