ANAHEIM, Calif. — The speedy annoyance of the baseball mosquito that is Sam Haggerty lighted the fuse. The true nature of a losing team going nowhere slowly revealed itself in the mistake-filled chaos that followed.
And as the cheers of “Let’s go Mariners! Let’s go Mariners!” overtook the smattering of deserved boos for the home team at Angel Stadium, the pensive frustration on Scott Servais’ face for eight innings was replaced by a smirk of success.
The Mariners’ 6-2 victory over the Angels on Monday night offered everything that Servais believes makes this team special — outstanding starting pitching, lockdown bullpen, timely hitting and an unshakable belief in being able to find ways to win.
It started with Haggerty in the ninth inning. Having forced the Mariners into playing him on a near daily basis, the speedy switch-hitter stepped to the plate in the ninth inning of a 2-2 game. With one out, he bounced a ball through the left side for a single.
His presence on the bases put pressure on catcher Max Stassi, who, after blocking a pitch in the dirt, fired wildly to second thinking Haggerty was trying to advance. But Haggerty opted not to go. When the throw sailed into the outfield, he happily advanced to second. On the next pitch, Haggerty stole third. After a walk to Carlos Santana, Julio Rodriguez ripped a line drive to second baseman Luis Rengifo. The ball bounced off his glove. Haggerty was hung up at third and caught in a rundown. But trying to stay hung up long enough for the pinch runner to advance from first to third, Haggerty saw that nobody covered home two throws into the situation. He raced home, diving in head first for the go-ahead run.
From there, the Mariners scored two more runs on ground balls to third base. Stassi dropped the ball on a tag of Moore and third baseman Jose Rojas stumbled on Mitch Haniger’s ground ball to third and had to throw to first.
J.P. Crawford’s single to center was the first ball hit out of the infield to score a run.
The ninth inning overshadowed a solid starting pitching duel between Luis Castillo and Shohei Ohtani.
Their pitching lines were strikingly similar.
Castillo pitched six innings, allowing two runs on his hits with a walk and nine strikeouts in 109 pitches.
Ohtani pitched six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with a walk and eight strikeouts on 97 pitches.
But really Castillo should’ve only allowed one run in his outing.
After Jesse Winker jumped on a hanging 3-2 slider from Ohtani, sending a blast into the right field for a solo homer and a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Angels got the run back on a solo “homer” from Luis Rengifo.
Why the quote marks?
Well, Rengifo’s deep fly ball to right-center should’ve been caught by Julio Rodriguez or Mitch Haniger. But since both players tried to make leaping grabs on it, neither was able to finish the play. Rodriguez, who could be heard yelling, “I got it! I got it!” had the ball in his glove momentarily. But they collided on the play, Haniger’s glove hit Rodriguez’s glove hard enough to knock it out and over the yellow line on the wall that made it a home run.
It was ruled a double on the field, but a replay review overturned the call.
Two innings later, the Mariners had a home run on the field taken away by a replay review.
After falling behind 0-2 and fouling off two pitches, Rodriguez stayed on a 99 mph fastball, hitting a fly ball to the right-field corner. The ball appeared to disappear behind the foul pole and was called a home run on the field by first base umpire Brian O’Nora. However, Angels interim manager Phil Nevin asked for a review of the play, which was granted by crew chief Laz Diaz. After a replay review, it was ruled a foul ball. The run was taken off the board and Rodriguez struck out on the next pitch — a nasty slider away. Instead of a 2-1 lead for Seattle, the score remained 1-1.
But the Mariners would still get a run in the inning. Winker blooped in a two-out single and Haniger worked a walk to move him into scoring position. Crawford laced a single to center to score Winker, who was running on the 3-2 pitch to make it 2-1.
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