Twenty years ago Oren Burks Color Rush Jersey , Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners‘ marketing department put on one of the most memorable promotions in franchise history — which is saying a lot, since Funny Nose Glasses Night in 1982 drew more fans than Gaylord Perry’s 300th win two nights earlier — with Turn Ahead the Clock Day.
Instead of wearing retro uniforms like most teams do for Turn Back the Clock Day, the Mariners imagined what things might look like in 2027, when they will celebrate their 50th anniversary.
The Kingdome was turned into the “Biodome.” A DeLorean drove actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on “Star Trek,” to the mound to deliver the ceremonial first pitch.
The Mariners’ Moose mascot was replaced by Marty the Mariners Martian. Griffey was referred to as “Digit 24” instead of his last name by the public-address announcer.
Player positions were called quadrants. And the Mariners and their opponent that night, the Kansas City Royals, wore futuristic, untucked uniforms that Griffey, the Hall of Fame center fielder, helped design.
According to Kevin Martinez Michael Palardy Jersey , the marketing director for the Mariners in 1998, it was Griffey’s idea to change the Mariners’ colors from navy, teal and white to crimson, black and silver. Junior wore his hat backward and spray-painted his glove and spikes silver.
“There were always some surprises,” Griffey recently told The Athletic. “You never knew what was going to happen that night. It was like, ‘Stay tuned.'”
Twenty years later, the Mariners and Royals will reprise Turn Ahead the Clock Night when they meet Saturday night at Safeco Field.
Royals outfielder Jorge Bonifacio is certainly looking to the future after making his season debut in Friday night’s 4-1 loss to the Mariners.
Bonifacio missed the first 80 games of the season while serving a Major League Baseball suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug in spring training.
“I’m so excited to be back with the team,” said Bonifacio, who batted .255 and hit 17 home runs as a rookie last season.
Bonifacio batted .392 in 13 games for Triple-A Omaha before being activated. He batted fifth Friday, going 0-for-3.
“We’re glad to have him back,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was swinging very well (at Omaha).
“I mean Youth Chris Herndon Jersey , the kid hit 17 homers last year. … Yeah, he was going to hit in the middle of the order, until all this surfaced.”
Bonifacio played left field Friday to give Alex Gordon a day off, but likely will be in right field Saturday.
“We are going to move him around. He’s going to play,” Yost said. “He’s going to play some right, play some left. What difference does it make?”
On the mound, right-handers Jason Hammel of the Royals (2-9, 5.34 ERA) and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (7-6, 5.10) will be looking for vintage performances.
Hammel, who won 15 games for the World Series champion Chicago Cubs in 2016, has lost four straight starts — in which the Royals have scored a total of five runs. The graduate of South Kitsap High School in nearby Port Orchard Youth Nathan Shepherd Jersey , Wash., is 3-3 with a 3.53 ERA in eight career appearances against Seattle, including seven starts.
Hernandez, the American League’s 2010 Cy Young Award winner, is 6-6 with a 3.15 ERA in 15 career starts against the Royals. That includes an 8-3 victory on April 10 in Kansas City in which he pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs and six hits.
BALTIMORE — The Seattle Mariners manufactured runs the way they’ve done many times all season in Monday’s 5-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Now, the Mariners will try and do it again on Tuesday in the second game of a four-game series at Camden Yards.
Seattle drew a season-high 10 walks in the win on Monday, and five of them helped lead to four runs. Manager Scott Servais liked how his team kept finding ways to put runners on base and cause problems.
“We had a lot of traffic,” Servais said. “We had the opportunities to score a few more runs — but we’ll take it.”
James Paxton (6-2, 3.72 ERA) will try and break out of a bit of a slump when he starts Tuesday against Kevin Gausman (3-6, 4.38).
Paxton has allowed 10 earned runs and three homers in his last two starts. He’ll try to rebound from that in his third career start against the Orioles — the left-hander has a 1-0 record with a 4.50 ERA versus Baltimore.
Gausman will try to snap a four-game losing streak. The right-hander has not won in his last seven starts despite pitching effectively in several of them.
However Youth Arden Key Jersey , the Orioles have not always given him a lot of offensive support. He is 1-2 with a 3.04 career ERA versus Seattle.
The Mariners got back shortstop Jean Segura Monday after missing four games due to an infection in his arm.
Segura went 0-for-3 in the series opener Monday but made two great defensive plays while Baltimore scored twice in the sixth inning. The Orioles could have scored one or two more, which would have turned the game around.
Catcher Mike Zunino did not play on Monday due to a sore thumb but Servais said he’d return to the lineup for Tuesday’s game.
Servais also said the Mariners can’t overlook the Orioles despite the team’s struggles in the first three months.
“They’ve got power up and down the lineup,” he said. “They’ve started to heat up a little bit. You’ve got to make pitches, you got to keep them off-balance.”
The Orioles reinstated infielder Tim Beckham from the 60-day disabled list (left groin strain/surgery) and optioned pitcher Donnie Hart to Triple-A Norfolk. They also transferred infielder Luis Sardinas to the 60-day disabled list (left ankle sprain).
However, the Orioles may have run into another problem when starter Dylan Bundy, who’s been their top pitcher this season, rolled his ankle while running the bases in last weekend’s series with Atlanta.
Manager Buck Showalter said there’s a chance that Bundy will not make his scheduled start in the final game of this series on Thursday. There also is a chance Bundy could go on to the disabled list.
“He’s still scheduled to pitch on Thursday, but it’s something we’re going to have to see and prepare for … in case he can’t,” Showalter told reporters Monday.
Showalter also said Bundy could wind up on the 10-day disabled list. If so, the Orioles would need to do that by Tuesday so they could make it retroactive to Sunday and have Bundy back on the roster faster.