In a way, it’s good that the Mariners have been playing so terribly over this stretch. That way, I didn’t get my hopes up when they raced out to a quick lead on Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz, thanks to back-to-back singles from Jorge Polanco and Julio Rodríguez, and the The Best Catcher in Baseball being The Best Catcher in Baseball:
The Mariners added another run in the second, courtesy of Cole Young’s first big-league extra-base hit, a double that just missed being a homer in Anaheim’s tiny short right field. I don’t have video of it, but continuing the theme of “everything is awful,” here’s what Google’s AI says when you search “Cole Young double.” Really cool and great that we’re burning down the rainforests for this, guys!
Young scored on a J.P. Crawford single, but any chance at scoring more was cut off abruptly when J.P. got picked off on a TOOTBLAN after Polanco flew out. That would turn out to be important, because of the cursedness to come.
Things started to go downhill right after that, when Chris Taylor, enacting his ancient curse against the Mariners, hit a solo homer. Solo homers aren’t supposed to kill you, so this warning was easy to dismiss, like the hapless characters at the beginning of a horror movie. But that would presage much evil to come: Jo Adell homered after that to cut the Mariners’ lead in half, but again: solo homers aren’t supposed to kill you.
Julio led off the third inning with a sharply-struck single and stole second, but then disaster struck; Randy Arozarena made contact with a baseball for the first time since what felt like his walkoff single, but unfortunately sent the baseball directly at the shinbone of Julio Rodríguez, who was not only called out (dumbest! baseball rule! next to the dropped third strike!) but could not leave the field under his own power. The Mariners did not score, if you were wondering, but that feels like a secondary concern.
Leody Taveras entered the game in place of Julio, which is fine, because the Mariners basically have two center fielders anyway, right? But maybe the time in right field has cost Taveras his understanding of how to play center, because on the very first play of the inning the ball came right at Taveras and he…did not cover himself in glory, allowing a Zach Neto single to turn into a double. Things got worse after that; Neto scored on a missed catch error by Rowdy Tellez, initially ruled a throwing error to Cal Raleigh but thankfully corrected before I had to go throw hands with this game’s official scorer. Chris Taylor, continuing his reign of terror, then hit a game-tying double, on a ball that Taveras wasn’t given an error on but Julio certainly would have had. If nothing else, this game was definitely an appreciation tour of Julio’s defense in center.
The Mariners had another chance in the fourth. Miles Mastrobuoni, who had himself a nice little game, led off with a walk, and then with one out, Ben Williamson—who put on an absolute clinic at third base today—singled to conclude a seven-pitch at-bat (104.5 EV!). With two outs, Polanco walked to load the bases. But because the baseball gods like to treat the Mariners like a bit of toilet paper stuck to their shoe, that brought up Leody Taveras to bat instead of Julio, with the bases loaded and two outs. Insultingly, Taveras flew out to his counterpart in center, Jo Adell, who made a show of catching the flyout seamlessly. Let’s just look at one of Ben Williamson’s excellent plays at the hot corner instead.
The Angels broke the tie in the fifth thanks to another homer from Adell, and went ahead in the sixth thanks to a pair of doubles from Nolan Schanuel and Taylor Ward. Castillo’s final line probably doesn’t reflect how well he pitched; he did make some mistake pitches, but he also suffered from some defensive lapses, and was up again a half tick on his fastball, locating it on the black and creating some really solid swing-and-miss on both the elevated fastball and the slider.
The Mariners got a run back in the sixth thanks to a Mastrobuoni single and stolen base and a Cole Young single. Williamson then sacrifice bunted, a weird choice to me because Williamson had literally just had a clutch single. Polanco then popped out and Taveras grounded out to end the inning, because of course he did.
That lack of adding on would turn out to be important, because Jackson Kowar had the sixth inning and it was a struggle. Kowar led off by walking Luis Rengifo, wild-pitching him over to second, walking Adell, and wild pitching again to put runners in scoring position with one out. Neto then singled to bring home another run, making it a 7-5 game. Kowar was able to strike out Schanuel chasing well out of the zone for the second out of the inning, but that brought up Mike Trout, perpetual Mariners-killer. Kowar walked Trout to load the bases, and I became very interested in picking at a burn I sustained cooking on my friend Matt’s stove last night. Trent Thornton, freshly returned from the IL, was summoned to deal with Taylor Ward. Blessings upon the head of Thorn Bird, he got Ward to line out on two pitches.
I don’t want to talk about the seventh inning. The Angels got another run off Trent Thornton, off a leadoff HBP of, you guessed it, Chris Taylor. Dylan Moore played right field because he got to take a pinch-hit at-bat away from Miles Mastrobuoni, who, it turns out, I have Strong Feelings about. Moore stuck out on three pitches, by the way.
I also don’t want to talk about the eighth inning. Dan Wilson made Trent Thornton pitch yet another inning. Did Trent eat Dan’s yogurt out of the work fridge? Thornton actually did fine, outside of walking Trout and hitting Taylor. I’m fine with both of those things.
Cal Raleigh homered in the ninth inning off Kenley Jansen to make the game a little closer, but still not winnable. He’s so good, and it sucks so bad that it’s hard to enjoy because the team is playing so terribly right now. Remember when six runs in a game basically guaranteed a win? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
I actually don’t want to talk about this game at all. The Mariners are playing a particularly unwatchable brand of baseball right now, which is wild considering they have an MVP contender in Cal Raleigh. It sucks. It just all sucks.