• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Rays-Mariners Preview

Aug 7, 2009 - 4:56 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Tampa Bay (60-48) at Seattle (56-51), 10:10 p.m. EDT

After concluding a winning homestand with a sweep of a division rival, the Tampa Bay Rays hope that success continues on their upcoming trip west.

The surging Rays look for a fourth straight victory in the opener of a three-game series against Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

Tampa Bay (60-48) enters this swing coming off a 6-4 win over Boston on Wednesday to sweep a brief two-game set from the Red Sox and conclude a 6-3 homestand.

With Boston falling to the New York Yankees on Thursday, the Rays are 2 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the wild-card race and hope this six-game trip that concludes against the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels won't halt their progress.

"We like where we're at right now, but there's so much more to go," reliever J.P. Howell told the Rays' official Web site.

Though Tampa Bay is 38-68 all-time against the Mariners and Angels on the road, it's 6-5 the last two seasons at Seattle (56-52), which took two of three from the host Rays on April 21-23.

Carlos Pena hit his 27th homer and Carl Crawford added his 12th on Thursday for the Rays, who are 24-30 away from home, but went 6-4 on their most recent road trip to Kansas City, Chicago and Toronto.

Crawford is batting .340 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in his last 12 games, and is 6 for 13 against the Mariners this season.

While Pena leads the team in homers, he's 1 for 12 with six strikeouts against Seattle this year, and 0 for 9 lifetime versus Hernandez (12-4, 2.78 ERA).

The All-Star right-hander allowed four hits in seven innings of a 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay on April 23, to improve to 2-1 with a 2.15 ERA in six starts against the Rays.

Coming off his first loss in more than two months, Hernandez earned the victory after giving up two runs in seven innings of a 7-2 win at Texas on Saturday.

"Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," Hernandez told the Mariners' official Web site.

Tampa Bay's Jeff Niemann (10-5, 3.62) has been very good during his rookie season and looks for a second victory over the Mariners after allowing three runs in 5 1-3 innings of a 9-3 win at Seattle on April 22.

Niemann yielded one run and four hits in eight innings of a 7-1 victory over Kansas City on Saturday. The right-hander is 6-1 with a 2.67 ERA in his last nine starts.

"He's at the point he's gaining confidence," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "He looks like he expects to win when he goes out there. The way he's pitching is surpassing my expectations."

Ichiro Suzuki went 4 for 12 with a homer against Tampa Bay in April, and 2 for 5 in the Mariners' 8-2 loss at Kansas City on Thursday to conclude a 3-4 road trip.

Batting a major league-leading .365, Suzuki is 10 for 25 in his last five games.

Adrian Beltre matched a career high with four hits Thursday for Seattle, but is 0 for 11 with five strikeouts against Tampa Bay this season.