8 Kendrys Morales, DH

Mariners designated hitter Kendrys Morales hit his fourth home run of the season Sunday against the Athletics.

It didn't take the Mariners long to get ahead of Tommy Milone. After a leadoff single, Kyle Seager walked, paving the way for Morales. Morales hit a ball out to left field on the third pitch he saw from Milone. It was his only hit of the game. Morales is hitting .262/.351/.415 in 130 at-bats. 

Mariners manager Eric Wedge made a change to his lineup Sunday against the Athletics, moving Kyle Seager into the third spot in the batting order. Wedge made the move to alleviate some of the pressure felt by Kendrys Morales and Michael Morse, who moved down to fourth and fifth in the lineup, respectively.

"I’m playing around with it a little bit," Wedge said, per MLB.com. "I still stand by the fact that Morales and Morse are just trying to do too much. They know they’re the guys here and I think with that sometimes you put a little too much pressure on yourself to do too much. You see both of them chasing more than they should."

Morales is batting .333 (10 for 30) in his last eight games, but he hasn't homered in 14 games and is slugging a disappointing .397.

"Kendrys is so good, the on-base percentage, he’s going to hit," Wedge said. "He’s going to be fine in the end. But ultimately we need to be able to count on him every day."

With Seattle opening a two-game interleague series at Pittsburgh, Mariners designated hitter Kendrys Morales was held out of the lineup Tuesday. Morales has spent the majority of his playing time as the DH this season, but has notched just three home runs in 32 games.