Some thought the Seattle Mariners were waving the white flag when they sent closer Paul Sewald to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the trade deadline.
Guess again.
Andres Munoz earned a save by striking out the side Thursday in a 5-3 win against the host Los Angeles Angels, then Matt Brash fanned a pair on Friday as the Mariners triumphed 9-7 in Anaheim, Calif.
The four-game series between the teams will continue Saturday night as Mariners right-hander George Kirby (9-8, 3.43 ERA) takes the mound opposing Angels lefty Tyler Anderson (5-2, 4.98).
Munoz, who likely is going to get most of the save opportunities, was given Friday off after pitching the previous two days.
Brash allowed a bloop single and a walk leading off the ninth to bring up Shohei Ohtani, who leads the majors with 40 home runs.
Brash struck out Ohtani on three pitches, the last a fastball well above the top of the strike zone. The right-hander then fanned C.J. Cron, getting him to flail at a sinker low and away, before Mike Moustakas flew out to shallow left field to end the game.
“I was trying to make it just like every other outing, but there’s always going to be a little more pressure on in the ninth,” Brash said. “I was really happy I was able to bear down there. … The team is playing really well, so I was just happy to help us get us a win.”
Ty France, Dylan Moore, Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh homered for Seattle, which won for the eighth time in its past 10 games and remained 2 1/2 games out of the American League’s third and final wild-card berth.
Eugenio Suarez drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, giving him RBIs in 10 consecutive games to break Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez’s franchise record.
“That means a lot to me to break that record. Edgar is one of my favorite people in the world,” Suarez said. “I was so happy when I put that swing on it and hit it up the middle.”
The Angels were buyers at the trade deadline in an effort to make a playoff push before Ohtani becomes a free agent in the offseason. Los Angeles, however, lost its fourth game in a row and dropped five games back in the wild-card race.
Luis Rengifo, Mickey Moniak and Moustakas went deep in Friday’s game for the Angels, who never led.
“Positives is winning games, and we’re not right now. We had plenty of offense. We’ve got to get ahead of hitters. The walks killed us,” said Angels manager Phil Nevin, whose staff issued seven base on balls. “We have to fix things. This isn’t the time to let guys work through things. We talk about urgency. Everything is still in front of us.”
Kirby, an AL All-Star, didn’t get a decision in the Mariners’ 6-2 victory against the visiting Boston Red Sox on Monday despite allowing just one run in five innings.
Kirby is 2-3 with a 3.86 ERA in five career starts against the Angels. He lost to them 7-3 on April 3 in Seattle, giving up four runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Anderson allowed just one run in 6 1/3 innings Sunday at Toronto but didn’t get a decision as the Angels won 3-2 in 10 innings. He’s 1-1 with a 5.68 ERA in four starts against Seattle, for whom he pitched in 2021.
–Field Level Media
