Mets 3 - 2 Mariners
Final
  for this game

Mariners hand the ball to Walker in finale with Mets

Jul 23, 2014 - 2:57 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Heralded prospect Taijuan Walker returns to the majors on Wednesday afternoon for the Seattle Mariners in the finale of a three-game series with the New York Mets.

Walker, ranked the fifth best prospect in baseball by MLB.com, returns from Triple-A Tacoma to make his third start of this season and sixth of his career. He split a pair of outings on June 30 and July 6 versus Houston and the Chicago White Sox, giving up four runs over 10 innings.

The 21-year-old righty has missed a large part of this season due to a shoulder injury and has gone 5-1 with a 3.24 earned run average in 10 minor league starts in 2014. That includes a pair with Tacoma since being sent back down in early July.

Walker, 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA in his career, is looking to get on track with today's outing.

"I definitely just want to get on a routine and just roll with it," he told Seattle's website. "It kind of sucks being out for a couple weeks, getting back and then shut down again, back up and down. It'd be nice to pitch well and start getting on a roll."

If Walker needs to learn about getting into a major league routine, he could ask scheduled Mets starter Bartolo Colon for some advice. The 41-year-old is set to face the Mariners for the 37th time in his career and is 19-12 against them with a 3.88 ERA.

Colon has not won since June 24, following up three straight losing starts with a no-decision at San Diego on July 18. The righty allowed four runs on five hits and a walk in five innings, striking out six but giving him a 5.88 ERA over his winless stretch.

For the season, Colon is 8-8 with a 4.12 ERA.

The Mets have a chance at a series victory today after notching a 3-1 win on Tuesday. Rookie Jacob deGrom hurled seven innings of one-run ball to win his third straight start, striking out seven with one walk.

"Warming up (my changeup) was really good," said deGrom. "With a lot of lefties in the lineup, it was a good night to have my changeup really good."

Jeurys Familia tossed a 1-2-3 eighth and Jenrry Mejia shut the door in the ninth for his 12th save as the Mets snapped a three-game skid and picked up their first-ever win at Seattle. They were swept in three games in their only trip in 2005.

Seattle recalled Erasmo Ramirez from Triple-A Tacoma to start and he was the hard-luck loser despite matching a career-high with 10 strikeouts over seven frames. He gave up two runs, both in the second inning, scattered five hits and walked two.

New York went ahead for good with its two-run second frame. Bobby Abreu singled and Travis d'Arnaud followed with a shallow fly ball to center. A sliding James Jones couldn't make the grab, resulting in an RBI triple for d'Arnaud, who scored on Ruben Tejada's one-out single to left.

"That was a big point in the game," Jones said of his attempt to make the sliding grab. "If I caught that ball the guy would still be on first base. I still would take the chance on that."

Dustin Ackley had two hits and knocked in Seattle's lone run with a double in the fifth as the club lost for the fourth time in six games.

Seattle has still won eight of 11 versus New York dating back to 2003.






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