6/30/26

(Seattle, WA) Getting off to a good start on the homestand was crucial for the Seattle Mariners and they did just that with a win over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night. Now they would look to build on that against their AL West rivals before an ALCS rematch took center stage this weekend with the Toronto Blue Jays coming to town. Building positive momentum felt like more of a necessity than a luxury in a crowded AL West and American League as a whole.

Game two featured a fantastic pitching matchup with two of the best in the division squaring off. Bryan Woo would have the ball for Seattle trying to end one of his worst months of his career on a positive note. José Soriano started the season looking like the favorite to win the American League Cy Young after posting a 0.84 ERA going into May. Since then, he has an ERA of 5.33 but like Woo, he would hope to take advantage of a struggling lineup to enter July with some positive momentum.

Mariners 8, Angels 3 (Game Two, June 30th)

We had a pitchers duel early on in game two despite both teams putting runners in scoring position. Seattle had two on with one out in the 1st before José Soriano struck out the next two he faced. Colt Emerson singled and stole second in the 2nd but was left on. Wade Meckler reached second in the top of the 2nd but Bryan Woo pitched around that as he allowed just two hits in the first three innings.

The 4th inning proved to be special for Bryan Woo. He tied a franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings at T-Mobile Park, tying Jamie Moyer and Félix Hernández while doing so. He separated himself in the 5th despite the first two batters reaching. An error by Colt Emerson put Jo Adell on before Josh Lowe walked. Logan O’Hoppe’s chopper to J.P. Crawford erased Adell at third before Donovan Walton lined out to Julio Rodríguez. Zach Neto’s groundout ended the inning as Bryan Woo set a single season franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings at T-Mobile Park as he ran his total to 31 innings on a special night.

Woo bounced back with a 1-2-3 6th before the offense finally woke up. It was the dangerous part of the order that got going as Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor both singled to put two on with nobody out. Randy Arozarena broke the ice with an RBI single to left to score Julio and make it 1-0. That chased Soriano as the Angels went to the bullpen and Chase Silseth. He walked Cal Raleigh to load the bases for Cole Young. He stayed hot with an RBI single to make it 2-0 with the bases still loaded. A wild pitch brought home Arozarena before Weston Wilson clutched up later in the inning with a two-out, two-run single. The outburst gave Seattle the lead and a comfortable one at 5-0.

The long break seemed to affect Bryan Woo who struggled in the top of the 7th. Singles by Wade Meckler and Josh Lowe put runners on the corners with one out and ended Bryan Woo’s night. Dan Wilson went to Eduard Bazardo who was not on his game. Logan O’Hoppe singled to bring home Meckler and get the Angels on the board. After walking Donovan Walton to load the bases, Bazardo gave up a two-run single to Zach Neto to make it 5-3 with the tying run on first and go-ahead run at the plate. Seattle caught a break on a line drive by Vaughn Grissom to right that looked to be caught by Weston Wilson. However the ball popped out on the dive but Wilson would be able to throw out Neto moving up to second for a big out number two. Nolan Schanuel hit a hard lineout to J-Rod in center to end the inning but we had a game with the M’s up 5-3.

Brent Suter came on for the Angels after the 7th inning stretch with the game much tighter. Julio singled to welcome Suter to the game but he bounced back by striking out Josh Naylor for the first out. Randy Arozarena would rope a double into left field for his 20th of the season to put a couple in scoring position. Suter would strikeout Cal Raleigh for a big second out but walked Cole Young to load the bases for Colt Emerson. The rookie continued his big day with his third hit, this one driving in two to open the lead back up. A Victor Robles RBI single completely erased the three runs just put up by the Angels as the lead was back to five for the M’s at 8-3.

Michael Rucker put Sunday’s meltdown behind him as he faced the minimum in the 8th thanks to a double play. After not pitching since Friday and with the team off on Wednesday, Andrés Muñoz got some work in in a non-save situation. The former All-Star continued his mid-season resurgence with another dominant outing. Muñoz struck out Josh Lowe before getting Logan O’Hoppe to pop out to Cole Young at second. He finished things off by getting former Mariner Donovan Walton to groundout to Colt Emerson tor the final out. A late, offensive outburst that Seattle put together without needing the home run gave the Mariners an 8-3 win and a series victory over the Angels.

Notable Performances

Angels

Mariners

• Colt Emerson- 3-4, 2 RBI, SB
• Randy Arozarena- 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R
• Bryan Woo (W, 7-6)- 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO

Roster Moves

• RHP Cole Wilcox recalled from Triple-A Tacoma
• LHP Josh Simpson optioned to Triple-A Tacoma

What’s Next

Seattle (44-43) now has built some momentum as they snap their three-series losing streak by downing the Los Angeles Angels. The Rangers ran their winning streak to six with a win over the Guardians while the Astros and Athletics both lost to the Twins and Dodgers respectively. The AL West remains tight with Texas half of a game up on Seattle while Houston sits two back and the A’s four back while Los Angeles has slipped to eight games back.

Due to Belgium and Senegal meeting in the World Cup at Lumen Field on Wednesday, the Mariners and Angels will be off and will instead finish the series on Thursday. Seattle will look for their fifth sweep of the season but Walbert Ureña (5-6, 3.14 ERA) will look to prevent that. Ureña was outstanding in May (1.64 ERA) but was much average in June (4.28 ERA) and will hope to start July on a high note after allowing a career high seven runs in his last start against the A’s. Bryce Miller (3-2, 1.97 ERA) will hope to complete the sweep on Thursday. Miller gave up a season high three runs against Pittsburgh his last time out but also struck out a season high 11 batters. First pitch is at 6:40pm Thursday night.

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