{"id":663759,"date":"2026-04-05T01:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T01:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/663759\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T01:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T01:11:17","slug":"mariners-game-9-preview-and-discussion-sea-at-laa-4-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/663759\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariners Game #9 Preview and Discussion: SEA at LAA, 4\/4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Here\u2019s something I never thought I\u2019d say: I am excited to watch Emerson Hancock pitch tonight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Mariners look to win their first series of the season Saturday against the Angels. They <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lookoutlanding.com\/seattle-mariners-scores-standings\/141267\/mariners-score-three-runs-two-broken-bats-beat-angels-in-extras\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">won Friday\u2019s opener 4-0<\/a> in a long, frustrating, 10-inning game that didn\u2019t really get going until the end. The bats did eventually come alive, just in time to ruin the Angels\u2019 home opener.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Hancock will take the mound looking to make it two in a row for the Mariners and for himself. Hancock threw six no-hit innings last week against the Guardians, striking out nine in the process. He seemed to pick right up where he left off after switching to the bullpen at the end of last year, with improved velocity capable of generating a competitive number of whiffs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">One change he made in that first start was lowering his arm slot even further, continuing his trend from his brief days as a reliever. The improved Stuff+ numbers held in his first start of 2026. With three kinds of fastballs, a changeup, and a sweeper \u2014 all thrown from a low arm slot \u2014 Hancock now has all the makingss of a contemporary starter, even if \u201cjust OK\u201d velocity limits him to a mid-rotation arm. There\u2019s still a lot more to prove, of course, but the lack of depth in the Mariners\u2019 rotation last year is what kept them from a more impressive win total. Hancock pitching anywhere above replacement level would be a crucial development early in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Mariners will face Angels\u2019 righty Jack Kochanowicz, who Jake Mailhot covered in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lookoutlanding.com\/seattle-mariners-game-information\/141234\/series-preview-seattle-mariners-at-los-angeles-angels-april-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">our series preview<\/a>. Brendan Donovan is out of the lineup after exiting Friday\u2019s game with a leg injury after stepping awkwardly on first base while trying to leg out a grounder. Leo Rivas takes his place at third, and Luke Raley moves up to the leadoff spot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Brendan Donovan has been announced as day-to-day with a groin injury. He got imaging yesterday and the team will review before offering an update. He is not in tonight\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Brennen Davis (hamstring) and Victor Labrada (oblique) have been activated in Tacoma. Both are expected to play tonight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s something I never thought I\u2019d say: I am excited to watch Emerson Hancock pitch tonight. The Mariners&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2392],"tags":[5,620,4,619,65,77143,77388,38422,3235],"class_list":{"0":"post-663759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-mariners","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mariners","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-mariners","13":"tag-seattle-mariners-discussion","14":"tag-seattle-mariners-game-information","15":"tag-seattle-mariners-game-threads","16":"tag-seattlemariners"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116349441619714695","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}