9/11/23

Angels 8, Mariners 5 (11)

(Seattle, WA) Returning home after a very rough ten-game road trip, the Seattle Mariners were looking to recharge themselves with a six-game homestand against one team from Los Angeles and another that says they are from Los Angeles even though they aren’t. That team was the Los Angeles Angels who are a shell of what they were on Opening Day. With Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, and Anthony Rendon all out, it felt like the M’s had an opportunity to not only bounce back and flush that road trip, but it felt like they had a chance to get the sweep. Plenty of opportunities presented themselves for the Mariners to take the opener on Monday night, but they couldn’t ever capitalize. After fighting back once in extra innings, the M’s couldn’t do it twice as they dropped the opener in 11 innings 8-5.

Everything was going according to plan in the beginning of this one. In the bottom of the 1st, J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodriguez both singled to begin the game. With runners on the corners, Teoscar Hernandez stepped up to the plate looking to extend his on-base streak to 26 games. A deep fly ball to right field looked like he would do just that with a home run. Right fielder Jordyn Adams had other plans as he went up and robber Teo of a three-run shot. Crawford would tag up and score while Julio moved to second with Seattle up 1-0. The next batter would be Cal Raleigh and he made sure nobody could catch his hit. Raleigh set a new franchise record for home runs by a catcher in a season with his 28th shot of the year into the bullpen to break his own record that he set last year. Just four batters in for the Mariners and they already had a 3-0 lead.

Los Angeles would have a very important answer to get themselves right back in the game before it got out of hand. A leadoff single for Mike Moustakas was just a harmless single but it set up the Angels next batter. Logan O’Hoppe came to the plate and turned into a Mariner killer in just one night. It was a power show for the catchers as O’Hoppe put one into the bullpen as well for his ninth home run of the year. The two-run shot made it feel like the Mariners had lost a bit of control as their lead was cut to 3-2.

Seattle’s offense couldn’t get anything going in the 2nd or 3rd which kept the Angels a swing away from tying the game. That swing came in the top of the 4th and it would be the exact same guy that hurt Logan Gilbert earlier. In a battle of the Logans, O’Hoppe would get the advantage again with his second home run of the game. The 10th of the season for the rookie catcher tied things up at 3-3 with all three Angel runs coming off the bat of Logan O’Hoppe.

Neither side ever got another real threat going until the 9th, where both teams had a chance to get the lead late. In the top of the 9th, Andrés Muñoz was on to pitch for the Mariners but gave up a single to Mike Moustakas and a double to Logan O’Hoppe to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Eduardo Escobar hit a hard enough line drive to the returning Jarred Kelenic where Kelenic was able to make the catch and Moustakas wasn’t able to tag up as the Mariners recorded the first out. After hitting Randal Grichuk to load the bases, Muñoz got a big strikeout of Brett Phillips for an important second out. A groundball from Jordyn Adams to J.P. Crawford ended the inning as Muñoz escaped the jam with the game still tied.

Aaron Loup started the bottom of the 9th for the Angels and the M’s put pressure on him immediately with back-to-back singles by Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suarez to put runners on first and second as the winning run was in scoring position. Jose Caballero ran for Raleigh, representing the winning run and he would move up to third when Ty France singled to load the bases with still nobody out. Then the Mariners went back to the same offense we saw for the first three months of the season. Jarred Kelenic had a chance to return and walk-off this game but couldn’t as he struck out swinging for out number one. Dylan Moore would but the ball in play, but a ground ball right to shortstop Zach Neto allowed the Angels to cut down the winning run at the plate for the second out. Dominic Canzone would then ground out to first to end the inning as the Mariner wasted an opportunity with the bases loaded and nobody out and sent the game to extra innings.

Jordyn Adams started at second in the top of the 10th and Justin Topa entered the game to pitch. Topa got the first two outs and kept Adams at second which was huge for the Mariners. Topa got away with a couple pitches in the middle of the plate to get ahead 1-2. Then he missed again in the middle of the plate and third time was the charm for Brandon Drury. The second baseman launched his 21st home run of the season for a go-ahead two-run shot to make it 5-3 Angels.

In the bottom of the 10th, Seattle had to find a way to put at least two runs on the board to keep the game alive. With Dominic Canzone starting on second, J.P. Crawford struck out facing Loup to start the inning for the first out. That would be the last batter faced by Loup as Jose Marte came in to pitch. A sinker well below the knees ended up being a history making pitch. Julio Rodriguez golfed the ball out to center field for his 30th home run of the season for a game tying two-run shot. J-Rod became the 4th player ever at 22 years or younger to hit 30 home runs and have 30 stolen bases in the same season, joining Alex Rodriguez, Mike Trout, and Ronald Acuña Jr. on the prestigious list. More importantly, it tied the game and sent things to the 11th.

Trent Thornton had to deal with the zombie runner in the form of Kyren Paris. Back-to-back singles from Eduardo Escobar and Randal Grichuk drove in a run for a 6-5 lead for the Angels. Seattle would cut down another run on a Brett Phillips grounder as Gabe Speier made one heck of a play to get Escobar at the plate for the first out. An error by Eugenio Suarez proved to be costly as it allowed two more runs to score in the inning. Seattle would trail 8-5 going into the bottom of the 11th and they would go quietly in a 1-2-3 inning as the M’s dropped the opener 8-5.

After the loss and the Texas Rangers win in Toronto, the Mariners (79-65) have now dropped out of playoff positioning as they sit half a game back of the Rangers and a full game behind the Toronto Blue Jays. There is still plenty of time to get back into the picture, but the Los Angeles Angels (68-77) aren’t making it easy on the Mariners headed into game two on Tuesday at 6:40pm. Bryan Woo (2-4, 4.50 ERA) will return to the mound after being skipped in his last start to manage his innings. Woo was hit around by the Reds in his last start but before that had back-to-back strong outings against the White Sox and A’s. For the Angels, it will be Patrick Sandoval (7-12, 4.31 ERA) as they start their second consecutive lefty. Sandoval has been better on the road but did give up five runs on ten hits in his one start against the Mariners.

Notable Performances

Angels

• Logan O’Hoppe- 3-5, 2B, 2 HRs, 3 RBI, 2 R
• Brandon Drury- 1-6, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Reid Detmers (ND)- 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO

Mariners

• Julio Rodriguez- 4-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
• Cal Raleigh- 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Logan Gilbert (ND)- 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

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