Mariners Build Lead, Lose Lead, And Tie The Angels

The Angels successfully executed the old switcharoo today. As you can see, Tyler Skaggs was originally slated to start on the bump for the Halos.

Nevertheless, Skaggs did not pitch today. He apparently got the day off because he’s dealing with forearm fatigue. Instead, Dillon Peters got the start for the Angels.

I blame this last minute change for the Mariners cold start offensively. Peters allowed four base runners over the course of four innings and successfully held Seattle scoreless. We did get to see a little lefty on lefty crime, when Daniel Vogelbach drew a walk in the first inning.

Mike Leake took the bump for the Mariners and had a very on brand performance. The 31-year-old didn’t walk anybody, but only struck two batters out over the course of four and two-thirds innings. He worked around three doubles to hold the Angels to just two runs.

All of the Halos damage came in the third inning. David Fletcher roped a leadoff double. A moment later, Kole Calhoun snuck a grounder through the shift to plate Fletcher from first, because what else would Kole Calhoun do in that situation?

The Angels continued to capitalize on fluky BABIP magic. Albert Pujols lofted a soft pop up down the first base line, which somehow found the outfield grass to put Calhoun in scoring position. I guess you get a few of those when you have over 3000 hits in you career. Then Andrelton Simmons reached on an infield single to loud the bases. Jarrett Parker knocked Calhoun home on a grounder to second, giving the Angels a 2-0 lead.

The Mariners would strike back though, getting the best of Noe Ramirez. Ramirez took over in the fifth inning and issued a one-out walk to Jose Lobaton. After a Dylan Moore swinging strikeout, JP Crawford lined a single into right field to keep the inning alive. Capitalizing on an opportunity with a runner in scoring position, Omar Narvaez nailed a hard-hit grounder down the right field line. Crawford motored all the way home from first base, tying the game up at 2-2.

Ramirez got pulled after issuing a walk to Vogelbach, leaving two on with two outs for Tito Polo. Polo kept the rally alive, pulling a grounder into left field, which scored Narvaez from second and gave the M’s a 3-2 lead. Braden Bishop then provided the Mariners with an insurance run, pounding a liner into centerfield, plating Vogelbach from second base.

The Mariners received some bad news later in the game, when reliever Gerson Bautista came up favoring his right arm after throwing a pitch to Mike Trout in the seventh inning.

There hasn’t been an update regarding the status of the injury to this point.

The Mariners added to their lead in the eighth inning when Jared Walsch walked the bases loaded.

The Mariners took advantage, as Joe DiCarlo ripped a double that cleared the bases. Then Dustin Ackley plated another run with a single. Ackley later scored on an error to put the Mariners up 9-2.

I’m gonna be honest and say I had the recap finished at this point. Like I thought it was over. It was not.

The Angels picked up their third run-when Jose Briceno took Matt Festa deep in the eighth inning.

They further cut into the lead when Wyatt Mills forfeited a two-run homer to Cesar Puello.

The ninth inning continued to get scarier. Mills reloaded the bases and walked in the Angels’ sixth run of the game. Then Jack Anderson took over with the bases still loaded and nobody out. Anderson couldn’t navigate out of trouble without surrendering the M’s three run lead. Therefore, the game ended in a 9-9 tie.

Here are some other noteworthy tidbits:

• The Braden Bishop-Jake Fraley Japan Series roster spot battle wore on today. Bishop won the day with an RBI single, while Fraley was held hitless; however, its worth noting that Fraley only saw left-handed pitchers.
• Dan Vogelbach continued his strong spring performance, walking twice.
• The Mariners really C’d the Z today, walking seven times while only striking out six times.

Well, the Mariners didn’t win but they didn’t lose either. So that’s nice.