Takeaway
After scoring three times in the eighth to take a 4-2 lead, the Mariners’ bullpen — Danny Farquhar and Dominic Leone — unraveled and the Los Angeles Angels rallied to defeat Seattle 5-4 Tuesday night. Carlos Perez, in his major league debut, swatted a walk-off home run in the ninth inning. Instead of slicing a game off Houston’s lead in the AL West, the Mariners (11-16) not only failed to gain ground but slipped into fourth place in the division when Oakland beat Minnesota (box score).
Essential moment
Leone replaced Farquhar to start the ninth and dangled a slider right over the plate. Summoned from the minor leagues Monday, Perez deposited it into the third row of the left-field seats about 20 feet over Dustin Ackley’s head as the Angels evened the three-game series 1-1.
Pitchers
Farquhar inherited a 4-2 lead in the eighth but squandered it, giving up singles to Albert Pujols, Erick Aybar and Johnny Giovatella and a walk to David Freese as the Angels forged a 4-4 tie. Leone, who fell to 0-3, 5.40, surrendered his second-walk-off hit of the road trip (Jose Altuve single last Thursday in Houston).
Although he didn’t factor in the decision, starter James Paxton pitched splendidly, allowing two earned runs on four hits over seven innings. Paxton fanned four and walked three in his 91-pitch effort.
Hitters
Logan Morrison continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Morrison has hit in seven consecutive games with three homers, three doubles and five RBIs. Robinson Cano had three hits in five trips, hiking his average to .261. Mike Zunino had two of the biggest hits of the game, an RBI single in the second inning and a ground-rule double in the eighth that gave Seattle a 3-2 lead. Ackley had a sacrifice fly and an RBI, but otherwise went 0-for-3, his average falling to .182. The Mariners went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Words
“We showed a lot of fight in that (eighth) inning and we had some big at-bats. Any time you have a lead in the eighth inning, you expect to win.” — Lloyd McClendon, Mariners manager.
“I should have made better pitches, but that’s baseball.” — Farquhar after squandering a 4-2 lead in the eighth.
Noteworthy
The Mariners have dropped five of their past six and are 4-5 on a 10-game road trip that concludes Wednesday . . . Chris Taylor started at shortstop in place of Brad Miller and went 0-for-4. Miller, who will shift into a utility role, did not play Tuesday. “He’s going to play all over,” McClendon said of Miller. “My vision is hopefully to see him as a Ben Zobrist-type player. We’ll see. Listen, this is not etched in stone. This is something we’re trying and we’ll see where it goes.”
Next
In a 7 p.m. start, LHP Roenis Elias (0-1, 3.86) will oppose LHP C.J. Wilson, (1-2, 2.73). Wilson beat the Mariners 2-0 April 7.
3 Comments
The bases are loaded with two outs. The pitch count is 3-0. Dustin Ackley takes the next pitch hoping to walk in a run. The 3-1 pitch is there to hit but Dustin takes. The 3-2 pitch is tough and maybe questionable but Dustin doesn’t swing or try to protect the plate. Let’s trade Ackley to Texas for the rights to Russell Wilson.
That second taken strike was mind numbing to see very close to the same as the first strike. A confident batsmen would have knocked that second strike out of the ball park. The 3rd strike was questionable but you can’t be taking on 3-2.
Ackley sucks. he looks clueless at the plate. Gee, who would think a fastball is coming on a 3-1 count? McClendon left Farquar in way too long, dude obviously had nothing. Taylor 0-7, Miller was hitting, and lord knows we need guys on base.