PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- The Seattle Mariners enter play on Tuesday at 40-39 and with a 1.5 game lead over the Athletics and Texas Rangers in the American League West.

Though the M's are in first place, it's been a frustrating season because of underperformance and injury issues. That said, they still have every opportunity in front of them to make this a special season and that will continue on Tuesday as they travel to Pittsburgh for a three-game series with the upstart Pirates.

The Mariners are coming off a frustrating series loss against the Boston Red Sox in which they lost two-of-three against the Red Sox' trio of lefties. With no lefties scheduled to pitch for Pittsburgh, things should be easier for the M's offensively.

Even without a lefty set to throw for the Pirates, the Mariners need to figure out how to fix their anemic offense against southpaws. We discussed what the options are with struggling veteran Rob Refsnyder on Monday, and I do believe there's one easy fix for the M's moving forward, as I discussed on the latest 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast.

"And I think it is stopping the strict adherence to the platoon rules.

In fairness, some of you have been calling for this for weeks. I haven't necessarily been calling for it for weeks.

We've seen a pretty significant, or pretty strict, adherence to platoons from the Mariners where, when lefty pitchers pitch, it's Victor Robles and Refsnyder or (Patrick) Wisdom and Connor Joe, whoever's healthy that hits right-handed. And against righties, it's Dom Canzone and Luke Raley.

I think we're at the point now where Dom Canzone needs to play every day, and I wasn't always a believer in that. I wasn't always a believer in Dom Canzone, period. I think he's made a lot of people eat their words.

Dom Canzone has been great. He hit .276 against lefties in limited action last year. He homered against Payton Tolle on Sunday. He looks competent against left-handed pitching.

I spoke with him last year in New York about his development against left-handed pitching. I think he's earned the right to be an everyday player.

Now, I know he left Sunday's game with a hamstring issue, so presuming he is healthy, I believe he has earned the right to be an everyday player.

So from now on, I would say that against left-handed pitching, the Mariners should start Dom Canzone and start Victor Robles, and then Rob Refsnyder should be on the bench with Mitch Garver.

I'm not saying he can't ever start, but the automatic start shouldn't be a thing either."

As a whole, Canzone is hitting .281 with 12 homers, 33 RBIs and a .915 OPS.

The Mariners and Pirates will play on Tuesday at 3:40 p.m. PT. George Kirby will start for Seattle. 

The latest 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast is out. You can listen here, or you can watch in the YouTube player below.

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