The Mariners avoided a sweep and salvaged a game in the series against their American League West rivals.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Seattle Mariners were able to salvage a disappointing series on a poor road trip, albeit not in the cleanest of fashion, in a 7-2 win against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.
The comedy of errors (literally and figuratively) Wednesday began with the starting pitchers.
Neither Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi nor Mariners starter George Kirby had their cleanest outings.
Kikuchi threw 37 pitches in the first inning and Kirby threw 25 in his first frame. Neither pitcher was able to get through the fifth inning.
Kirby finished his outing with five strikeouts and a career-high five walks but allowed just two earned runs on five hits in 4.1 innings of work.
Kirby said in a postgame interview he was having problems on the mound, but none of the runners who reached via walks on Kirby scored.
"I've just not been playing like George Kirby," Kirby said after the game Wednesday. "It's just frustrating. But really glad we got a win tonight and good way to end the road trip here. ... As much as I hate walks — I feel like most of the time, you walk (with) two outs (or the) lead-off guy (they) find a way to score. I'm super happy no one scored from those walks. Just got to command better."
Seattle, however, had no problem taking advantage of Kikuchi's miscues. He finished with four fanned batters, six walks (one intentional) and five runs allowed (four earned) on five hits in 4.1 innings.
The Mariners first got to Kikuchi in his 30-plus pitch first inning. Shortstop J.P. Crawford and left fielder Randy Arozarena reached via singles and designated hitter Dominic Canzone walked to set Seattle up with the bases loaded and no outs.
Catcher Cal Raleigh brought home Crawford with an RBI sacrifice fly and first baseman Josh Naylor brought Arozarena home with an RBI single.
Raleigh and Naylor each had multiple RBIs for Seattle. The former finished 2-for-3, scored a run and had three RBIs and the latter went 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
Los Angeles made up both runs in the bottom of the first and second. First baseman Vaughn Grissom brought home shortstop Zach Neto with a sacrifice fly in the first and second baseman Adam Frazier hit an RBI single in the second.
The score remained knotted at 2-2 until the top of the fifth.
Kikuchi issued two walks to Arozarena and Canzone before Raleigh came through with an RBI double to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead.
A fielder's choice by Naylor ended up bringing in another two runs after Grissom, who fielded Naylor's grounder, missed on the throw to second, which gave him an error and resulted in Raleigh and Canzone scoring. That play was one of two errors committed by the Angels and one of three total for the game. It also bolstered Seattle's lead to 5-2.
The Mariners expanded their lead even further in the top of the sixth, this time against Los Angeles reliever Sammy Peralta.
Crawford advanced from first to second on a passed ball and from second to third on a wild pitch, both with one out. Arozarena drew a walk, and Canzone hit a single that moved him to third and brought home Crawford.
Arozarena scored again on another RBI single hit by Raleigh, which resulted in the eventual final of 7-2.
The Angels had opportunities the entire night, but weren't able to cash in. They went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left a season-high 14 on base.
Seattle, for comparison, went 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left nine on and had very real opportunities to add more to the scoreboard.
In the top of the seventh, Naylor, who reached via a double, was thrown out at third to end the inning after Wilson lined out to Neto. It officially was a 6-5 double play. Per postgame comments from manager Dan Wilson, Naylor thought the catch from Neto was a one-hopper. The skipper said Naylor was safe, per the info being relayed to him, but the team was out of challenges due to using it earlier in the game.
This win was in large part due to the efforts of the bullpen. The combination of Carlos Vargas, Jose A. Ferrer, Cooper Criswell and Andres Munoz combined to strike out six batters and allowed five hits. The only free bases were one hit-by-pitch apiece by Vargas and Ferrer.
Vargas had arguably his sharpest outing since being activated off the injured list Aug. 21. He fanned three batters, allowed one hit and hit a batter in 1.1 innings of work.
"Give him credit," Raleigh said after the game Wednesday. "He came in, got the big first two outs there, that was huge. And then for him to go back out and get some of those guys out in the bottom of the order, really good. And you can add on the rest of the (bullpen) honestly, too."
The Mariners will have an off-day Thursday before beginning their final road series of the season against the Colorado Rockies at 5:10 p.m. PT on Friday at Coors Field in Denver.
Bryan Woo will start game one for Seattle and Gabriel Hughes will start for Colorado.
