The Los Angeles Angels have won back-to-back games against the Mariners, which is a complete surprise.
The Los Angeles Angels went into Seattle facing the prospect of a 100-loss season, but they beat the Seattle Mariners 7-4 as they continue to fight to avoid the franchise record.
The Angels haven’t shown much fight this year, but they did in this one, primarily due to the pitching of Reid Detmers. Detmers has been nails all year long, and he was again against the Mariners as he gave up just two hits and a pair of walks to go with seven strikeouts in six innings.
The Halos did give him a little bit of help early, scoring single runs in the first and fourth innings. Wade Meckler came home with the first one on a wild pitch from Seattle starter Bryce Miller, and Vaughn Grissom singled home the second in the fourth to stake Detmers to a 2-0 lead.
Christian Moore made it a real lead with a three-run homer in the sixth, and Zach Neto followed with a solo shot in the seventh to make it 6-0.
The latest installment in the adventures of the Angels bullpen started in the eighth, with Sam Bachman giving back two runs by hitting Julio Rodriguez with a pitch with the bases loaded, and an infield single from Michael Arroyo brought home another run to make it 6-2.
Neto doubled home a run in the ninth to pad the lead to 7-2, but the Angels don’t have a real closer and in theory they didn’t need one, so they threw Luke Murphy into the breach to finish up.
It didn’t go well. Randy Arozarena tripled to score a run, and Dominic Canzone followed up with a two-run lead to cut the Halos lead to 7-5. But Murphy managed to escape from his 29-pitch inning to bring home the win, and suddenly the Angels are in a solid position to avoid losing 100 games.
Meckler was the sneaky offensive hero, as his four-hit night boosted his average to .306 and he also scored a pair of runs. He’s one of the few players from the current lineup who looks like a keeper for next year.
The Halos now have two left against Seattle, and a lone win would allow to take the series and avoid the nasty black mark on their already ugly season. They’ll send Ryan Johnson to the mound in the third game against Kade Anderson to try and get it done on Saturday night.
