Mariners fall to Angels in extras on Willie Calhoun’s walk-off home run

ANAHEIM, Calf. – For essentially six innings, the Mariners bullpen had done everything possible to give their teammates a chance pick up a second win in this four-game series.

With Bryan Woo unable to make it out of the fourth inning, Seattle turned to five different relievers – Trenton Thornton, Collin Snider, Gregory Santos, Ryne Stanek and Andrés Muñoz – to keep them in the game.

The quintet did more than that, not allowing a run while covering 52/3 innings.

But the trend ended in the bottom of the 10th. Veteran right-hander Austin Voth gave up a walk-off two-run homer to Willie Calhoun on his second pitch of the game – a misplaced sweeper – as the Angels rallied for a 6-5 victory.

Seattle took a one-run lead in the top of the 10th on Mitch Garver’s RBI double.

Activated from the 15-day injured list prior to the game, Woo delivered an uncharacteristically inefficient and ineffective performance. He pitched 31/3 innings, allowing four runs on a season-high nine hits with two walks and a strikeout.

The Angels came in with a plan to hunt four-seam fastballs, including ones up in the zone, knowing that Woo floods the strike zone with all of his pitches, but specifically that pitch early in counts.

Because of the layoff on the injured list and a two-inning rehab start with High-A Everett where he worked heavily on off-speed pitches, Woo didn’t have the pinpoint command with the four-seamer to generate swings and misses.

Of Woo’s nine hits allowed, seven came on four-seam fastballs.

The Mariners provided requisite run support against the Angels best pitcher and all-star selection Tyler Anderson. Woo had a 2-0 lead before even throwing a pitch in the game.

Rodriguez continued his torrid star to July, finally reaching double figures in home runs in the top of the first. With Mitch Garver on first base, Rodriguez stayed on top of a four-seam fastball at the top of the zone, sending an opposite field line drive a few feet above the yellow home-run line on the right field wall.

But Woo lost the two-run lead in the bottom of the inning. The Angels’ fastball-hunting strategy was apparent when Anthony Rendon led off the bottom of the first with a double to the gap on an 0-2 four-seam fastball above the zone.

With two outs, well-traveled designated hitter Willie Calhoun ambushed a first-pitch fastball on the inside corner, yanking it into the right field seats for a game-tying homer.

Woo allowed two more singles in the inning, but was able to escape when Logan O’Hoppe made a bad baserunning mistake and was thrown out at home, trying to score from second on a throwing error by Jorge Polanco.

In the third inning, Raleigh gave the Mariners another two-run lead, smashing a misplaced changeup from Anderson into the split-level bullpens in left field for a two-run homer. It was the first time this season that a hitter has hit one of Anderson’s changeups for a home run. Raleigh became the first catcher in Mariners’ history to hit 20 homers before the All-Star break.

Using his slider and two-seam fastball more, Woo came back with a 1-2-3 bottom of the third and looked like he might have found some rhythm and command. Instead, his outing ended before he could finish the fourth inning.

Mickey Moniak led off with a double and moved to third on a ground out. He scored on Jo Adell’s single off a four-seam fastball up in the zone. After issuing a rare walk to Rendon, Woo gave up a broken-bat bloop single to Nolan Schanuel that tied the game at 4 that ended his outing.

Right-hander Trent Thornton was able to get Seattle out of the inning without any further runs scoring, striking out Ward and getting Calhoun to fly out.

Munoz named All-Star

When asked about pitching in the All-Star Game, Andres Muñoz spoke about it as a dreamy far-off place nowhere close to where he was now — a fantasyland for baseball’s elite — that he hoped to visit one day despite having a season worthy of selection.

But on Friday afternoon, it became a reality for the Mariners closer.

Just before the team headed out on the field for their pregame work, manager Scott Servais held a team meeting to announce that Muñoz had been chosen as a replacement pitcher for the American League All-Star roster. He will join Logan Gilbert on the trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.