Seattle Mariners with ties to the Washington Nationals

WASHINGTON – There will be several familiar faces in the visiting clubhouse when the Mariners play a short series in Washington.

Seattle has a few former Nationals on its roster with games slated for Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon on South Capital Street.

The roster of the Mariners includes lefty pitchers Tommy Milone and Robbie Ray while the third-base coach is Manny Acta, a former Washington manager.

Milone was drafted by the Nationals in the 10^th round out of USC in 2008 after he also played high school ball in California.

The lefty, who turned 35 in February, made his Major League debut with Washington on Sept. 3, 2011, against the New York Mets.

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In that game, he went 4.1 innings and gave up six hits and four earned runs.

Milone was 1-0 in five starts in 2011 for Washington and posted an ERA of 3.81.

He was later traded to Oakland and pitched for several other teams before coming back to the Nationals in 2018.

In five games that year for Washington, he made four starts and was 1-1 with an ERA of 5.81.

Ray, from Tennessee, was drafted by the Nationals in the 12^th round in 2010.

He worked his way up through the minors before he was traded to Detroit along with reliever Ian Krol and infielder Steve Lombardozzi for veteran starter Doug Fister on Dec. 2, 2013.

Ray won 13 games for the Blue Jays last year and led the league in starts with 32, ERA at 2.84, and strikeouts with 248.

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He signed as a free agent with Seattle before this season.

Robbie Ray’s last 6 starts: 0.91 ERA (4 ER, 39.2 IP) with 11 walks and 46 strikeouts.

Acta was the manager for the Nationals from 2007-09.

The President of Baseball Operations for Seattle is Jerry Dipoto, a former pitcher at VCU in Richmond and in the majors with the Mets, Rockies, and Indians.

For good measure, Seattle outfielder Justin Upton is a native of Norfolk, Virginia.

He was let go by the Angels in spring training, signed by Seattle, sent to Triple-A Tacoma and then called up to the Mariners last month. He hit the 325^th homer of his career on July 2 – his first with the Mariners.