Mariners look to ride bullpen to sweep of Rangers (Aug 02, 2017)

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Seattle left-hander Ariel Miranda doesn't have to be great Wednesday night when the Mariners look to complete a sweep of the Texas Rangers.

He just has to keep Seattle close and give the bullpen a chance.

The Mariners' bullpen is coming off a July in which it posted a 2.29 ERA, the third-lowest ERA in the majors for the month. It doesn't matter if it is closer Edwin Diaz, righty Emilio Pagan, right-hander David Phelps or lefty Marc Rzepczynski, the relievers are getting the work done.

"They've been pretty much lights out all year," Mariners left fielder Ben Gamel said. "I don't have enough good things to say about them as a whole. They've been keeping us in games, and when we're not swinging it, they're still giving us opportunities."

That was evident in the first two games of the Texas series. In the opener, the bullpen worked 3 2/3 innings of one-hit ball in a 6-4 victory. On Tuesday night, after Casey Lawrence was tagged for three runs in 2 1/3 innings of relief work, five other Mariners relievers had scoreless outings to preserve an 8-7 victory.

They may need another effort like that in support of Miranda (7-4, 4.31 ERA). He is making his team high 22nd start on Wednesday, but lately he has been rocky. Over his past four starts, Miranda went 0-0 but posted a 6.55 ERA while pitching only 22 innings. His last victory came on June 30.

Miranda does have some success against the Rangers. He has faced them only once, but he didn't allow an earned run in six innings last September during an 8-3 victory at Seattle.

The Rangers haven't had any issues with the performance of their Wednesday starter, Andrew Cashner. The right-hander is coming off back-to-back wins for the first time since the 2014 season. He has made four consecutive quality starts, going 3-1 with a 2.36 ERA over that stretch.

Cashner (6-8, 3.48 ERA) is also familiar with the Mariners, producing an 0-1 record with a 3.18 ERA in two starts against them this year. He has never beat Seattle in his career, going 0-3 with a 3.58 ERA in six games (five starts).

The Rangers desperately need Cashner to pitch well Wednesday. The club has lost four straight games and is six games under .500 for the first time since May 9.

Cashner could be working with a new catcher Wednesday night, too. Brett Nicholas made his first start of the season Tuesday night for Texas. The trade of Jonathan Lucroy to the Colorado Rockies led to the Rangers calling up Nicholas from Triple-A Round Rock.

While Robinson Chirinos could get the majority of the work behind the plate for the remainder of the year, Texas manager Jeff Banister said Nicholas would get some looks.

"We're going to get Nicky in there to have him catch," Banister said. "We liked what we saw last year. We do know what we have in Chirinos, but Brett has earned the right to get a look."