7/24/25

(Anaheim, CA) After dropping a series to the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers, the Seattle Mariners hit the road to begin a seven-game road trip and a stretch of 11 consecutive games against the AL West. First up was a trip to their House of Horrors as the M’s began a four-game series in Anaheim with the Los Angeles Angels. A tough stretch of games in SoCal would have to be washed away as Seattle continues to battle for a playoff spot and the division.

Things have fallen apart for the Angels who looked like they would be right in the Wild Card mix at the deadline. An 8-12 July has seen the Halos fall back and likely made them small sellers at the deadline. The Halos would have their All-Star pitcher on the mound in the opener as Yusei Kikuchi took the ball against his former team. Logan Evans would take the mound for Seattle in his second consecutive start against a division foe.

Mariners 4, Angels 2 (Game One)

Seattle would put together an early threat in the 1st off of a single by Julio Rodríguez and a walk for Cal Raleigh. A double steal would turn into nothing after Randy Arozarena struck out and Mitch Garver flew out. The Angels 1st inning threat would lead to a run. Mike Trout kept a grounder just inside the bag at third for his seventh double of the season with one out. Nolan Schanuel would then pull a pitch just off the plate into right field for a seeing-eye single. That brought home Trout and got the Halos off to a great start with a 1-0 lead.

Fantastic defense by the corner infielders for the Mariners in Ben Williamson and Donovan Solano kept the deficit at just 1-0. Seattle’s offense really struggled against Kikuchi and he was cruising into the 5th and got a couple groundouts to start that inning. It looked to be another easy inning for Kikuchi as he got ahead of Julio Rodríguez 1-2. Kikuchi would catch too much of the plate at the top of the zone and J-Rod drove it the other way. The short wall in right field allowed it to leave for J-Rod’s 15th homer of the year, tying the game at 1-1. Cal Raleigh kept the inning alive with an infield single to bring Randy Arozarena to the plate and he just continued to mash in July. A slider hung in the middle of the plate and Arozarena hit it 110-mph and 376-feet for a two-run blast and his 19th home run of the season. The two-out surge chased Kikuchi and also gave the Mariners a 3-1 lead.

After Seattle couldn’t cash in on an error in the 6th, the M’s went to the bullpen as Evans day was done due to more walks than usual. Eduard Bazardo continued to dominate with a 1-2-3 inning before Carlos Vargas came on in the bottom of the 7th. He would get the first two batters faced before a single by Luis Rengifo kept the inning rolling for the Angels. A balk would move Rengifo into scoring position after Vargas had an issue with his back foot on a pitch. Zach Neto would make the balk hurt as he singled into left to bring home Rengifo and make it a 3-2 game with the go-ahead run coming to the plate in Mike Trout. Dan Wilson would bring in Gabe Speier who would win the battle with the future Hall of Famer, getting Trout to fly out to right to end the inning and protect the one-run lead.

José Fermin was tasked with keeping the deficit at one for the Angels as he came on to pitch the 8th. First up was Jorge Polanco who would fall behind 1-2. A fastball at the bottom of the zone wasn’t a bad pitch, but Polanco was able to drop the barrel down and send it high out to right center. His 16th home run of the season would find the only Mariner fan in the section and more importantly gave the M’s some breathing room with a 4-2 lead.

Matt Brash and Gabe Speier combined for a scoreless 8th and turned things over to Andrés Muñoz in the 9th. After retiring Travis d’Arnaud, Muñoz would strikeout Lamonte Wade Jr. on a nasty slider. Unfortunately, the ball got to the backstop and allowed Wade to reach on the dropped third strike. That seemed to rock Muñoz but he would get Luis Rengifo to hit into a 4-6 fielder’s choice for the second out. An infield single by Zach Neto and a walk for Mike Trout all of a sudden loaded the bases with the tying run on second and the winning run on first for Nolan Schanuel. He wasn’t waiting around as Schanuel jumped on the first pitch and lined it into left field. Luckily, Randy Arozarena was there as he dropped to his knees to make the catch and end the game. Andrés Muñoz had to dance out of danger but he got the job done to give the Mariners a 4-2 win over the Angels.

Notable Performances

Mariners

Angels

• Zach Neto- 2-4, RBI
• Mike Trout- 1-2, 2B, R, 3 BB
• Yusei Kikuchi (L, 4-7)- 4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO

Mariners Acquire 1B Josh Naylor from Diamondbacks

Before the game started in the first big move of the 2025 Trade Deadline, the Seattle Mariners acquired first baseman Josh Naylor from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for LHP Brandyn Garcia and RHP Ashton Izzi.

This is a massive first move for the Mariners. First base production has been an issue for the Mariners for years now and while the power numbers are down, Naylor is a very good contact hitter with power to go with hit. His .293 average would have him leading the Mariners qualified hitters and he can be an everyday player whether its at first base or DH. Naylor is incredible with runners on base in which he is hitting .347 this season with men on.

Seattle also did not have to pay too much as their #13 prospect Brandyn Garcia just made his big league debut earlier this week and their #16 prospect Ashton Izzi will head to Arizona. Seattle’s depth in pitching as well as their ability to develop pitching makes most of their minor league pitchers trade pieces to help the team now. Josh Naylor will be a free agent after the 2025 season and is expected to join the club in Anaheim on Friday.

What’s Next

Seattle’s win gives the Mariners (55-48) a great start to the road trip while the positive energy only gets better with the acquisition of Josh Naylor. While Texas had the night off, the Athletics knocked off the Astros on Thursday night 5-2 to allow the Mariners to make up some ground in the AL West. Seattle now sits five games back of Houston while Texas is right behind them at seven games back. The Angels and A’s are falling out of the AL West race, 11 games and 18 games back respectively. Seattle now holds sole possession of the second Wild Card spot, half of a game ahead of Boston and 1 1/2 behind New York.

Game two will be a big one for the Seattle Mariners as Josh Naylor is expected to join the team for the second game with the Los Angeles Angels on Friday at 6:38pm. In the pitching matchup, Bryan Woo (8-5, 2.91 ERA) will look to get back on track after a tough start on Sunday. Woo was not able to protect a three-run lead against Hunter Brown and the Astros but did once again get through six innings which he has done in every start this season. José Soriano (7-7, 3.83 ERA) will counter Woo as he continues to put together yet another nice season. Soriano has been really hurt by walks which he has allowed 57 of them this season but doesn’t allow the long ball with only five homers coming off him in 2025.

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