6/10/23

Mariners 6, Angels 2

(Anaheim, CA) The sweet sound of the crack of the bat soothed the woes of Mariner fans on Saturday night as the offense broke out of their road trip funk in Anaheim. Seattle recorded a season-high 16 hits in game two of the three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. Bryan Woo also looked much better in his second career start against another tricky lineup and let the bullpen shutdown the Angels the rest of the way. The Mariners were able to take game two to force a rubber game with a 6-2 win.

Seattle got a couple of base runners in the first two innings but couldn’t push an early run across. Bryan Woo struck out four Angels in the first two innings which kept things scoreless until the 3rd. A one-out single for J.P. Crawford seemed harmless for Los Angeles but Julio Rodriguez had other ideas. The 2022 AL Rookie of the Year got a 2-2 changeup in the middle of the plate and rocketed it towards the rocks in left center for his 12th home run of the year, giving the M’s a 2-0 lead. Ty France followed with a double and Teoscar Hernandez snuck a grounder through the infield to extend the lead to 3-0 later in the inning.

Los Angeles would answer back in the home half of the inning. After Zach Neto singled with one out, Bryan Woo got Mickey Moniak to pop out to Eugenio Suarez at third for the second out. Woo still had his hands full with Shohei Ohtani coming to the plate. Woo tried to get in on the hands of Ohtani with sliders and got Ohtani to rip through the first one. The second slider would be well in off the plate but it did not matter. Ohtani got the barrel to hit and crushed his 18th home run of 2023. The two-run shot was a big answer for the Angels cutting the Mariner lead to 3-2.

A little bit of breathing room was created for the M’s in the top of the 4th. Eugenio Suarez and AJ Pollock both singled to put runners on first and second with one out. Tom Murphy would get jammed badly, but blooped it into no man’s land for a base hit to score Suarez and make it 4-2 Seattle. J.P. Crawford followed that with his second hit of the ballgame into center field. Pollock scored from second to widen the lead to 5-2.

Bryan Woo found himself in a lot of trouble in the bottom of the 5th. With Gio Urshela on first and two outs, Mickey Moniak kept the inning alive with his sixth double of the season to put runners on second and third with the tying run at the plate. That tying run would come in the form of Shohei Ohtani. Scott Servais went to the bullpen, ending Woo’s day one out shy of being in line for his first career win. Gabe Speier came on for a lefty on lefty matchup and ran the count full with Mike Trout on deck. Speier busted out the slider on the 3-2 pitch and home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi gave Speier the call, punching out Ohtani looking to end the inning. It also ended the night for Angels manager Phil Nevin who was ejected after the strike three call, leaving the game with his team trailing still 5-2.

Seattle’s bullpen was brilliant during the rest of the game while the offense continued to work. Jarred Kelenic’s 16th double of the season was almost erased when he over slid the bag at second, but Kelenic was able to get back before he was tagged out. That put runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the 7th and Geno would come through. Suarez smoked a ball into left field for a base hit to score Teoscar Hernandez and open that lead a little bit more to 6-2.

Andres Muñoz was the star of the show for the Mariner bullpen on Saturday. Muñoz faced the top four guys in the Angel lineup and after getting Mickey Moniak to groundout to end the bottom of the 7th, was even better in the bottom of the 8th. Muñoz struck out Ohtani, Trout, and Anthony Rendon in order to really kill any last gasp Los Angeles might have. Paul Sewald came in to close the game in the 9th but the Angels made him work. It took Sewald 26 pitches, and a fantastic catch in left field by AJ Pollock, to finish the game and give the Mariners the 6-2 win, ending the Angels five-game winning streak.

The rubber game of the three-game series will take place on Sunday at the very specific time of 1:07pm. Seattle (31-32) changed the rotation for the finale and pushed Bryce Miller’s next start back to Monday. As a result, Logan Gilbert (4-3, 3.80 ERA) will get the nod in the finale. Gilbert was brilliant his last time out in San Diego and will try to find a bit more consistency in SoCal. For the Los Angeles Angels (35-31), they will go with Griffin Canning (4-2, 4.47 ERA) who hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his last four starts.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Julio Rodriguez- 3-5, HR, 2 RBI, R
• J.P. Crawford- 4-5, 2B, RBI, R
• Bryan Woo (ND)- 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO

Angels

• Shohei Ohtani- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Zach Neto- 2-3, R
• Patrick Sandoval (L, 3-6)- 5 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO

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