Putrid offense, shaky bullpen doom Mariners in loss to Angels
SEATTLE – With an offense that is somewhere between putrid to unwatchable and incapable of showing anything close to consistent production, the Mariners pitching doesn’t need to be and perfect, but something close to it.
And the bullpen has been nowhere near perfect in recent weeks.
Relievers Ryne Stanek and Trent Thornton each walked a pair of batters in their appearances, three of those base runners scored, turning a one-run lead into dismal 3-1 loss to the Angels.
On a chilly and windswept night at T-Mobile Park, the remaining fans in the announced crowd of 22,258 showered a chorus of boos on the Mariners when Angels reliever Jose Quijada struck out Dylan Moore to end the game.
The Mariners have now lost four straight games to the Angels.
Brought in to pitch the ninth inning of a 1-1 game, Thornton retired the first two batters without incident. But he issued back-to-back walks and then gave up a single to Jo Adell that scored a run. Victor Robles’ throw home got away from catcher Cal Raleigh allowing another run to score.
The Mariners got a brilliant effort from right-hander Bryce Miller in his first outing after the All-Star break.
Miller tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits with no walks, two hit batters and five strikeouts. It was his 10th quality start of the season. Miller hasn’t allowed a run in his last two starts and has worked his last 16 innings without allowing a run.
It was also the Mariners 10th quality start in their last 11 games.
But Miller didn’t factor into the decision.
The Mariners went to Stanek to pitch the eighth inning. Similar to his last two outings, he walked the first batter he faced. In fact, he walked the first two batters of the eighth to put the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on the first. He was able to come back and strike out Nolan Schanuel looking to get an out. Schanuel was ejected by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook for arguing the call. It was the second ejection of the game by Estabrook, who also tossed Angels hitting coach Johnny Washington in the second inning.
With Stanek having reached the three-batter minimum, manager Scott Servais went to Andres Muñoz to clean up the mess.
The Angels took advantage of Muñoz’s slow delivery to home, executing a double steal to move up to second and third. The extra 90 feet mattered as Taylor Ward hit a deep fly ball to left-center that allowed Adell to tag up and tie the game.
Angels starter, and one-time Mariner, Tyler Anderson pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.
His one run allowed came in the first inning. On his second pitch of the game, Anderson hit J.P. Crawford with a changeup on the top of his right hand. In obvious pain, Crawford remained in the game and went to first base. He moved to second on Robles’ infield single and then scored on Raleigh’s line-drive single to center.
From there, Anderson retired the next 15 batters in a row, including eight strikeouts. His run of consecutive outs ended when Robles singled up the middle with one out in the sixth. Anderson then lost a 10-pitch battle with Raleigh, issuing his only walk of the game.
With right-hander Mitch Garver coming to the plate, Angels manager Ron Washington went to his bullpen. Right-hander Hans Crouse struck out Garver looking to end the inning.