ANAHEIM, Calif. – The weather wasn’t an issue like the season-opening home stand. There was no bitter cold to make things difficult or uncomfortable. Instead, weather in Orange County couldn’t have been much better over the weekend, specifically a Sunday afternoon in the mid-80s with a thin layer of clouds making the sunshine less intense.
There wasn’t a superhero performance from the Angels like Jo Adell provided on Saturday night where he did the seemingly impossible to change the outcome by himself.
The Mariners simply didn’t play well in the series finale.
Yes, they “battled” and “fought” as manager Dan Wilson perpetually says in defeat and repeated again after a disappointing 8-7 loss in 11 innings.
But Seattle’s superior talent couldn’t overcome its ineffective execution.
“The way our guys came back there at the end, they fought to get back into that game, and just weren’t able to do it in extras,” Wilson said. “It’s a tough way to lose for sure.”
The Mariners played a sloppy and careless brand of baseball in the field, giving away outs and extra bases on multiple occasions. On the bases, they made two costly and unnecessary outs at inopportune times to squelch scoring opportunities. At the plate, they were overly aggressive against a rookie making his MLB debut, failing to capitalize on his nerves and erratic command in the early going, allowing the Angels to stay in it.
Throw in their first outing from a starting pitcher that failed to go five innings, and you have an assortment of reasons for defeat while inexcusably dropping a series to a team that will likely lose 90-plus games.
“We came back from it and battled back into it, but we just weren’t able to overcome at the end,” Wilson said.
That the Mariners still managed to push the game into extra innings with multiple opportunities to win the game late and take the three-game series, speaks to their superior talent and just how much better they are than the Angels, who appear to have correctly been picked to finish last in the American League West.
The Mariners just didn’t play like the better team.
After a failing to score a run in the top of the 11th despite having the automatic runner at second base to start and reliever Shaun Anderson struggling to throw strikes, the Mariners couldn’t push a run across. The inning ended with Cal Raleigh striking out with the bases loaded.
Needing only one run to win, the Angels played small ball after Seattle intentionally walked Zach Neto to start the inning. The strategy made even more sense with Oswald Pereza batting behind Neto, having been forced into the lineup after Mike Trout was removed from the game in the eighth inning after being hit by a pitch from Casey Legumina. Peraza put down a perfect sac bunt to move automatic runner Adam Frazier to third base and Neto to second.
Nolan Schanuel followed with a flyball to left field that was just deep enough for Frazier to tag up and test the arm of Randy Arozarena. His throw home was off target, allowing Frazier to slide into home for a walk-off victory.