Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager is on pace for the second-best slugging percentage in a single season at Safeco Field for players with at least 150 plate appearances.
A hat tip to Stats Inc., for this tidbit.
Seager entered Saturday with a .586 slugging percentage in 269 plate appearances in 68 games this season at Safeco.
The only player to do better is Ken Griffey Jr., who slugged .616 over 178 plate appearances in 42 games in 1999 after the park’s mid-July opening. He slugged .618 over 165 plate appearances that year in 37 games at the Kingdome.
Bret Boone holds the record for the highest slugging percentage in a full season at Safeco with a .580 mark in 2001. Edgar Martinez is next at .563 in 2000, followed by Raul Ibanez’s .553 in 2006.
National punishment
The Mariners entered Saturday with a 10-game losing streak against the Nationals, which began when the Montreal franchise relocated to Washington after the 2004 season.
In 2004, by the way, the Mariners swept a three-game series against the Expos at Safeco Field.
The 10-game skid is one shy of the interleague record. Oakland posted 11 straight victories over Pittsburgh before the Pirates broke through with a 5-0 victory on July 10, 2013.
Minor details
Right-hander Victor Sanchez, one of the Mariners’ top pitching prospects, is likely to make five starts in winter ball for the Caracas Lions, according to the Venezuelan newspaper LÃder en Deportes.
Sanchez, 19, is a native Venezuelan who is completing his third professional season. He is 7-6 with a 3.99 ERA in 22 starts at Double-A Jackson.
A former member of the Everett AquaSox, Sanchez was ranked by Baseball America as the Mariners’ No. 7 overall prospect prior to the season.
Looking back
It was 24 years ago Sunday ? Aug. 31, 1990 ? that Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Sr. played together for the first time in the same lineup.
Both Griffeys had singles in a three-run first inning that carried the Mariners to 5-2 victory over Kansas City at the Kingdome. Randy Johnson earned the victory.
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