8/3/23

Mariners 5, Angels 3

(Anaheim, CA) Facing the most important part of their schedule. the Seattle Mariners have answered the call with their best stretch of baseball in 2023. Four straight series wins has given Seattle a reason to believe once again as they have all come against playoff contending teams. Once again, Seattle would face a contender whom they recently past in the standings in the Los Angeles Angels in a four-game series. Facing Shohei Ohtani is never an easy task especially when he is starting on the mound and in the lineup as he was on Thursday night. The unlikeliest of heroes would rise to the occasion against the future MVP (and future Mariner?) as some rookies led the way for the Mariners as they earned a dramatic 5-3 victory in the opener.

It felt like a massive missed opportunity in the top of the 1st for Seattle that might take the wind out of their sails before the game really got going. A single to begin the game by J.P. Crawford was followed by an E3 for C.J. Cron that put Julio Rodriguez on first and Crawford on third with nobody out. However, even with Julio stealing second, Seattle could not find a way to push across a single run in the inning. Eugenio Suarez popped out to short, Cal Raleigh struck out, and Ty France grounded out softly to third to end the inning as Seattle let Ohtani off the hook early

Bryan Woo was never on the hook for the M’s. The rookie ran through the Angels in early going, only allowing one baserunner in the first three innings and he got a double play to erase that lone Ohtani single. The first time Woo got in any sort of trouble was in the bottom of the 4th. A walk to Ohtani and a single for Mike Moustakas put runners on the corners with two outs. Woo didn’t bat an eye going after Randal Grichuk and got him swinging on a heater for his third strikeout and keeping the game scoreless.

Both teams found their way onto the scoreboard in the 6th. First for the Mariners, it would be a familiar sight with Eugenio Suarez doing the damage. With Ohtani leaving the game pitching wise early due to some cramping, Geno faced reliever Jose Soriano who looked shaky in his outing. Soriano placed a curveball right on the outside corner, but Geno was able to wait back on it and drive the ball the other way. It sailed out for the 16th home run of 2023 for Suarez and also gave him his ninth straight game with an RBI which ties the franchise record set by Edgar Martinez. Even more importantly, it gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead.

After getting two quick outs in the bottom of the 6th, Woo fell apart a little bit. The M’s elected to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani and he made them pay by stealing his 14th base of the season. It would be a big stolen base as C.J. Cron shot one back up the middle and just by J.P. Crawford’s glove. Ohtani scored from second and the Angels had tied the game at 1-1. Mike Moustakas followed with an even bigger hit as he smashed a hanging sinker into right center field for extra bases. Cron scored as he was going on the 3-2 pitch and Moustakas reached second with his 11th double of the season as the Angels had taken a 2-1 lead.

Woo finished off the bottom of the 6th by getting Randal Grichuk to ground out. Lost in the shuffle of all the late dramatics was that Bryan Woo was really good for the M’s on Thursday night. Having a rookie only give up two runs in six innings while facing Shohei Ohtani on the other side is about as good as you can ask for if you’re manager Scott Servais. Woo’s final line read six innings of two run ball while allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out six.

With a little bit of a home run drought going, it was only a matter of time before Shohei Ohtani launched another baseball into orbit and unfortunately it would come against the Mariners. Isaiah Campbell in the bottom of the 8th faced Ohtani with nobody on and one out. A belt high fastball on the inner half of the plate is a dangerous pitch to throw Ohtani and he didn’t miss. The 40th home run of the season for the Japanese superstar felt like the final blow in this one as the Angels built up their lead to 3-1.

Carlos Estévez came in to pitch the top of the 9th for the Angels with a perfect mark of 23 saves in 23 opportunities. The All-Star closer clearly didn’t have it as he walked both Cal Raleigh and Ty France on nine pitches to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in Dominic Canzone. While Canzone did not deliver the big hit, he did deliver a big hit with a hard grounder into right field to load the bases for Teoscar Hernandez with nobody out. That seemed to be when Estévez found his groove as he struck out Hernandez for the first out. That brought up rookie Cade Marlowe. A guy that has been so good since being called up fell behind 0-2 after chasing two fastballs above the zone. Marlowe then choked up on his bat and got a 100-mph fastball at the top of the zone and dropped the barrel on it. A high fly ball had enough juice to clear the right field wall for Marlowe’s first career grand slam and his second home run of his rookie season. The biggest hit of Marlowe’s career changed absolutely everything as Seattle became the first team to get to Estévez as they took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th

Andres Muñoz entered to pitch the bottom of the 9th inning and made it look easy. Muñoz needed 16 pitches for the three outs but struck out Randal Grichuk, Mickey Moniak, and Hunter Renfroe in order but an emphatic close to the ball game with the Mariners earning a massive comeback win by a final score of 5-3.

Following up that win will be tough to do but the Mariners (57-52) will look to do just that in game two of the series on Friday at 6:38pm. Luis Castillo (7-7, 2.88 ERA) will try to build off of a two-hit shutout over six innings in Arizona his last time out. La Piedra is known for being a second half pitcher and hopefully that last start will be the one to really get him being the dominant ace we all know he is. For the Los Angeles Angels (56-54), it will be Reid Detmers (2-8, 4.35 ERA) getting the ball in game two. The lefty has given the Angels a chance to win in almost all of his starts, but pitch count issues have affected him getting deep into ball games. Patience will once again be the key for Seattle.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Cade Marlowe- 2-4, HR, 4 RBI, R
• Eugenio Suarez- 1-4, HR, RBI, R
• Bryan Woo (ND)- 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO

Angels

• Shohei Ohtani (ND)- 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 2-2, HR, RBI, 2 R, 2 BB, SB
• Mike Moustakas- 2-4, 2B, RBI
• C.J. Cron- 1-4, RBI, R

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