Eugenio Suárez delivers in 10th inning, Mariners sweep Angels with 3-2 victory
Eugenio Suárez delivered an RBI single in the 10th inning, and the Seattle Mariners completed a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels with a 3-2 victory Sunday.
J.P. Crawford homered on the first pitch of the game and Teoscar Hernández hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh for the Mariners (60-52), who have won five straight and 13 of 17 to move 4 1/2 games ahead of their AL West rival Angels (56-57) in the wild card standings.
"Everybody is happy, and we're playing great baseball," said Tayler Saucedo, who pitched two innings of hitless relief for the win. "We're just trying to win every series, but a sweep is even better."
One day after Suárez's streak of 10 straight games with an RBI ended, the veteran slugger was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts until he drove in Ty France on a full-count pitch from Jaime Barria (2-6) in the 10th.
Saucedo (3-1) won it for Seattle despite giving up a 362-foot flyout by Mike Moustakas in the ninth that would have been a game-ending homer in all but four major league ballparks.
The Mariners are 22-10 out of the All-Star break, tied with Baltimore for the best record in the majors.
"We've got a fired-up team in there," Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
Seattle won it a few innings after Los Angeles' Chase Silseth and Seattle's Bryce Miller became the first pair of rookie starters to record at least 10 strikeouts apiece in the same game since 1906, according to MLB research.
Silseth set career highs with 12 strikeouts over seven innings, while Miller tied his career high with 10 strikeouts in five innings of five-hit ball for Seattle. The duo combined for 18 strikeouts in the first four innings alone.
"I felt probably the best I've felt all year," Miller said. "It's always tough to sweep, particularly on the road and in a four-game series, but we're getting hot. We're playing good baseball right now."
Matt Thaiss hit a tying homer in the seventh and Moustakas had an early RBI double for the Angels, who matched their season low with their sixth consecutive loss. The Halos haven't won since the MLB trade deadline, badly damaging their bid for their first playoff appearance since 2014.
"We show up tomorrow and work and play hard," Angels manager Phil Nevin said. "I know everybody is now done with us, counted us out. That's fine. We've got 26 guys in there plus staff that know we have it. They know we're still here. We know what's in front of us."
Shohei Ohtani went 1 for 4 and scored a run for the Angels.
Crawford hammered Silseth's first pitch 397 feet for his 10th homer of the season. It was the sixth career leadoff homer and the third of the season for the native of nearby Lakewood, California.
Ohtani singled and scored on Moustakas' double as Los Angeles tied it with three straight hits in the first.
Both pitchers took control after that: Miller racked up five consecutive strikeouts after the Angels' rally, while Silseth had nine strikeouts in his first four innings. Silseth yielded four hits in his third straight excellent start since getting back into the Angels' rotation temporarily.
Ohtani fouled a pitch off his right leg in the third inning, leaving the AL MVP frontrunner in obvious pain for several moments. Ohtani stayed in the game and struck out on the next pitch before walking gingerly back to the dugout.
Hernández put Seattle ahead with his 17th homer in the seventh, but Thaiss tied it again with a 419-foot blast off Trent Thornton.
"That's a good team over there," Nevin said. "They're hot. They're playing well. They're making good plays defensively. They're tough to beat right now, and obviously took it to us this weekend."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Angels: New reliever Reynaldo López went on the bereavement list due to a death in the family. López is headed home to the Dominican Republic and will be away indefinitely.
UP NEXT
Mariners: After a day off, Logan Gilbert (9-5, 3.86 ERA) takes the mound in Seattle on Tuesday for the interleague series opener against San Diego.
Angels: Patrick Sandoval (6-8, 4.11 ERA) takes the mound coming off his only loss since June when Los Angeles hosts San Francisco to open a three-game series Monday.
