Connelly Early opened with Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo. The Seattle Mariners used a piggyback plan against the Boston Red Sox on June 19, then set first pitch for 7:10 PT. It was the first Mariners-Red Sox game of the season, and the setup put a short start in front of a second arm built to carry the middle.
Bryce Miller, Luis Castillo
Miller started the game, with Castillo part of the planned follow-up. The arrangement gave Seattle a different look against Boston’s lineup and made the series opener less routine than a standard one-starter game.
The Red Sox entered with a trio of lefties in their lineup, and Seattle answered by making a roster move to get more right-handed hitters into the mix. That included moving Durbin up in the lineup after Isaish Kiner-Falefa was scratched with forearm soreness.
Marcelo Mayer returns
Boston’s lineup shifted again when Marcelo Mayer returned after missing the previous day with an illness. Weston Wilson, newly signed, also appeared in the lineup, adding another change to a game that was already moving in response to the handedness matchup.
The Mariners made their own adjustment away from the field as well: Miles Mastrobuoni was designated for assignment on June 19. The day’s roster and lineup moves left Seattle working with a different group than the one that would have been expected when the schedule first turned to Boston.
Juneteenth at 7:10 PT
The game was set for Juneteenth, with the Mariners wearing Steelheads jerseys instead of City Connects. Locally, it was shown on KING 5, and the radio call was on 710 AM Seattle Sports. The opening matchup asked the same question the rest of the night had to answer: how effective the Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo piggyback plan would be against Boston.
