Mike Leake vs. Gerrit Cole, 7:10pm
Having beaten Dallas Keuchel, former Cy Young winner, the M’s were beaten in turn by future Cy Young candidate, Lance McCullers. Their reward from having split those two games? Facing Gerrit Cole, who’s been utterly dominant thus far.
Perhaps no pitcher in recent memory has moved between two organizations, or at least big league clubs, who have such a clear, obvious Strategy when it comes to pitching. The Pirates, under Ray Searage, famously preached throwing sinkers low in the zone. If you were a journeyman sinkerballer, you might flourish in a system that’s almost mono-maniacally focused on sinkers.