(SportsNetwork.com) – Seattle’s Hisashi Iwakuma looks to build off a strong
finish to a season-opening loss on Tuesday night when the Mariners play the
second contest of a three-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Iwakuma, who turned 34 this past Sunday, won 15 games in 2014 and opened this
season with a 5-3 setback to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. He gave up
five runs, all in the first two innings and one unearned, but ended up logging
six frames of work.
Still, he couldn’t overcome a two-run homer yielded in the first inning that
put him behind early.
“He was up in the zone a lot over the first couple of innings,” said Seattle
manager Lloyd McClendon. “He just couldn’t seem to get it down.”
The right-handed Iwakuma will make his first career start versus the Dodgers,
having faced them twice before in relief.
With Hyun-Jin Ryu having opened the season on the disabled list due to a left
shoulder impingement, the Dodgers will turn to David Huff as their fifth
starter tonight.
Huff will make his Dodgers debut and first start since 2013 with the New York
Yankees. He made 46 combined relief appearances last season with the Yankees
and San Francisco Giants.
The 30-year-old lefty did have a solid spring, going 2-0 with a 1.32 earned
run average. However, he has lost all three of his previous career starts
versus Seattle, pitching to a 10.64 ERA while allowing 13 earned runs over 11
innings.
The Dodgers picked up a second straight win on Monday night with a 6-5 victory
over the Mariners in 10 innings. Alex Guerrero drove in the winning run with
an RBI single in extra innings.
Guerrero and Joc Pederson each knocked in two runs, while Yasiel Puig homered
and Howie Kendrick added an RBI in the win.
Nelson Cruz hit a pair of homers and Dustin Ackley and Kyle Seager also went
deep for Seattle, which had its two-game winning streak halted.
“He’s finding his groove. He’s getting pitches to drive and he’s taking care
of it,” Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said of Cruz.
Seattle has played in three straight extra-inning games for the first time
since it did so in September of 2002.
The Dodgers took two of three in Seattle when the clubs last met in 2012, but
the Mariners have won five of their past eight in L.A.
