6/29/26

(Seattle, WA) It feels like every time the Seattle Mariners return home from a road trip the discourse surrounds an unsuccessful voyage away from the PNW. That was the case once again as the M’s returned home from a 2-4 trip to Pittsburgh and Cleveland that saw them fall below .500 and out of first place in the AL West. A combination of offensive woes, especially with runners on, as well as a lack of bullpen depth with Matt Brash and Cooper Criswell on the IL both cost the M’s in winnable series away from home.

Now they would be back in the friendly confines of T-Mobile Park for six games in an interesting week. Up first would be a three-game set with AL West rival in the Los Angeles Angels as the division foes met for the first time since early April. They would play on Monday and Tuesday before having Wednesday off due to a World Cup match across the street at Lumen Field between Belgium and Senegal before finishing the series on Thursday.

The unique series set-up would have some interesting pitching matchups as Seattle planned to roll out three familiar starters to the Angels while the Halos would have a couple of new names. In the opener, George Kirby would have the start for Seattle looking for his fourth consecutive quality start. Ryan Johnson would have the ball for the Angels and would face the Mariners after being scratched from a start in their series earlier this season when he was placed on the IL.

Mariners 6, Angels 2 (Game One, June 29th)

In the blink of an eye in the opener, the Angels would take the lead. Zach Neto, who has been a thorn in the Mariners side his entire career, started the game with a shot to left center for extra bases. He throttled down at second with his 17th double of the season. Two pitches later to Denzer Guzman, a base hit to right just ticked off the glove of Josh Naylor at first. Neto came home to score and just six pitches into the game and the Angels had taken a 1-0 lead.

Someone turned on the power in T-Mobile Park in the 3rd and it benefited both teams. In the top of the 3rd, Zach Neto came to the plate with nobody on and two outs and got a sweeper from George Kirby on the outside corner. Neto got the barrel to it and hammered it out to left for his 18th home run of the season. With the M’s trailing 2-0, Cole Young led off the bottom of the 3rd against the unique delivery of Ryan Johnson. A 3-2 sinker ended up right over the heart of the plate and Young mashed it to right for his eighth home run of the season. The 412-foot blast got Seattle on the board, still trailing though 2-1.

George Kirby gave up back-to-back one out singles to Jorge Soler and Wade Meckler to put two on. He got a second double play however to end the inning and the Mariners got some help in the bottom of the 4th. With the bases empty and two outs, Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch which extended the inning for Josh Naylor. A grounder to third seemed to end the inning but the ball got under the glove of Denzer Guzman at third and the error put runners on second and third. Cal Raleigh came to the plate and dunked a broken bat single into left center field for a go-ahead two-run single. The Mariners finally cashed in on an error and had taken a 3-2 lead thanks to the Big Dumper.

Kirby stranded a double in the 5th by Josh Lowe before pitching a 1-2-3 6th to protect the one-run lead. The M’s would then use the long ball to open things up a bit. Leading off the bottom of the 6th would be Dominic Canzone who has struggled a little bit since moving up in the lineup. He didn’t struggle here as he welcomed reliever Mitch Farris to the game. Canzone crushed a solo shot to the J-Rod Squad for his 13th home run of the season to make it 4-2. A walk and stolen base by Josh Naylor set up Cole Young with two outs and he was all over a first pitch fastball. Young crushed his second home run of the game and ninth of the season off the facade in right field for a two-run shot. It was Young’s first multi-homer game of his career and had the Mariners feeling good with a 6-2 lead.

George Kirby would not only record his fourth quality start, but he also matched a season-high in innings. A frustrating year and a half for Kirby has started to disappear as the fifth-year starter as clearly started to turn a corner. He would allow just the two runs in eight innings while allowing seven hits and one walk while striking out seven. Double plays helped Kirby as he continues to be the top groundball pitcher in the sport but is starting to see his strikeout numbers increase with 32 in June which is the most in a month for him this season.

6-2 would still be the score into the 9th when Dan Wilson went to the bullpen and in a non-save situation it would be Jose A. Ferrer to try to finish things off. He walked Jorge Soler to end the inning before striking out pinch hitter Jose Siri looking for the first out. Jo Adell shot a base hit the other way to make things a bit interesting with two men on. Double plays continued to be the Mariners best friend as Oswald Peraza hit a grounder to Colt Emerson at short for a routine 6-4-3 double play. A couple Cole Young homers and eight great innings by George Kirby got the M’s off to a nice start on the homestand as they took the opener from the Angels, 6-2.

Roster Moves

• Seattle Mariners acquire 1B Buddy Kennedy from San Francisco Giants for cash considerations. He is added to the 40-man roster and reports to the club.
• DH Rob Refsnyder placed on 10-day IL retroactive to June 27th (Right knee inflammation)

Notable Performances

Angels

Mariners

• Cole Young- 3-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
• George Kirby (W, 7-7)- 8 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO
• Dominic Canzone- 1-4, HR, RBI, R

What’s Next

The win on Monday snapped a short two-game skid for the Seattle Mariners (43-43) and got them back to .500. Unfortunately for them, Texas won on Monday, 6-3 over Cleveland while Houston lost to Minnesota 5-4. The A’s lost 9-4 to the Dodgers so Texas remains atop the division but the top four teams are separated by just three games. Everyone continues their current series on Tuesday.

Game two between the Mariners and Angels will take place on Tuesday at 6:40pm. The M’s have won three series openers in a row but now look to end a three-series losing streak if they can get a win in the middle game. It will be a tough night at the plate as José Soriano (8-4, 3.32 ERA) gets the ball for Los Angeles, enjoying a career year. Soriano has fallen off a bit since his ridiculous first month of the season in which he had 0.84 ERA at the end of April. Since the beginning of May however, Soriano’s ERA is up at 5.33. Bryan Woo (6-6, 4.26 ERA) will hope to end his rough stretch in game two when he gets the start for the M’s. Woo has a 6.85 ERA in four June starts, which is brought down by his seven scoreless innings against Baltimore.

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