Julio Rodriguez’s big night sparks offensive outburst in Mariners’ 9-7 win over Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Here comes Julio.
Julio Rodriguez belted a long, two-run home run to right-center field in the fourth inning and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth on Eugenio Suarez’s single, lifting the Mariners past the rival Angels 9-7 before a crowd of 34,479 at Angels Stadium on Friday.
Cal Raleigh added a solo shot to center in the ninth, his 18th of the season and the fourth of the night for the Mariners.
Matt Brash closed it out for his second career save in a tense ninth. With two runners on and no outs, Brash struck out Shohei Ohtani on three pitches and C.J. Cron swinging through a slider. Mike Moustakas flew out to end it.
Ty France, Dylan Moore and Rodriguez all homered to help the Mariners chase Angels starter Reid Detmers after just four innings.
The Mariners, at 58-52, kept pace in the American League wild-card standings, remaining 2½ games back of Toronto for the final spot.
The Angels (56-55) have lost four in a row.
Rodriguez’s hustle double to left – after a diving attempt by the Angels’ Randal Grichuk – set up Suarez for the go-ahead chance with one out in the eighth.
On the first pitch he saw from Reynaldo Lopez, Suarez hit a well-placed ground-ball single up the middle, scoring Rodriguez from second to break a 7-all tie.
It was Suarez’s 10th consecutive game with an RBI, passing Edgar Martinez for the longest such streak in franchise history.
It’s the second night in a row the Mariners have broken through late, after rookie Cade Marlowe’s dramatic grand slam in the ninth gave them a 5-3 victory on Thursday.
The Mariners’ bats stayed hot early Friday.
France’s three-run home run off Detmers highlighted a four-run first.
It was France’s first home run since June 22, a line-drive shot off the bat at 107 mph that went well out to center.
All four of Seattle’s runs in the first came with two outs.
Tom Murphy, hitting cleanup for the first time this season, drove in the M’s first run with an infield single to the right side, scoring J.P. Crawford from third.
Moore’s solo shot in the second – out 426 feet to left-center – extended the Mariners’ lead to 5-1.
Starter Luis Castillo couldn’t make it hold up.
Luis Rengifo homered on the first pitch Castillo threw, and Moustakas pulled a hanging slider well out to right for a three-run homer in the third, tying the score at 5.
Rodriguez’s home run to deep right-center, a two-run shot, gave the Mariners a 7-5 lead in the fourth.
But Castillo, again, couldn’t make it hold up.
The Angels’ Mickey Moniak hit a fastball on the outside corner 421 feet to center, a two-run shot to tie it up at 7 in the fifth.
The Mariners threatened to retake the lead in the sixth, loading the bases with no outs.
But Dominic Leone, the former Seattle reliever making his Angels debut, escaped by getting Suarez to fly out to shallow right, Murphy to strike out swinging at a slider in the dirt and Teoscar Hernandez to ground into a fielder’s choice on a nice play at third by Moustakas.
With his bullpen thin, Mariners manager Scott Servais kept Castillo in to pitch the sixth of a 7-all game. It was, in the moment, a gutsy decision – and it proved to be the right one.
In the sixth, Castillo unleashed his best pitch of the night – a 3-2 slider well off the plate inside – that Ohtani swung through for strike three.
It was Castillo’s 100th and final pitch of the night.