8/6/23

Mariners 3, Angels 2 (10)

(Anaheim, CA) In a very strong AL West, the Seattle Mariners have actually played extremely well against their division rivals. They have had their issues against the first place Texas Rangers (1-5) but coming into Sunday’s finale against the Los Angeles Angels, the Mariners were 16-6 against the rest of the division. Sunday was also a chance to sweep a four-game series against the Angels and potentially bury them in the race for the postseason. Two young starting pitchers racked up the strikeouts but neither factored in the final decision. The Seattle bullpen would be the big factor in the decision as they allowed just one hit in the final five innings to lift the M’s to an extra-innings win and a sweep by a final score of 3-2.

The very first pitch of the game could not have gone any better for the Mariners. J.P. Crawford jumped on a fastball right down the heart of the plate and sent out a quick solo shot to make it 1-0 immediately in favor of the Mariners. In what has been the best all-around season in the career of J.P. Crawford, he had now recorded a new single season career high in home runs with his 10th long ball of 2023. The captain had the team rolling early.

Bryce Miller did have a good outing but did not get off to a good start. After striking out Luis Rengifo to begin the game, both Shohei Ohtani and Brandon Drury singled to put a couple of runners on base. Mike Moustakas continued his really good series against the M’s by slapping a pitch on the outside corner down the left field line for a base hit. Ohtani was able to score easily on the 12th double of the season for Moustakas while Drury stopped at third with the score tied 1-1. Miller was able to battle back in the inning by striking out Randal Grichuk and Mickey Moniak to end the inning and leave the two runners stranded with the game tied.

For the next four innings, it was a strikeout fest for both Miller and Angel starter Chase Silseth. Miller matched a career high in strikeouts in just five innings of work as he struck out 10 and allowed just one run on five hits while not walking a single batter in his outing. Silseth on the other hand set a new career high in strikeouts with 12 over seven innings while allowing two runs on four hits with just one walk allowed. The home plate umpire definitely helped out both pitchers with a larger strike zone than usual and both pitchers knew it. It was a great battle between two young starters that showcased that they can carry their rotations in the near future.

Silseth did not make many mistakes but two of them were really capitalized on by Mariner bats. Teoscar Hernandez had a strong day for the Mariners and his big hit came in the top of the 7th. Silseth challenged Hernandez with a fastball at the top of the zone and Teo smoked it out to left field for his 17th home run of the season. The solo blast put the M’s back in front at 2-1.

Trent Thornton was the second reliever used by Scott Servais as he came in to pitch the bottom of the 7th. This would be the half inning where the Angels got their one hit against the Seattle bullpen and it would be a big one. With two outs, Thornton made his first mistake as a Mariner as he hung a sweeper right in the middle of the plate to Matt Thaiss. Thaiss would destroy the breaking ball and sent it 419-feet for his seventh home run of the season. The solo blast tied the game up at 2-2 late in the game.

Seattle would put runners in scoring position in both the 8th and 9th but couldn’t push across a run while the Angels could not even get a baserunner. That sent the game to the 10th where Ty France started on second with Jaime Barria pitching for the Angels. Barria would record a huge strikeout when he got J.P. Crawford swinging to begin the inning. That allowed the Angels to intentionally walk the red hot Julio Rodriguez to put the double play in order. Eugenio Suarez stepped to the plate one day removed from having his stretch of ten straight games with an RBI snapped. A new streak would begin in this one. Geno battled in a tough AB and won that battle with a base hit down the left field line. France scored from second and Julio went to third where he would come off the bag and was tagged out for an important second out. Instead of runners on the corners with one out, Seattle had a runner on first with two outs when Cal Raleigh lined out to end the inning. Seattle had taken advantage of their free runner and now they needed to stop the Angels from doing the same.

Tayler Saucedo pitched a very quick 9th which allowed him to stay on for the 10th with both Brash and Muñoz unavailable do to their recent usage. Mickey Moniak started at second but would stay there as Saucedo struck out Hunter Renfroe looking on a pitch that was off the plate but again a bigger strike zone from the umpire resulted in the first out. Saucedo then got another call to get ahead of Chad Wallach before getting him to fly out to left for out number two with Moniak still at second. Saucedo then took advantage of the extra room off the plate that was being called a strike to get C.J. Cron to chase a couple of pitches for the final out as Saucedo finished off the biggest outing of his career to finish off the four game sweep with the Mariners getting the 3-2 win.

Winners of five in a row as well as five series in a row, Seattle (60-52) now sits 2.5 games behind Toronto for the final Wild Card spot and six games behind the Texas Rangers for the division lead heading into an off day on Monday. On Tuesday at 6:40pm, the Mariners will begin a two-game series with the San Diego Padres (55-57) who are climbing their way back to .500. Logan Gilbert (9-5, 3.86 ERA) will look for his 10th win of the season when he pitches in the opener. Gilbert pitched very well in San Diego earlier in the year when he went seven innings one run ball while allowing only three hits and two walks while striking out six. The Mariners have won the last six games started by Gilbert but do not know who they will face as the Padres have not yet announced their starter.

Matt’s Takeaways

Everyone apologize for doubting the Mariners and writing off the rest of the season. I am guilty of this as well. This series was so reminiscent of the last couple of years. The M’s winning close games behind some great pitching, big hits, and unlikely heroes. Not only did they get four wins, but they might have buried another Wild Card contender as well along the way. Julio Rodriguez deserves a lot of credit for the reason hot stretch for the Mariners as he as started playing his best baseball of the season. Eugenio Suarez also has been an RBI machine as of late and his defense continues to be outstanding. The catching duo of Cal Raleigh and Tom Murphy have been arguably the best in baseball as both of those guys can hit for absurd power. Cade Marlowe has been sensational especially with Jarred Kelenic’s injury and he could return next month for a stretch run. The bullpen hasn’t skipped a beat with the trade of Paul Sewald and the rotation continues to give this team a chance to win every single night.

But it is time to talk about the MVP of the 2023 Seattle Mariners. Regardless of how this season turns out, J.P. Crawford should be getting more love than any other player on this team because he has been the best player on this team. A guy that is always on base and just setting up the big bats behind him is what every team dreams of at the top of the order. Mix in the fact that Crawford is hitting .256 with runners in scoring position and does not chase bad pitches either makes him even more effective. Then there’s the defense. The shortstop on any team will have the most errors because they get the most action in the field. So defensively, Crawford has been sensational. Some of the plays he makes get overlooked because of how often he makes them and how easy he makes them look. Lastly, this is the leader of this team. Fans love him, players love him, and coaches love him. Nobody has been more consistent this season than J.P. Crawford. Other guys deserve the credit if the M’s make the playoffs. J.P. Crawford is the biggest reason why the Mariners have kept their heads above water. The 2023 Seattle Mariners MVP is J.P. Crawford.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Bryce Miller (ND)- 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO
• Teoscar Hernandez- 3-4, 2B, HR, RBI, R
• J.P. Crawford- 1-5, HR, RBI, R

Angels

• Chase Silseth (ND)- 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 12 SO
• Mike Moustakas- 2-4, 2B, RBI
• Matt Thaiss- 1-3, HR, RBI, R

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