After dropping the first two games of the series against the worst team in the American League, the Mariners bounced back to win the series finale over the Angels, 7-2.
It was Jo Adell Home Run Robbery Bobblehead Night, despite Adell no longer being an Angel of Anaheim. You might remember, the Angels scheduled this promotion after a win over Seattle earlier this season. Yes, Jo Adell robbed three home runs in a 1-0 win against the Mariners this year, and yes, I did almost forget that this happened until Aaron Goldsmith and Angie Mentink brought it up on the broadcast because this season has pretty much been one big nightmare that I’ve been trying to forget.
The Mariners jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first off of their former All-Star Yusei Kikuchi. Back-to-back singles by J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena, plus a walk to Dominic Canzone, loaded the bases with nobody out. Cal Raleigh opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left that plated Crawford. Then, with two outs in the inning, Josh Naylor grounded a single through the right side to put the M’s up 2-0.
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The bottom of the first started as a near-mirror image of the top half. George Kirby loaded the bases with nobody out by allowing a single to Zach Neto and walking the next two hitters. Vaughn Grissom then cut the Mariners’ lead in half with a shallow sacrifice fly to left that successfully tested Randy Arozarena’s arm; his throw came a bit up the line, allowing Neto to score. Unlike the top half of the inning, however, the Mariners were able to limit the damage. With one out, Moisés Ballesteros hit a liner right at Crawford at short, who was able to step on second to double up Mike Trout and end the inning.
The Mariners may have worked out of trouble in the first, but their hold on the lead was brief. In the bottom of the second, the first two runners reached — Denzer Guzman skipped a base hit to left and Josh Lowe singled with a bunt that Kirby had trouble barehanding. Former Mariner Adam Frazier would dump an RBI single just in front of Arozarena to tie the game, but Kirby again avoided disaster in the second, striking out the side and leaving the bases loaded.
After a quiet couple of innings for both sides, the Mariners hopped back in front in the top of the fifth. Kikuchi walked a pair of hitters with one out, and even though his pitch count was at 96, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki elected to stick with him. Three more pitches and three runs later, Kikuchi was chased from the game; Cal Raleigh roped a double down the right field line to score a run, and even though Grissom was able to snare a Josh Naylor grounder on the next pitch, he threw his double-play attempt into left field, allowing two more runs to come across.
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The Angels immediately threatened to get back into the game. With one out in the bottom half of the fifth, Grissom himself reached on an error by Crawford, who sailed a throw to first on a routine ground ball. Kirby walked a career-high fifth hitter to end a 4.1-inning start where he wasn’t his sharpest, but managed to limit damage anyhow. I suppose we’ll take it — can’t be too choosy at this point, can we? Carlos Vargas took over in relief, and he K’d a couple of hitters to get out of a jam. After five innings, the Mariners had a 5-2 lead.
Once they finally got some separation, the Mariners went for the jugular. They got right back to work in the sixth, scoring two more on successive RBI singles by Canzone and Raleigh to make it 7-2.
With some breathing room in the late innings, the Mariners felt safe enough to return to their Mariner-ing. Naylor was doubled up on a play that, if it had occurred in any sort of consequential situation earlier in the season, it likely would’ve drawn some sort of aversive response from me, but now it didn’t even prompt me to bat an eye.
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Luckily, the Mariner-ing in question remained inconsequential, as the Halos failed to get anything going in the late innings. The Mariners bullpen had one of its better nights of late, allowing no runs over 4.2 innings with contributions from Vargas, José Ferrer, Cooper Criswell and Andrés Muñoz.
M’s get a day off Thursday as they head to Colorado to face the Rockies in the final road series of the year. With the Astros losing to the Royals, the Mariners’ elimination number remains at five.
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