Mariners play the Tigers after Canzone’s 4-hit game

Seattle Mariners (50-45, second in the AL West) vs. Detroit Tigers (59-37, first in the AL Central)

Detroit; Sunday, 1:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Mariners: Logan Gilbert (2-3, 3.88 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 79 strikeouts); Tigers: Jack Flaherty (5-9, 4.70 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 117 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Mariners -111, Tigers -108; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Seattle Mariners play the Detroit Tigers after Dominic Canzone had four hits against the Tigers on Saturday.

Detroit is 59-37 overall and 32-17 at home. The Tigers have a 42-13 record in games when they record eight or more hits.

Seattle is 25-24 in road games and 50-45 overall. The Mariners are third in the AL with 131 total home runs, averaging 1.4 per game.

The teams meet Sunday for the sixth time this season. The Mariners are ahead 3-2 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Spencer Torkelson has 20 doubles and 21 home runs for the Tigers. Zach McKinstry is 7 for 29 with two doubles and three home runs over the past 10 games.

Julio Rodriguez has 16 doubles, three triples, 13 home runs and 48 RBIs while hitting .249 for the Mariners. Canzone is 15 for 32 with three doubles and a home run over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Tigers: 5-5, .210 batting average, 5.66 ERA, outscored by 17 runs

Mariners: 6-4, .262 batting average, 3.88 ERA, outscored opponents by 14 runs

INJURIES: Tigers: Sean Guenther: 60-Day IL (hip), Sawyer Gipson-Long: 15-Day IL (neck), Kerry Carpenter: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Jackson Jobe: 60-Day IL (flexor), Jason Foley: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Alex Cobb: 60-Day IL (hip), Ty Madden: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jose Urquidy: 60-Day IL (elbow), Alex Lange: 60-Day IL (lat)

Mariners: Bryce Miller: 15-Day IL (elbow), Collin Snider: 15-Day IL (forearm), Gregory Santos: 60-Day IL (knee), Victor Robles: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Ryan Bliss: 60-Day IL (biceps)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Seattle Mariners (50-45, second in the AL West) vs. Detroit Tigers (59-37, first in the AL Central)

Detroit; Sunday, 1:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Mariners: Logan Gilbert (2-3, 3.88 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 79 strikeouts); Tigers: Jack Flaherty (5-9, 4.70 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 117 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Mariners -111, Tigers -108; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Seattle Mariners play the Detroit Tigers after Dominic Canzone had four hits against the Tigers on Saturday.

Detroit is 59-37 overall and 32-17 at home. The Tigers have a 42-13 record in games when they record eight or more hits.

Seattle is 25-24 in road games and 50-45 overall. The Mariners are third in the AL with 131 total home runs, averaging 1.4 per game.

The teams meet Sunday for the sixth time this season. The Mariners are ahead 3-2 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Spencer Torkelson has 20 doubles and 21 home runs for the Tigers. Zach McKinstry is 7 for 29 with two doubles and three home runs over the past 10 games.

Julio Rodriguez has 16 doubles, three triples, 13 home runs and 48 RBIs while hitting .249 for the Mariners. Canzone is 15 for 32 with three doubles and a home run over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Tigers: 5-5, .210 batting average, 5.66 ERA, outscored by 17 runs

Mariners: 6-4, .262 batting average, 3.88 ERA, outscored opponents by 14 runs

INJURIES: Tigers: Sean Guenther: 60-Day IL (hip), Sawyer Gipson-Long: 15-Day IL (neck), Kerry Carpenter: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Jackson Jobe: 60-Day IL (flexor), Jason Foley: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Alex Cobb: 60-Day IL (hip), Ty Madden: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jose Urquidy: 60-Day IL (elbow), Alex Lange: 60-Day IL (lat)

Mariners: Bryce Miller: 15-Day IL (elbow), Collin Snider: 15-Day IL (forearm), Gregory Santos: 60-Day IL (knee), Victor Robles: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Ryan Bliss: 60-Day IL (biceps)

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The two-way star wobbled ever so briefly in the second, walking Jung Hoo Lee on four pitches with two outs. But, in one of the more impressive developments of his return to pitching over the last month, Ohtani adjusted quickly, executing a perfect sweeper/fastball combination on the inside part of the plate to jam Casey Schmitt for the inning’s third out.

“He threw a lot of fastballs to start his outing and kind of recognized that, ‘Hey, we’ve got ’em on one side of the ball. Let’s kind of flip the script on ’em a little bit,’” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “That’s what he did.”

Having thrown only 23 pitches at that point, Ohtani got the green light to pitch into the third inning for the first time this year. The inning started with a pop-out from Dominic Smith. Patrick Bailey froze for a called third strike on a slider. And after Yastrzemski lined a single, Ohtani induced a can of corn to center from Ramos to complete his 36-pitch outing.

“It’s kind of the standard,” Rushing said. “When he goes out there, that’s what we expect of him, and I’m sure that’s what he expects of himself. … He went out there, he gave us three strong innings, allowed us to get a lead early, and we rode it out and was able to pull one out.”

In nine total innings this season, Ohtani has yielded just one run, five hits and two walks while striking out 10.

There’s still a ways to go before he’s built up for full-length pitching starts. But every early indicator is that his potential as a starting pitcher remains among the league’s elite.

“Obviously, early on, we were planning on him not pitching with us until [he had] more of a higher buildup, as far as four or five innings,” Roberts said. “But his anxiousness to get back on a big-league mound kind of prompted [an earlier return]. And then from that point on, it’s been pretty deliberate.

“I think it’s also been helpful for Shohei to kind of dip his toe in the water, as far as logging some innings going into the break,” Roberts added, “and having somewhat of a foundation going out through the second half.”

The Dodgers, of course, will remain cautious with Ohtani’s workload (especially if he continues to scuffle at the plate, with his 0-for-4 performance Saturday dropping his batting average to .205 since he began pitching on June 16).

But there’s no denying the outsized influence of his arm, which has given the Dodgers (57-39) a tangible lift.

“It’s getting more normal, which is crazy,” Roberts said before Saturday’s game, having barely gotten over watching Ohtani splash a home run into McCovey’s Cove the night before. “I don’t see Barry Bonds pitching the day after he hit a ball into the ocean. It’s crazy. Yeah, it’s not commonplace. Pretty exciting.”

Saturday’s win wouldn’t have been possible without Sheehan, either, with the 25-year-old right-hander coming off his own Tommy John surgery following Ohtani’s scoreless start with a string of zeroes himself.

Read more: Shohei Ohtani has top-selling MLB jersey so far this season. Two other Dodgers rank in top four

After walking two of his first three batters, Sheehan retired the next 12 he faced before the Giants (52-44) finally got to him in the eighth, loading the bases on two singles and a walk to knock him out of the game.

But by then, the Dodgers had already built a 2-0 lead — with both runs scored by Michael Conforto, who led a quiet day from the Dodgers’ lineup with three hits.

And after reliever Alex Vesia came on and limited the damage to only one run, closer Tanner Scott slammed the door in the ninth; securing a much-needed save, and a long-awaited Dodgers win.

“It’s good to finally put a W on the board,” Ohtani said. “I hope that this is the beginning of a bunch of wins to come.”