The piggyback is back.
And this time, with two different Seattle Mariners pitchers.
Logan Gilbert is scheduled to start Saturday afternoon against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays, throwing approximately 65 to 75 pitches, before turning things over to fellow right-hander Emerson Hancock.
They will be opposed by veteran right-hander Shane Bieber, who will be making his third start of the season after being sidelined for the first three months due to right elbow inflammation. Bieber (0-0, 6.00 ERA) is 2-2 with a 2.30 ERA in seven career starts against Seattle.
So far this season, the Mariners’ Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo have participated in four piggyback starts, with the team going 2-2 in those contests.
Gilbert (6-5, 3.42 ERA) and Hancock (5-4, 3.47) were scheduled to pitch as a duo last weekend in Cleveland, but instead the team went back to a six-man rotation.
“It was a chance to give a couple guys an extra day here or there,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said of altering the plan last week. “The way we had it set up, it just provided a little flexibility there, so we were able to do that. But we will go back to it in this series against Toronto.”
The Mariners’ issue is they have six quality starters for five spots in the rotation.
Hancock pitched so well while Miller missed the first six weeks of the season that he wasn’t getting displaced. The Mariners’ least effective starter has been the veteran Castillo, who is also the highest-paid member of the staff.
The team has alternated between a six-man rotation and the piggyback system in recent weeks. After a meeting with the starters, the coaching staff and members of the front office, it was agreed they would expand the piggyback system to include all of the starters at some point through the All-Star break.
In theory, that would have Bryan Woo and George Kirby piggybacking next week against Miami.
“These guys have all wanted to shoulder the load,” Wilson said. “As we go forward, we’ll make our adjustments.”
The Blue Jays won the series opener 2-0 on Friday as Dylan Cease and two relievers combined on a four-hitter. Cease allowed three hits over seven innings, with just one walk and nine strikeouts.
“I thought it was just a really good outing,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Cease. “I thought his pace was a lot better … really the whole time without shaking (off) and being on the same page (as catcher Alejandro Kirk).”
The Blue Jays scored both of their runs in the third inning, on an RBI double to center field by Andres Gimenez and an RBI single to right field by Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Guerrero is hitting just .161 (5-for-31) over the past eight games, though he reported that he is feeling better at the plate.
“But the most important thing is trying to keep doing things to help this team win some games,” Guerrero said through an interpreter.
After averaging 31.8 homers over the past five seasons, Guerrero has just four long balls more than halfway into the current campaign.
The Mariners will remain without Julio Rodriguez after he was placed on the seven-day concussion injured list on Friday. The star center fielder was hit in the back of the helmet by an errant throw while running the bases on Thursday in Seattle’s 1-0 victory against the Los Angeles Angels.
Utility man Miles Mastrobuoni was promoted from Triple-A Tacoma to fill Rodriguez’s roster spot.
–Field Level Media
