Here are tonight’s lineups:
Indians
Michael Brantley CF
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Shin-Soo Choo RF
Travis Hafner DH
Jayson Nix 3B
Matt LaPorta 1B
Trevor Crowe LF
Jason Donald 2B
Lou Marson C
Mitch Talbot RHP (8-11, 4.61)
Mariners
Ichiro RF
Chone Figgins 2B
Russell Branyan Dh
Jose Lopez 3B
Casey Kotchman 1B
Josh Bard C
Michael Saunders CF
Matt Tuiasosopo LF
Josh Wilson SS
RHP David Pauley (2-6, 4.25)
The original Mariners lineup had Franklin Gutierrez in center, Matt Tuiasosopo at third, Michael Saunders in left, and Jose Lopez on the bench. But Gutierrez was feeling ill and had to be scratched, causing a chain reaction of changes by manager Daren Brown. Lopez was inserted at third base, Tui moved to left field, and Saunders moved to center field.
It will be the first time in his major-league career Saunders has played center at Safeco Field, though he had considerable experience in center field as a minor-leaguer.
“I’ve seen Saunders in center field, and I’m comfortable with him in center,” Brown said. “That’s not saying there might not be a mistake. I’ve said it before with our younger guys, they’re going to make mistakes at times. You learn from them and move on.”
“He actually played a good center field in Tacoma the last couple of years. Same thing with Tui in left. I’ve seen him play left and I’m comfortable with him there.”
The Mariners will try to break one streak today: They have scored three or fewer runs in their last eight consecutive games. They are 3-5 in those games.
View full post on The Seattle Times: Mariners Blog