Seattle Mariners Start Fast in Shootout Win Against Los Angeles Angels
The Seattle Mariners continued to keep the bats hot and beat the Los Angeles Angels 9-5 off the strength of a five-run first inning on Friday in Anaheim, Calif.
The Mariners improved to 69-66 with the win, remained four games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West and broke a six-game losing streak against the Angels.
"Great way to start the road trip for sure," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Friday. "Putting pressure on them early on, giving our pitchers a chance to get in the ballgame. ... I think six two-out runs again today, so continuing to get runners in even with two outs — which is huge. ... Really the story is the offense. Julio, another big home run. ... Offense continues to roll and it's a good sign. It's good to see."
Seattle saw a reverse of fortune on Saturday against Los Angeles. In most of its games this season — it's been the starting rotation that has bailed the Mariners' offense out of bad situations. But Seattle was facing a rookie pitcher in left-handed Angels starting Samuel Aldegheri on Saturday. And his experience played in the lineup's favor.
The first two runs were scored due to no fault of Aldegheri's. Los Angeles shortstop Zach Neto committed a fielding error on a line drive hit by Jorge Polanco. It would have been the third out of the inning. That error ended up bringing home Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena. Those two runs put Seattle up 2-0 in the top of the first.
Mitch Garver had a two-RBI double two at-bats later and Victor Robles rounded the inning out with an RBI single that put the Mariners up 5-0. Seattle had 11 at-bats in the top of the first alone.
Five in the first 👊 #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/GKwX2HiZO8
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 31, 2024
Taylor Ward got a run back in the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run and Neto, making up for his earlier error, scored on an RBI sacrifice fly hit by Nolan Schanuel to cut Seattle's lead down to 5-2.
Rodriguez extended the Mariners' lead back to five runs with a two-run homer to center field in the top of the fourth.
Back-to-back games with a dinger for @JRODshow44! #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/HWkMNrdDgV
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 31, 2024
Mickey Moniak gave the Angels another run with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. Brandon Drury had another solo homer to make the score 7-4 Seattle through five. Drury brought home another score in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single for Los Angeles' fifth and final run.
Robles had his second RBI single in the top of the eighth and Justin Turner hit a sac fly in the top of the ninth that scored Rodriguez. That RBI resulted in the eventual final of 9-5 and was Rodriguez's third score.
It was the third consecutive multi-hit game for Robles, the second one in a row for Arozarena and the second consecutive game Rodriguez hit a home run. It was Garver's first multi-hit game since July 26 and broke a six-game hitless streak.
Seattle did exactly what it was supposed to do: win a game against a bad team with an inexperienced pitcher (even though a couple errors went in its favor).
The Mariners have finally started to look like the team a lot of people thought they would look like when the season began. Their weak strength of schedule on this current road trip should help them make up some ground on the Astros — but it might take a couple breaks with 27 games left for Seattle to find its way in the postseason.
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