4/3/23

Angels 7, Mariners 3

(Seattle, WA) Writing recaps of Mariner losses are not fun and it is hard to really get into them. Unfortunately, I am getting plenty of practice writing them so far in 2023. Monday night was a continuation of a rough start to the season with the Los Angeles Angels coming to town to begin a three-game series. The offense was average once again and the bullpen struggled as the M’s couldn’t keep up with a 7-3 loss to the Angels.

For the third time this season the Mariners pushed across a run in the 1st inning. Julio Rodriguez led off with a walk and stole second to put a runner in scoring position with two outs. Eugenio Suarez continued to be the best Mariner hitter in the first week of the season as he hammered a double into the corner in left field for his third double of the season already. Julio scored easily and the Mariners gave George Kirby a 1-0 lead early.

Like a lot of their leads so far this season, it wouldn’t last long for Seattle. Another former Mariner in Jake Lamb doubled to lead off the 2nd. A few batters later with runners on the corners, Luis Rengifo would slap one to left to drive in Lamb. A half inning after the M’s took the lead it was back to even at 1-1.

Both Kirby and Reid Detmers settled down and kept that score the same until the bottom of the 3rd. An error by Angels third baseman Gio Urshela put Julio on to lead off the inning and Ty France came up with a great piece of hitting. France slapped one the other way into the right field corner and let Rodriguez run. Julio scored easily as France had an RBI double and the Mariners had a 2-1 lead. France then stole third with still nobody out and no that is not a typo. However, the Mariners couldn’t drive him in to leave another runner stranded at third and settled for the 2-1 lead.

Back-to-back singles by Jake Lamb and Brandon Drury to leadoff the 4th had the Angels threatening the Mariners again. It would be Luis Rengifo again with a base hit to score Lamb once again to tie the game at 2-2 a half inning after Seattle took the lead. Kirby would strikeout Logan O’Hoppe and got Taylor Ward to fly out to at least keep the game tied.

Two batters into the top of the 5th and the game was tied no more. After a walk to Mike Trout, one of the greatest players of all time did what he does best and Shohei Ohtani crushed his second home run of the season to give Los Angeles their first lead of the game at 4-2.

J.P. Crawford had a solid game and led off the bottom of the 5th with his first double of the season. Julio would then walk but Ty France popped out and Teoscar Hernandez flew out to keep runners on first and second with two outs. Once again, Eugenio Suarez would play hero with a base hit to center. The speedy Crawford scored easily and Julio would get to third to make it 4-3 with the tying run on third. The Angels would bring in Ryan Tapera out of the bullpen to face AJ Pollock and a fairly deep fly out to left followed to keep the Angel lead at 4-3.

The knockout blow would come in the top of the 8th. With Matt Festa on the mound with a runner on first and two outs, Taylor Ward smacked one to center field and Julio could only watch it fly over the wall for a two-run home run to make it 6-3 Angels. An RBI double by Brandon Drury in the 9th just added on as the Mariners fell behind 7-3 and that would be the final to extend the M’s losing streak to four games.

After an Opening Day win, the Mariners (1-4) will try to find their first win since in game two against the Angels (3-1) who have won three straight since dropping their opener. It will be Luis Castillo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) making his second start of the season for the Mariners against Jose Suarez who will make his 2023 debut for the Angels. We also know Anthony Rendon will not play in this series for the Angels as he serves a four-game suspension for an altercation with a fan in Oakland on Opening Day.

Matt’s Takeaway

I will not be writing off the Mariners as we sit here in the first week of the season. 162 games guarantee there will be a lot of ups and a lot of downs. Remember, the Mariners were 2-4 six games into last season against two teams that didn’t make the playoffs in Minnesota and Chicago. They so far this season have played a team that made the ALDS last season in Cleveland and Los Angeles who have two of the greatest players of this generation.

With that being said, I do have my concerns. Teoscar Hernandez has looked bad at the plate so far this season. That was supposed to be a lateral move bringing him in to replace Mitch Haniger but so far Hernandez has just one more hit than Haniger this season. The issue with that? Mitch Haniger has not played a game so far this season. Hernandez and really most of this lineup need to figure things out. Julio, Suarez, France, and Raleigh are off to solid starts and it looks like Crawford his finding his swing. We need to see some consistency and the amount of runners left on are big time issues that need to turn around quickly.

The bullpen also hasn’t looked nearly as strong as it did last season. But the bullpen did struggle early in the season last year. I think the pitch clock his playing a factor in that and will probably play a factor in that for at least a month. These guys are good and will figure it out but so far they have not looked like we all expected them to.

So yes there are issues. However, there is still plenty of time to work the kinks out. The expectations make this slow start frustrating. I still believe in this team. And if you look at the teams that played in the World Series last season, they aren’t off to a good start either. With 157 games left, Seattle still has time to figure things out. They just can’t let this start get worse and demoralize the fan base along the way.

Notable Performances

Angels

• Luis Rengifo- 2-4, BB, 2 RBI, R
• Shohei Ohtani- 1-5, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Reid Detmers (ND)- 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO

Mariners

• Eugenio Suarez- 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI
• J.P. Crawford- 2-3, 2B, BB, R
• George Kirby (L, 0-1)- 4.1 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

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