Mariners at Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers have recorded back-to-back walk-off victories and go for a three-game sweep of Seattle when they host the Mariners on Wednesday. Dodgers second baseman Howie Kendrick was the hero on Tuesday when his broken-bat single to right field off Fernando Rodney plated the tying and winning runs in a 6-5 victory.
Los Angeles won the series opener by the same score when Alex Guerrero delivered the decisive single in the 10th inning. Kendrick is 4-for-8 with three RBIs in the series and once again delivered a key hit against the Mariners. Kendrick played in the same division as Seattle when he was with the Los Angeles Angels and the two-run hit on Tuesday raised his career RBI count against the Mariners to 65 – his second-highest total against any team. The bat of Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano is starting to show life as he went 2-for-5 with a homer to raise his sagging batting average to .176.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, ESPN2, ROOT (Seattle), SportsNet LA (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mariners RH Taijuan Walker (0-1, 24.30 ERA) vs. Dodgers LH Brett Anderson (0-0, 4.50)
Walker was torched in his first outing as he allowed nine runs and nine hits in 3 1/3 innings last Friday while losing to Oakland. The 22-year-old had a strong spring-training performance – giving up two runs in 27 innings – before the nightmare showing against the Athletics. Walker went 2-3 with a 2.61 ERA last season in eight appearances (five starts).
Anderson received a no-decision in his Los Angeles debut when he gave up three runs and five hits in six innings last Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He regularly faced Seattle when he was with the Athletics from 2009-13 and is 7-4 with a 1.81 ERA in 15 career outings (14 starts) against the Mariners. Anderson won 18 games over his first two major-league seasons, but has just nine victories over the past four-plus season while dealing with a plethora of injuries.
WALK-OFFS
1. Seattle C Mike Zunino is hitless in nine at-bats in the series and has struck out seven times.
2. Los Angeles 3B Juan Uribe (hamstring) returned after a two-game absence and went 0-for-4 on Tuesday.
3. Mariners RF Nelson Cruz has just one hit – a homer – in 10 career at-bats against Anderson.