4/29/25

(Seattle, WA) With the month of April coming to an end, the Seattle Mariners looked to close out a successful month with two more games against the Los Angeles Angels before the calendar turned to May. After starting the seasons on complete opposite ends of the spectrum, Seattle has since turned the corner and begun stacking wins while the Angels have fallen apart with their offense struggling to find any success.

With just a two-game series, Seattle would have to take both to extend their series winning streak to seven and would throw a couple of youngsters as Bryce Miller and Emerson Hancock would take the ball to face a Mike Trout led lineup in Trout’s first game in Seattle since April of 2023. A couple of familiar faces would oppose the Mariners as Jack Kochanowicz faced the M’s for the first time since his MLB debut last season. Former Mariner, Tyler Anderson would then get the ball in game two looking to slow down his former team.

Mariners 5, Angels 3 (Game One, April 29th)

Bryce Miller spun a scoreless 1st, only allowing one harmless single by Mike Trout. Seattle put some pressure on Jack Kochanowicz in the home half as Julio Rodríguez continued to ambush first pitches with a single on the first pitch from Kochanowicz. Jorge Polanco and Cal Raleigh both followed with walks to load the bases with nobody out before the Mariners turned back into the offense from 2024. Randy Arozarena hit a hard grounder to Zach Neto at shortstop and he would cut down Julio at the plate for the first out. A couple of infield pop ups by Rowdy Tellez and J.P. Crawford would squander the opportunity as Seattle left them loaded in the opening inning.

Walks were an issue on Tuesday for Bryce Miller and his first two walks came in the 2nd. A double play hit into by Luis Rengifo helped erase that threat and Seattle put together another rally in the home half. With one out, Miles Mastrobuoni walked before Leo Rivas dunked a single right on the chalk down the left field line. J-Rod sent a fly ball to center that was handled by Jo Adell for the second out while Mastrobuoni moved up to third. That would bring the reigning American League Player of the Week, Jorge Polanco to the plate and he picked up where he left off on Sunday. Polanco worked a full count before Kochanowicz let a sinker get too much of the outside corner. Polanco roped it into right center field and elevated it enough to get out of the park. Polanco’s eighth home run of the season was a three-run blast and gave the M’s a 3-0 lead.

Jack Kochanowicz settled in after that and only allowed two more baserunners in the rest of his outing. Bryce Miller dealt with a lot more traffic due to walks. Miller walked five batters which is a new career high. However, a couple of big double plays and six strikeouts helped Miller dance around the traffic. It was a lot of weak contact by the Angels which was still a positive sign as Miller only allowed two hits in his five scoreless innings.

Collin Snider spun a scoreless 6th inning as the first man out of the bullpen for the Mariners before Carlos Vargas took over in the 7th. The first batter Vargas faced saw the shutout disappear as the dangerous Logan O’Hoppe put the Angels on the board. A 1-1 cutter in the middle of the plate was hammered to right center for O’Hoppe’s eighth home run of the season. The blast made things a little more interesting as the Mariner lead was cut to 3-1.

Vargas retired the next three batters he faced and then the Angels turned to their bullpen in the bottom of the 7th. Jose Fermin was the first man out of the bullpen and got Leo Rivas to fly out. Julio Rodríguez sent a hard grounder that was stopped by Zach Neto at short. Neto had no shot to get Julio as he reached on an infield single. Jorge Polanco was up next and opened things back up for Seattle. Polanco barreled up a sinker and sent it into the J-Rod Squad in center for his second home run of the game and ninth of the season. The two-run shot gave Seattle some breathing room, making it 5-1.

Gabe Speier looked to get things to the 9th with a four-run lead but the Angels jumped on the lefty. Back-to-back doubles by Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel plated a run to make it 5-2 while also putting a man in scoring position with nobody out. Speier would get a friendly call thanks to Cal Raleigh to strikeout Mike Trout for the first out. Casey Legumina then came in to try to get the last two outs of the inning and he got off to a nice start by striking out Taylor Ward looking for the second out. Jorge Soler kept the double party going with his seventh double of the season and that brough in Schanuel to make it 5-3. A Logan O’Hoppe pop up to Rowdy Tellez in foul territory put a stop to the Angels run, sending the game to the 9th, 5-3.

Andrés Muñoz entered in another save situation as he looked to make it 11-11 so far this season. A quick groundout by Luis Rengifo to J.P. Crawford started the inning before Jo Adell came to the plate. A Mariner killer last season smoked a hard grounder to third where Ben Williamson gloved it and threw out Adell for the second out. The last chance would be Kyren Paris and his struggles were magnified in this at-bat. Muñoz would get him to offer at a slider down in the dirt for the final strike of the game. Another quiet 9th inning spun by Muñoz sent the Mariners to their third consecutive win as they knocked off the Angels 5-3.

Notable Performances

Angels

Mariners

• Jorge Polanco- 2-3, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R, BB
• Julio Rodríguez- 2-4, R
• Bryce Miller (W, 2-3)- 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 6 SO

Mariners 9, Angels 3 (Game Two, April 30th)

In the second game of the series and the finale of the short five-game homestand, Emerson Hancock took the mound in T-Mobile Park for the first time since his miserable 2025 debut against Detroit. For Los Angeles, one of two former Mariner lefties in their rotation would face their former team as Tyler Anderson looked to continue his strong start to 2025 and earn a series split for the Angels.

Emerson Hancock came out with a strikeout of Zach Neto before back-to-back singles by Nolan Schanuel and Mike Trout put a couple of runners on. Hancock would record a second strikeout of Jorge Soler but he couldn’t escape the trouble. Logan O’Hoppe drove in the first run of the game with a base hit to right and the M’s were down 1-0 before they ever picked up a bat.

A little mental mistake by Emerson Hancock in the 2nd didn’t hurt as he stranded Gustavo Campero at third. Leading off the home half, Randy Arozarena evened up the game. A solo bomb on the first pitch of the inning extended Arozarena’s on-base streak to 25 games and his fifth home run of the season tied the game at 1-1. Seattle wasn’t done in the inning as Mitch Garver worked a walk and stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Donovan Solano moved him to third with a single and a couple of batters later Leo Rivas untied the game with a one-out single to left to put the Mariners out in front, 2-1.

The lead didn’t last long for the Mariners. In the top of the 3rd, Hancock retired the first two batters before Jorge Soler did some damage. The power hitter smoked a line drive 104.4 mph down the left field line that just tucked inside the foul pole for a solo home run. The blast was Soler’s fifth of the season and tied the game back up at 2-2. Los Angeles would threaten for more after an error by Ben Williamson put Logan O’Hoppe on second. Luis Rengifo then singled to left, but Randy Arozarena delivered a strike to Mitch Garver at the plate to cut down O’Hoppe and keep the game tied.

Defense would then hurt the Angels in a big way in the bottom of the 3rd. Cal Raleigh reached on an error by Luis Rengifo at third before moving up to second on a wild pitch. Raleigh then attempted to steal third and O’Hoppe’s throw would get away from Rengifo. Raleigh popped up and trotted home to score to put the Mariners back in front at 3-2.

Again, it didn’t take long for things to change. In the 4th, singled by Gustavo Campero and Kevin Newman put runners on the corners with one out. Hancock looked like he might get out of the inning when Zach Neto sent a chopper to Leo Rivas at second base. Rivas got the ball to J.P. Crawford at second but the relay back to first was just a split second too late to get Neto. That allowed Campero to score and evened the game back up at 3-3.

Neither team put a runner in scoring position until the Angels did in the 7th. While Casey Legumina got out of the inning, the Angels bullpen couldn’t keep the game close. Seattle jumped on Reid Detmers as Leo Rivas and Samad Taylor both singled while a passed ball by Logan O’Hoppe moved them up to second and third with nobody out. J.P. Crawford put the Mariners back out in front with a two-run single to left to make it 5-3. They weren’t even close to done. Julio Rodríguez rocketed his fourth double of the season off the wall in center to score Crawford and make it 6-3. Cal Raleigh then brought home Rodríguez with a single to chase Reid Detmers with the Mariners leading 7-3.

It was a case of new face, same result. Ryan Johnson didn’t fare better than Detmers as he gave up a single to Randy Arozarena and then walked Mitch Garver to load the bases with still nobody out. Johnson would retire Jorge Polanco and Ben Williamson while keeping the bases loaded. Leo Rivas then delivered the knockout blow with a hard grounder off the glove of Kevin Newman at second and the ball kicked into the outfield grass. Raleigh and Arozarena scored and the game was blown open. Six runs came into score for the Mariners and that would get the job done. Scoreless innings in the 8th and 9th gave the Mariners a two-game sweep of the Angels, 9-3 while also giving the Mariners their seventh consecutive series win.

What’s Next

Seattle (18-12) remains red hot and in first place in the American League West. The Mariners are two games ahead of both Houston and Texas, three ahead of the Athletics, and 5 1/2 ahead of Los Angeles. Seattle is 14-4 over their last 18 games and own the best record in baseball since April 7th.

After the brief homestand, the Mariners will now hit the road for a six-game road trip against two more AL West foes. First, Seattle will head to Texas for the first time this season as they take on the Rangers in a pivotal three-game series. The first time the two teams met this season, the Mariners swept the Rangers in Seattle. Since then, Texas has a record of 7-8 and has only won one of their five series since falling to Seattle. Texas most recently lost two of three to the Athletics twice, as well as dropping two of three to San Francisco.

After avoiding him in the first series, Seattle will not be fortunate enough to not have to worry about Wyatt Langford this time around. Langford just went on the IL before the Rangers came to Seattle but has come back better than ever since returning a couple of weeks ago. In the eight games since his return, Langford is hitting .419 with four doubles, two home runs, and six runs batted in. Texas has really struggled to put anyone on base for the scorching hot Langford and the Mariners need to keep that trend alive. Langford has 12 career hit against the Mariners (.273 average) but six of those hits have been for extra bases. Another series win will solidify the Mariners as the team to beat in the AL West in 2025.

• Game 1, Friday 5:05pm- Bryan Woo (3-1, 3.09 ERA) vs. Jack Leiter (2-0, 2.03 ERA)
• Game 2, Saturday 4:05pm- Luis Castillo (3-2, 3.62 ERA) vs. Patrick Corbin (2-1, 3.79 ERA)
• Game 3, Sunday 11:35am- Logan Evans (1-0, 3.60 ERA) vs. Jacob deGrom (1-1, 2.73 ERA)

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