The Mariners have officially recalled RHP Logan Evans from Tacoma to start tonight’s series finale against the Royals. Manager Dan Wilson announced last night that Evans would start tonight, but now the move is official. RHP Joe Jacques was optioned back to Tacoma in his place without making his Mariners debut.
Evans is recalled to the bigs in place of Emerson Hancock after making four starts for Tacoma over the month of June, the highlight of which was a nine-strikeout performance against the Rockies affiliate on the 17th. His last outing on the 28th against Round Rock was a stinker; he lasted just three innings after a five-run first inning, followed by another three-run third inning where he just wasn’t able to miss any bats. That’s always been the concern with Evans, and it’s a worrisome matchup with the contact-prone, pesky Royals, who made the other Logan work hard last night, running Gilbert after just four innings and change. However, Evans was more than serviceable during his time with the big-league club; he remains the only Mariner starter to complete eight innings this season (his final outing before being optioned, against the Nationals), and recorded a 3.38 ERA with 30 strikeouts in his 40 big-league innings.
The real benefit of having Evans make this start is it gives everyone else a little extra rest during this long, grueling stretch headed into the All-Star Break. After the team finishes today against the Royals, they’ll host the Pirates for three games before getting their first off-day in 17 days, but then will be right back at it on the road against two tough matchups in the Tigers and Yankees. Bryan Woo, who was slated to start today, will instead move to tomorrow to open the series against the Pirates. This also pushes George Kirby back to match up with Paul Skenes in the series finale, if that’s the kind of thing that tickles your pitching fancy.
The upshot of this move is Gabe Speier loses his other fellow lefty in the bullpen, as the groundball-getting Jacques returns to Tacoma without throwing a pitch for the Mariners. That’s less of a concern given how good Speier has been this season; he’s already racked up .9 fWAR, a career-high, with career-best K-BB% numbers, and has been so solid that Wilson has been able to use him not just in lefty-dominant pockets, but against righties as well. (Gabe Speier should be an All-Star, but that’s a different discussion.) Jacques, who was traded to the Dodgers for Will Klein (who just earned a win for the Dodgers yesterday) will remain with Tacoma as bullpen depth.
