Shields hopes for offensive help in Padres' road trip finale
The Seattle Mariners have been perfect in interleague play so far, although it helps that they have played a pair of last-place teams.
They'll try to saddle the stumbling San Diego Padres with another loss Tuesday when they send Hisashi Iwakuma to the mound at Safeco Field.
Seattle (29-21) improved to 4-0 in interleague play with Monday's 9-3 rout. The Mariners have faced the worst team in the NL West in San Diego (20-32) once along with three games against the worst in the Central in Cincinnati.
The Mariners have a good opportunity to pad that mark with this contest as well as two more in San Diego, where these teams travel to play beginning Wednesday night. The Padres have dropped 11 of 14.
Iwakuma (3-4, 4.33 ERA) hopes to first help Seattle cap this eight-game homestand with a .500 mark by winning a third straight outing. He gave up three runs in each of his last two, pitching seven innings in last Wednesday's 13-3 rout of Oakland.
The right-hander is 1-3 with a 6.06 ERA in five career interleague home starts. He has never started versus the Padres, pitching to one hitter in a 2012 relief outing against them.
Iwakuma does have some familiarity with some San Diego batters. Alexei Ramirez is 2 for 14 against him, Derek Norris is hitless in eight at-bats with six strikeouts and Wil Myers is hitless in six while striking out four times.
Seattle snapped a three-game slide Monday by rallying from a two-run deficit with four runs in the sixth inning and five in the eighth. Kyle Seager delivered the go-ahead two-run homer.
Dae-Ho Lee took advantage of a rare start with a three-run homer. The lefty slugger normally does not start versus right-handed pitchers but was in there versus Andrew Cashner.
"(Lee) does something, every game," manager Scott Servais said. "It's amazing."
There's no word on whether Lee will be in the lineup to face luckless James Shields (2-6, 3.06) on Tuesday. The Padres have lost eight of Shields' 10 starts, mostly due to his 1.95 run-support average for baseball's worst mark.
The right-hander gave up two runs in six innings of Wednesday's 4-3,10-inning defeat at San Francisco.
Shields went 1-1 with a 2.13 ERA in two starts versus Seattle last year. Robinson Cano went 3 for 6 against him and has faced him more than any other active hitter, batting .411 in 90 at-bats.
Nelson Cruz is 5 for 27 against Shields, not including a 4-for-8 mark in the postseason.
Cano is second in the majors with 44 RBIs, although he went 0 for 3 with a walk Monday as his seven-game hitting streak ended.
The Padres are hoping to get Fernando Rodney into the game so the closer can improve to 11 for 11 in save chances and have a happy return to Safeco Field. Rodney, who has yet to allow an earned run in 19 innings, converted 64 saves as Mariners closer from 2014-15.
"We're thrilled to have him," manager Andy Green told the Padres' official site. "I hope he comes out here and has the opportunity to see what he can show in Seattle."
