Lightning Crashes as Mariners Thunder Past Angels

Moisture, unstable air, and lift. Those are the ingredients for a thunderstorm. A mixture that changes the weather quickly, pushing away the sun and the warmth, and replacing it with hail and thunder and bolts of bright light that flee from sight just as we catch a glimpse.

Starting pitching, bullpen, and offense were the ingredients the Mariners expertly mixed together to storm the Angels out of town with an 11-3 win. On a night that did not lack for thunder, the Mariners won decisively. They were the persistent, loud, rumbling thunder rather than the fleeting, momentary lightning of games past.

Ariel Miranda was fabulous, throwing 99 pitches and 7 full innings. He doused the Angel bats and give the bullpen a needed breather. He had a shaky second inning in which he threw 31 pitches and yielded two runs. A sharp Yuniel Escobar ground ball ricocheted off his calf that inning because it isn’t really a Mariner game if your heart doesn’t stop at least once. He recovered well enough to retire the next batter to end the second inning, and would need only 53 more pitches to hold the Angels scoreless for the next 5 innings.

The offense steadily added runs to the board, scoring in every inning except the second and the fifth. They had at least one hit in each inning, never going down in order. Nelson Cruz drove in Robinson Cano for the first run with a screaming double (114 mph exit velocity) to the outfield wall.

With two outs in the third inning, three consecutive hits by Kyle Seager, Danny Valencia, and Guillermo Heredia scored three runs. Those runs would be all the team would need, but they didn’t let up on the pressure and punished Alex Meyer for his glacial pitching pace with two more runs in the fourth inning. Daniel Wright took over in the fifth inning, and while he worked more quickly, the Mariner still got to him for four more runs.

Danny Valencia topped a 4-5 night with a huge 414 -foot home run into the left field bleachers in the seventh inning:

Tony Zych and Dillon Overton pitched the eight and ninth innings respectively. Zych yielded one run on two hits, but settled down and retired the rest of the side in order. Overton was saved from giving up a hit in the ninth inning thanks to this catch by Ben Gamel:

You have to love seeing that much all-out effort at the end of blowout. He wants a spot on the Major League roster and if he keeps playing like he did tonight (3-3, 2 walks, 2 RBI) it’s going to be tough to keep him off when Mitch Haniger returns.

NOTES:

• In the second inning Cameron Maybin created a large divot in center field with his knee while going after Guillermo Heredia’s single. TV footage confirmed he replaced it, so I guess the Angels aren’t all bad.
• In the sixth inning, Segura stumbled while advancing to third on Ben Gamel’s single. He appears to be fine and would later score.
• Danny Valencia won Swelmet honors tonight:

• The Mariners are 8-4 at home this season and have 3 games left on the homestand as the Texas Rangers roll into town for the weekend.