6/11/23

Angels 9, Mariners 4

(Anaheim, CA) Christmas in June was the theme all weekend in Anaheim and it concluded as the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels battled in the rubber game of the three-game series. A change in the rotation did not benefit the Mariners as much as they had hoped as Logan Gilbert struggled in his short three inning outing and the offense threatened but couldn’t ever put together a big inning. All that resulted in another series loss as the M’s dropped the finale 9-4.

It was a disaster right away for Gilbert. The second pitch he threw was sent over the left field wall by Taylor Ward for his eighth home run of the season, giving the Angels a 1-0 lead. A two-out double by Brandon Drury kept the inning alive for Los Angeles which would lead to another run. Matt Thaiss drove in Drury with a single to extend the lead to 2-0 after just one inning.

The bottom of the 2nd wasn’t much better despite starting off that way. Two quick outs gave the impression that the young Mariner started had figured things out. Zach Neto showed that mistakes were still being made. The Angels’ rookie tomahawked a fastball above the zone out of the park for a solo shot. Neto’s fourth home run of the season wasn’t an easy one, but it made it 3-0 LA.

When it rains, it pours and Gilbert found that out on the sunny Sunday. In the bottom of the 3rd, back-to-back singled by Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout set the stage for another big inning for the Angels. Matt Thaiss continued his strong day by driving in both of the Angels’ stars with his sixth double of the year to make it 5-0. Hunter Renfroe joined in on the fun with his 13th double of the season to score Thaiss and make it 6-0 still early in the game. It looked like we were headed for another blowout.

Seattle would work their way onto the scoreboard in the top of the 4th. Ty France led off with his 21st double of the season to give the Mariners a runner in scoring position. It didn’t matter what base he was on when Teoscar Hernandez stepped up to the plate. Teo smashed a changeup 112-mph off his bat for his 11th home run as a Mariner. The two-run shot gave the M’s some life as they then trailed 6-2.

Los Angeles did what they could to put out that fire in the home half of the 4th. An error by J.P. Crawford and a hit batter ended Logan Gilbert’s outing after just three plus innings. Matt Brash came in but didn’t fare much better as he gave up a single to Shohei Ohtani to load the bases with nobody out and Mike Trout coming to the plate. Fortunately, Trout just missed a 2-0 fastball and had to settle for a deep fly out. All runners moved up which gave the Angels one of those runs back now leading 7-2. Brash would stop the bleeding after that with strikeouts of Brandon Drury and Matt Thaiss to end the inning and keep the M’s within striking distance.

Whatever they were feeding the guys in Anaheim seemed to be working for Mike Ford. He led off the 5th with his second home run of the season with both of them happening in Anaheim to cut it back to 7-3.  Seattle seemed to have momentum after that and actually pitched a scoreless inning courtesy of Tayler Saucedo in the bottom of the 5th.

Then, it looked like Seattle was going to really put pressure on the Angels. Seattle loaded the bases in the top of the 6th with nobody out and chased Angels starter Griffin Canning in the process. It looked like Cal Raleigh was going to dunk one into left field for a hit, but a nice running catch by Taylor Ward kept all the runners put. A deep fly out by Eugenio Suarez moved everyone up 90-feet, scoring Ty France and making the score 7-4. Mike Ford was then hit which brought up Jose Caballero representing the go-ahead run. The rookie couldn’t come up big as Caballero flew out to left to end the inning. The bases loaded with no outs and only one run being scored felt like the dagger in the Mariner comeback bid.

Seattle got out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the 6th, but a double play killed the rally in the 7th as Seattle left two more runners stranded. The bottom of the 8th was the final blow for the Angels. Zach Neto’s second home run of the game and fifth of the season began the inning, making it 8-4. The scoring ended with a two-out RBI single by Brandon Drury to make it 9-4. A double play in the top of the 9th put the Mariners away ending the game with a 9-4 loss.

After a rough eight game road trip, Seattle (31-33) will return home this week for six games in T-Mobile Park beginning on Monday as they open up a three-game series with the second place team in the NL East, the Miami Marlins. Bryce Miller (3-3, 4.46 ERA) will try to end his string of bad starts with a couple of extra days off as he pitches for the first time in eight days. Miami (37-29) will go with former AL West rival Jesus Luzardo (5-4, 3.79 ERA) in the opener. Luzardo has alternated between good and bad starts this season but will look to end that streak with his second straight strong start. The lefty is 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA and three walks to 24 strikeouts in five career appearances against Seattle.

Matt’s Takeaway

While it is nice having a lot of young pitchers in the rotation, this can be the result sometimes. Stretches of inconsistency can really hurt a team that needs to build momentum before the hole gets too deep to climb out of. We’ve seen this with Logan Gilbert all season long. He is either lights out or going to get hammered right out of the gate. George Kirby also mixes in a really bad outing every three our four starts as well. Add in rookies Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo, and that puts a lot of pressure on Luis Castillo to be the stopper for this team. Love them or hate them, the Mariners need Marco Gonzales and Robbie Ray. Those are two veterans who can shoulder the load often and know how to give the offense the chance to win. No lefties in the rotation also hurts. Teams know how to hit these guys now. It’s time for adjustments.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Teoscar Hernandez- 3-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Ty France- 3-3, 2B, 2 R, HBP
• Logan Gilbert (L, 4-4)- 3 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO

Angels

• Matt Thaiss- 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R
• Zach Neto- 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 3 R
• Griffin Canning (W, 5-2)- 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO

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