4/5/23

Angels 4, Mariners 3

(Seattle, WA) In 2022 the Mariners started the season with seven games on the road and managed to go 3-4. In 2023, the Mariners started with seven games at home and it went even worse than the previous year. Seattle had a chance to come away with a series win over the Angels in the midday finale on Wednesday, but Shohei Ohtani and the Angels bullpen protected a minimal lead and the Mariners fell short of a comeback in a 4-3 defeat.

Both starting pitchers in Chris Flexen and Shohei Ohtani got off to a tough start in the 1st. Flexen walked both Mike Trout and Ohtani but struck out Hunter Renfroe and Brandon Drury to get out of the inning unharmed. Ohtani wouldn’t be as fortunate. Julio Rodriguez led off with a walk and would advance to second on a wild pitch. Ty France then walked and Eugenio Suarez continued to blister the ball early in the season. Suarez lined a base hit to right field that scored Julio. The throw went into third to try to get France, but the ball got by Urshela which gave Ty France the opportunity to score. Urshela got to the ball quickly however and threw France out at the plate trying to score so the Mariners had to settle for a 1-0 lead after an inning.

While the Mariners continued their trend of scoring runs in the 1st inning, their trend of allowing runs a half inning later also continued. A single for Gio Urshela seemed harmless especially after Luis Rengifo struck out for the second out in the top of the 2nd. Rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe made that single important when he crushed a cutter at the knees into the bullpen in left field for a two-run shot and his second home run of the season. The Angels quickly answered to take a 2-1 lead.

The Mariners threatened Ohtani multiple times throughout the game but couldn’t get the big hit to tie the game or take the lead. The bullpens would be the deciding factor and the Mariners bullpen did not get off to a good start. A leadoff double for Gio Urshela in the top of the 7th put pressure on Diego Castillo. Castillo got Rengifo to ground out and struck out O’Hoppe to put himself in a good spot to get out of the inning. Then, Castillo walked Taylor Ward to put runners on the corners for Mike Trout.

Andres Muñoz would come in to face Trout. Trout didn’t hit the ball out of the infield all day, but a slow tapper to shortstop J.P. Crawford was good enough. Crawford had no play and Trout earned himself an RBI infield single. Shohei Ohtani then slapped a soft line drive that would find the outfield grass down the left field line. That scored Ward and the Angels lead was extended to 4-1.

Matt Moore took over for Ohtani in the home half of the 7th and the M’s would get to the Angels bullpen. A leadoff infield single by Sam Haggerty didn’t look like it would lead to much when Crawford and Rodriguez were quietly retired. Ty France changed that. The Mariner first baseman roped one to the gap in left-center and Taylor Ward couldn’t get there in time. Haggerty used his speed to score easily from first on the RBI double making it 4-2. Eugenio Suarez drove in France with a base hit to left next, but Suarez was caught in a rundown between first and second and was tagged out to end the inning but the deficit was trimmed down to 4-3.

That score remained the same headed into the bottom of the 9th. With one out, J.P. Crawford hit a hard grounder through the right side of the infield for a single which brought up the winning run in Julio Rodriguez. J-Rod would hit a groundball to second but avoided the double play by beating out the throw to first. Ty France was the last chance for Seattle, but a high fastball got him to chase for a game ending strikeout giving the Angels the 4-3 win.

The loss ends the Mariners (2-5) homestand and will send them into their first day off of the 2023 season. Seattle will head to Cleveland (5-2) for a three-game series starting Friday at 1pm. Logan Gilbert (0-1, 1.50 ERA) makes his second start of the season for the M’s and will once again face Aaron Civale (1-0, 0.00 ERA) who shutout the Mariners last Saturday. It will be the home opener for the Guardians. Los Angeles (4-2) is also off on Thursday and will have their home opener on Friday at 6:38pm against the Toronto Blue Jays (3-3).

Matt’s Takeaways

I am very tempted to just type flush it and move on but I feel the need to say a bit more. Walks are hurting the M’s big time early this season. You can’t walk a batter to let guys like Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani hit with runners on. If they get a knock and earn it, that is fine. But Diego Castillo walking Taylor Ward to let two of the best players on the planet hit with runners on is asking for trouble. My biggest takeaway is the bullpen needs to just trust their stuff rather than trying to be flashy and have perfect placement.

Notable Performances

Angels

• Logan O’Hoppe- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Gio Urshels- 2-4, 2B, 2 R
• Shohei Ohtani (W, 1-0)- 1-2, RBI, 2 BB, 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 SO

Mariners

• Eugenio Suarez- 2-4, 2 RBI
• Ty France- 1-3, 2B, RBI, R, BB
• Chris Flexen (L, 0-1)- 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO

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