Mariners Take Two From Angels

The Seattle Mariners won two out of three in their series against the Los Angeles Angels at Safeco Field. The first two games were tight where the Mariners could have lost both games or may have swept the series.

On Tuesday the Mariners had a good chance to win the game with James Paxton starting however he lasted only five and one third innings. The final score was 6-4 in eleven innings. Edwin Diaz tried to save the game however gave a home run to Calhoun in the ninth inning. He gave up another home run to Calhoun on Wednesday night as well. Diaz now working on spotting the ball; obviously the hitters can find a way to hit a ball at 99 miles per hour.

On Wednesday night the Mariners had a good outing by Iwakuma who ended up having to leave after five innings the Mariners were leading 4-0 at the time including a home run by shortstop Jean Segura.

After Iwakuma departed the game he was replaced by rookie right handed pitcher Emilio Pagan who was making his major league debut. It probably wasn’t the best place to pitch Pagan in his debut but the Mariners had used several pitchers the night before in the eleven inning game. Pagan went only one-third of an inning giving up three hits and three runs. All total in the sixth inning the Angels scored six runs taking the lead 6-4.

Things didn’t look good for the Mariners however in the eighth inning they scored four runs to take a 8-6 lead including a hit by Segura that brought in two of the runs. Angels scored a single run in the ninth inning but the Mariners prevailed anyway.

On Thursday after the Mariners scored one run in the first inning the Angels came back to score two runs in the second inning. The only two runs they got in the game. Danny Valencia was the big hitter in the game hitting a home run in the seventh inning however he was not the lone hitter in the game though he had a total of four hits in the game. Also leadoff hitter Jean Segura had another good game getting two hits along with a walk and scoring three times. Ben Gamel who batted behind Segura had another good game replacing Haniger in right field had three hits and scoring three times as well.

Though Ariel Miranda gave up his two runs in the second inning he was able to settle down and went seven innings before being replaced by Tony Zych in the eighth. He gave up a run to the Angels however the Mariners had a big lead already however the Mariners did score three more runs in the bottom of the eighth to secure the win. Diller Overton who recently was brought up again from Tacoma for the Mariners pitched the ninth inning giving up no runs or hits.

Now the Mariners will take on the Texas Rangers at home before going to Philadelphia for two games and Toronto for four.  The Mariners will be starting Yovani Gallardo on Friday followed by Case De Jong who will pitch again in place of Felix Hernandez. The Mariners are hoping that De Jong will pitch better this time than in his last outing. The series will end with James Paxton going to the mound once again.

The Rangers have been struggling so far this season like the Mariners. The Mariners will not have to face Cole Hamels in the series since he was put on the disabled list and is expected to miss eight weeks. Friday night Darvish will pitch for the Rangers. He currently has a 3-2 record and an era of 3.03 however he has an era over five at Safeco Field so the Mariners do have a chance to get after him. The hope is that Gallardo will pitch well for the Mariners. He has done a good job other than having a bad inning in most of the games. We hope that doesn’t happen this time. The Mariners now have a record of 13-16 so if the can win two of three against the Rangers that will leave them at 15-17.

The Mariners have been winning pretty well at home though not so good on the road. We hope that will change next week in Philadelphia and Toronto. With no dh in Philadelphia it will be interesting to see if the Mariners plan to play Nelson Cruz in right field in that series. He has been hitting very well as of late so it would be nice to have his bat in the lineup.

Mike Zunino continues to struggle at the plate so it will be interesting to see how much he will continue to play compared to his backup Ruiz. Neither one is hitting well at this time. Zunino doesn’t look good at the plate and continues to strike out at a pretty good pace. It will be interesting to see whether the Mariners will go out and get another catcher. It is not a priority as much as pitching though. Both Zunino and Ruiz will be pitched hit for later in the games depending who is starting. At least Valencia is starting to hit so only one hole in the lineup for now. The Mariners don’t have much hitting in the minor leagues either for catchers. Go M’s.