Donovan

Solano

Solano will get a weekend to show the Rangers what he can do with Josh Smith heading to the paternity list. The 37-year-old has hit .252/.295/.344 with three homers and 21 RBI in 176 plate appearances at the big league level this season with the Mariners.

Solano provides the injury-ravaged Rangers with some emergency organizational depth at the cold corner for the final two weeks of the season. The 37-year-old veteran was cut loose by the division-rival Mariners last week after batting an abysmal .252/.295/.344 over 176 plate appearances this season.

That the Mariners waited until Solano would be postseason ineligible for another team to do this doesn’t seem quite right. Solano hit .252/.295/.344 in 176 plate appearances for the Mariners, but that was because of an awful start. He was at .324/.375/.461 in 112 plate appearances since May 20. Still, the team had mostly stopped using him while more often turning to Mitch Garver.

It appears to be just a routine night off with left-hander Sean Manaea toeing the slab for the Mets. Naylor has been terrific in his first 18 games with the M’s, slashing .292/.352/.523 with four homers, 10 RBI and a whopping 11 stolen bases in 72 plate appearances. Donovan Solano will start at first base and bat seventh for the M’s on Friday evening in New York.

Both Mariners’ skipper Dan Wilson and Naylor himself played down the extent of the injury and the expectation is that the 28-year-old slugger will be able to return to the Mariners’ starting lineup on Saturday. Donovan Solano will start in his place at first base on Friday night and will bat seventh against Drew Rasmussen and the Rays.

Naylor took a couple of big hacks against Shane Smith in the third inning and appeared to grimace and grab at his side after one of them. He was them replaced by Donovan Solano at first base when the Mariners took the field the next half inning. Expect the team to provide an update on his status as soon as more information becomes available.

Solano got the Mariners on the board first with an RBI triple in the second inning on a ball that Parker Meadows dove for and couldn’t come up with. He also led off the fifth inning with a walk and scored on an RBI single by J.P. Crawford. Solano then singled in the ninth inning and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Crawford. On the season, the 37-year-old is hitting .254/.296/.352 with three homers and 19 RBI.

Solano didn’t even enter the game until the eighth inning as a pinch-hitter and he still got three plate appearances. He drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single in the 10th inning and then plated another with a go-ahead RBI ground out in the 12th. On the season, the 37-year-old infielder is slashing .258/.295/.355 with three homers and 18 RBI.

Solano doesn’t carry much fantasy value at all, but he had a big day at the plate Sunday. The 37-year-old infielder belted two home runs and drove in five runs as the Mariners routed the Cubs 14-6. Solano is hitting .257 with a .666 OPS and 13 RBI on the year.

Solano was a surprisingly easy out for the first two months of the season, but he’s managed to 8-for-22 with four RBI in his last nine appearances. It’s raised his OPS from .331 to .490. Strictly a platoon player right now, Solano would need to keep this up for a while to have much chance of starting against righties.