8/5/23

(Anaheim, CA) Headed into Saturday night’s showdown between the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels, the Mariners had a chance to wrap up the four-game series and make it five consecutive series victory. The M’s have rocketed up the AL standings and put themselves in a pretty good position to make a late push for the playoffs with both the Wild Card and division still within reach. At the same time the Angels have fallen out of the sky. Since buying big at the deadline, the Angels had lost four straight heading into game three on Saturday. They would make it five straight losses as George Kirby was awesome for the M’s as Seattle hung on late for their fourth straight win by a final score of 3-2.

Some early emotion kind of got the Mariners going and it was from a guy we don’t see show much emotion other than pure joy. In the top of the 1st, Julio Rodriguez attempted to steal second and was shaken up after the successful stolen base attempt. However, the home plate umpire called interference on himself which sent Julio back to first. The home plate umpire said he got in the way of the catcher making the throw down to second and Julio did not seem to upset on his way back to first. When he was thrown out trying to steal second again, Julio started letting his anger get the best of him. J-Rod was visibly upset walking back to the dugout and showed more anger than we have ever seen from the young superstar. When Scott Servais tried to talk to his young centerfielder, veteran Eugenio Suarez stuck a hand out and kept Servais away so he could talk to Julio. Geno showed incredible leadership and got Julio dialed back in and that would turn out to be pretty big.

In the top of the 3rd, Julio used his emotions in a much better way. Dylan Moore’s fourth double of the season came with one out and got the M’s their first runner in scoring position. J.P. Crawford then walked to put runners on first and second but with two outs and Julio Rodriguez coming to the plate. Behind 0-2, Julio got a changeup on the outer black and pulled it deep to left field. The ball hit the very top of the wall and bounced back into play. An umpire review showed that the ball did hit the top of the wall so it would be J-Rod’s 23rd double of the season but it also did score both Moore and Crawford to put Seattle out in front 2-0.

George Kirby’s only mistake came in the bottom of the 3rd. Luckily for the Mariners, it came with nobody on and one out. Seattle had kept new Angel Randal Grichuk in check for the first couple of games but he would finally help out the Angels in this one. A sinker from Kirby stayed up in the zone and Grichuk pulled it out to left for his 10th home run of the season and his second as an Angel. LA had gotten on the board and put some added pressure on Kirby as he had to protect a 2-1 lead.

Kirby protected that lead impressively throughout the rest of his outing. Some consistency issues had plagued Kirby since the All-Star break but this was his second straight dominant performance. After the Grichuk home run, Kirby only allowed two more baserunners in the rest of his outing. Seven really strong innings for Kirby also gave the bullpen a little refresher before the finale on Sunday. George only allowed one run on three hits and did not walk a batter while striking out five. Controlling the strike zone was the theme for Kirby once again and was in control of the Angels the entire game.

Insurance came for the M’s in the top of the 8th. A one-out infield single for Julio Rodriguez and a walk for Eugenio Suarez put a couple runners on for Seattle. They would stay at first and second with two outs after Teoscar Hernandez went down swinging. Ty France has been frustrated with his inconsistent hitting this season but it looks like we are in a hot stretch for the former All-Star. With two outs, France came through, going the other way to right field for a base hit. J-Rod scored from second before Geno was tagged out trying to get to third for the final out. Great defense by J.P. Crawford kept the score 3-1 going into the bottom of the 9th.

Andrés Muñoz entered the save situation in the 9th and got off to a great start. Luis Rengifo grounded out to Jose Caballero at second and Shohei Ohtani was shutdown as he struck out in the 9th inning for the second straight game. With just one out left to get, things got real bad real fast for Muñoz. A walk to C.J. Cron and a single for Mike Moustakas brought the winning run to the plate for the Angels in Brandon Drury. Seattle would then catch a break as Drury roped one deep to left field. Luckily, the ball bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double. If the ball would have stayed in play both runners would have score to tie the game, but instead only one scored to make it 3-2 with runners on second and third. After intentionally walking Mickey Moniak to load the bases, Muñoz faced Hunter Renfroe with the game on the line. It was all heaters from Muñoz as he struck out Renfroe on four pitches to end the dramatics and give the Mariners their fourth consecutive win and fifth straight series win by a final score of 3-2.

Now, the Mariners (59-52) will look for their fourth sweep of the season as they finish the series with the LA Angels (56-56) on Sunday at 1:07pm. Two young stars will do battle on the mound as both teams send out rookies for the finale. Bryce Miller (7-4, 4.35 ERA) will face the Angels for the first time in his career when he gets the ball for Seattle. Miller has not looked like himself in his last two starts as he has allowed 12 runs over his last 11 1/3 innings. Chase Silseth (3-1, 3.99 ERA) will also face the Mariners for the first time in his young career. After pitching out of the bullpen early in the season, Silseth has made two starts since joining the rotation. In those two starts, Silseth has just allowed two runs on seven hits with two walks and 14 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings against the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Julio Rodriguez- 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, R
• Dylan Moore- 2-4, 2B, R
• George Kirby (W, 10-8)- 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO

Angels

• Randal Grichuk- 1-3, HR, RBI, R
• Brandon Drury- 1-4, 2B, RBI
• Tyler Anderson (L, 5-3)- 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO

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