Sweep! Mariners sink Angels in crucial four-game series — here comes Seattle
Tayler Saucedo pumped both fists and screamed as his game-winning fastball whizzed past the bat of Angels pinch-hitter C.J. Cron.
Tasked with a ninth- and tenth-inning holfd, Saucedo – a Tahoma High School and Tacoma Community College alum – shut down the Halos in order at Angel Stadium on Sunday.
Six up, six down.
J.P. Crawford homered on the very first pitch of the game, Eugenio Suarez drove home the game-winning RBI in extras, and Saucedo capped Seattle’s elusive, four-game sweep over Los Angeles.
It was a win for Saucedo, and Seattle’s first four-game sweep over the Halos since July 7-10, 2005.
The Angels’ playoff odds are, effectively, sunk.
But here come the Mariners.
Now a season-best 60-52, Seattle is the first team on the outside of the AL wild card hunt looking in. They’re well-positioned as the fourth team in the race as each of the Angels, Yankees, and Red Sox lost ground throughout Seattle’s blistering week.
“All we’re trying to do is win series and chip away at this thing.” Saucedo said.
Manager Scott Servais’ postgame presser was interrupted by the distant screams from the visiting clubhouse at Angel Stadium, where the winners of five straight celebrated before a return trip to Seattle.
“We’ve got a fired-up team over there,” Servais said, laughing. “Big series for us, obviously. … A happy flight home.”
Saucedo grew up a Mariners fan and relishes moments like Sunday, when the 30-year-old helped down a division rival via road sweep. His confidence is at an all-time high amid a career year (2.08 ERA, 34.2 IP).
“The vibes are up,” he said. “Everybody’s happy.”
But Saucedo’s win was made possible by the stellar start of Bryce Miller, whose fastball perpetually stumped Halos hitters throughout Sunday’s finale.
Miller matched a career-high 10 strikeouts (no walks) across five one-run frames. He registered each of his first eight outs via strikeout and generated 13 of his 22 total swings-and-misses on a heater that dotted the top rail of the zone.
And George Kirby was equally dominant the night prior. He earned Saturday’s win without surrendering a walk through seven frames of one-run ball; he struck out five and the Mariners matched Sunday’s score, 3-2.
The Mariners are just 2.5 games behind Toronto (63-50), the owner of the third and final AL wild card allocation. Tampa Bay (68-46) and Houston (64-49) remain atop the wild card race, meaning the Blue Jays are likely the team Seattle will need to surpass.
“It’s always tough to sweep on the road, especially in a four-game (series),” Miller said. “We’re getting hot. We’re playing good, team baseball right now. … We’re really happy with where we’re at.”
MARLOWE’S SLAM WINS OPENER
Eight innings of Thursday’s opener were utterly dominated by Shohei Ohtani – the Angels megastar who twirled four scoreless innings and mashed his league-leading 40th home run.
His spellbinding performance throughout what continues to be one of the greatest single seasons in MLB history had Ohtani and the Angels three outs away from a victory at Angel Stadium, clinging to a 3-1 lead.
But this game will be remembered for Cade Marlowe, and what transpired in the ninth inning as a spirited Anaheim crowd of 37,701 stood on its feet and Ohtani was merely a dugout spectator.
The home faithful, shortly before an Angels disaster, celebrated their two-run advantage as All-Star closer Carlos Estevez entered for the final frame.
It was short-lived.
With little command of his fastball, Estevez issued a leadoff four-pitch walk to Cal Raleigh. Then he walked Ty France. Go-ahead run Dominic Canzone soon ripped a one-out single to right field, which loaded the bases.
In Seattle’s do-or-die moment, up stepped Marlowe. A ground-ball double play would end the game. A big hit, conversely, could help win it.
Estevez’s plan of attack proved difficult, but detectable – Marlowe would receive only fastballs, all high. The first clocked 98 mph, which Marlowe swung through.
Then strike two, another swing-and-miss on a high heater.
So Marlowe looked for a third.
“I just shortened up, went to my two-strike approach,” he said. “Just think, ‘Get on top of it, hit a line drive through the middle.’”
Marlowe barreled Estevez’s 100-mph, 0-2 fastball, a blistering line drive over Angel Stadium’s elevated right-field wall. It was time to get out the rye bread and mustard: Marlowe’s grand slam instantly turned Seattle’s two-run deficit into a two-run lead.
The Mariners had stunned the Angels in the opener, 5-3.
“He’s an awesome competitor,” Servais said. “He’s not overthinking it. He’s just playing baseball. He’s enjoying it, and he’s having a lot of success.
“Good for him, good for us.”
And Ohtani’s record-setting day – he became just the third player in MLB since 1900 to record a scoreless pitching outing, home run, and stolen base in the same game – went for naught.
Marlowe, 26, was Seattle’s 20th-round selection in 2019. A consistent producer for Triple-A Tacoma from 2021-22, Marlowe was thrust into major league action following the sudden and unforeseen loss of outfielder Jarred Kelenic, still recovering from a foot fracture after kicking a dugout cooler in frustration on July 19.
Marlowe debuted a day later.
“I always believed I’d get here,” he said. “Every step of the way, I just learned as much as I could. … I’m grateful to be here.
“Winning in the big leagues… I don’t think there’s anything better.”
Bryan Woo, Seattle’s starter on Thursday night – along with freshly-pulled relievers Gabe Speier and Isaiah Campbell – celebrated the game-winning slam only through a television screen in the trainer’s room.
“We were going crazy in there,” Woo said with a chuckle.
Woo added: “I don’t think you can say enough about (the slam). Everybody in the organization has known about Cade for a while now… but what a moment tonight, to be able to do that off a really good arm (Estevez). … He’s just going to keep rolling.”
SUAREZ CLAIMS FRANCHISE RBI RECORD
The frustration from three unproductive at-bats with runners in scoring position mounted, and perhaps turned to fuel.
On his fourth and most important try of Friday night’s slugfest, Eugenio Suarez provided the clutch hit -- a game-winning RBI single in the eighth inning, which scored Julio Rodriguez and broke a 7-7 tie.
The Mariners won their second straight over the Halos, 9-7. And a franchise record has a new leader.
Suarez’s game-winner marked his 10th consecutive contest with an RBI, surpassing Hall of Fame designated hitter Edgar Martinez (nine) for most in team history. Only 17 such streaks have reached double-digits in MLB since 2000.
He would have liked for the record to come sooner. Roughly three at-bats sooner.
“I know he was frustrated that it didn’t happen earlier in the game, because he had some chances there,” Servais said. “One thing about Geno, it’s good vibes only, man. He’s always positive.”
Suarez had his team-best 71st RBI and was atop a franchise leaderboard, distinctly, on his own.
But that’s not the way he sees it.
“To help my team is more important,” he said. “That’s part of my job. And I did it today on that at-bat.”
In the first inning, Suarez grounded into a rally-killing double play after Crawford and Rodriguez reached base to begin the game. In the second, his inning-ending flyout to center field stranded Jose Caballero at third.
The Mariners completely squandered a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation in the sixth; Suarez lifted a lazy, bases-loaded fly ball to right for the first out of the inning.
It made his ensuing game-winner all the more valuable.
The late rally and Suarez’s record-breaking RBI were made possible by Julio Rodriguez who, with one out and nobody aboard, slashed a slider to left field. J-Rod immediately burst for extra bases and wound up with a hustle-double.
“I knew he needed to make a play… you’ve got to make a good throw at second to throw me out,” Rodriguez recalled. Angels left fielder Randal Grichuk’s throw arrived just late.
Suarez cashed in on the next pitch.
“That means a lot to me,” Suarez said, with family in attendance. “Edgar, one of my favorite people in the world… and I break it.”
ON DECK
50 regular-season games remain.
The Mariners are just 2.5 games back.
A much-needed off-day arrives Monday, and Seattle returns home for a two-games series with San Diego that begins Tuesday. Logan Gilbert takes the mound for a 6:40 p.m. first pitch.
This story was originally published August 6, 2023 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Sweep! Mariners sink Angels in crucial four-game series — here comes Seattle."
