Angels recover from ninth-inning implosion, beating Mariners in the 10th
SEATTLE — Taylor Ward’s sacrifice fly scored Magneuris Sierra in the 10th inning, and the Angels blew a three-run lead late before pulling out a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.
The Angels led 3-0 going to the bottom of the ninth before Seattle scored three times with two outs to force extra inning.
Ward’s fly ball off Paul Sewald (3-3) was deep enough for Sierra to score easily and give the Angels the lead. Jimmy Herget pitched a perfect bottom of the 10th to get the save.
Max Stassi hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to give the Angels a 3-0 lead that proved critical.
Patrick Sandoval has established himself as one of the top pitchers on the Angels, in part, because of the dominating nature of his slider.
“It was a well played game in all facets,” Angels interim manager Phil Nevin said. “We swung the bats well, didn’t punch a bunch across, but got the important ones when needed.”
Seattle’s three-run rally in the ninth started when Jesse Winker walked with one out against Jesse Chavez (2-1). Pinch-hitter Jake Lamb singled, and with two outs, Adam Frazier doubled to score Winker.
Ty France dribbled a single into center field to score Lamb and Frazier and pulled the Mariners even at 3-3. Seattle had three hits through the first eight innings, then strung together three in the ninth to force extra innings.
It was the first matchup between the teams since their wild brawl on June 26 that resulted in multiple suspensions and a couple of injuries. Both Seattle manager Scott Servais and Nevin said pregame the incident was in the past.
The Mariners rally ruined the night for Angels starter Patrick Sandoval, who was in line for his first victory since May 22. Sandoval threw 5 1/3 shutout innings, and Aaron Loup and Jose Quijada kept the shutout going into the ninth.
“I wanted to go in with my best pitches and play the odds with the best stuff I got,” Sandoval said. “So, slider, changeup, is primarily my best two pitches so I’m going to throw them as much as I can.”
Pitching was the story of the night for both sides until the ninth inning. Sandoval stymied the Mariners into the sixth, and Seattle starter Robbie Ray was terrific for seven innings with 10 strikeouts.
The only damage against Ray came in the first inning when Luis Rengifo doubled and Jo Adell followed with a broken-bat single to give the Angels the early lead.
Ray was otherwise dominant after getting roughed up in his previous two starts, both against Houston. Ray scattered five hits and had his sixth start this season with at least 10 strikeouts.
“I think for me, more than just getting back on track, I feel like I’ve kind of found something with my delivery over the last week, just really getting into my lower half, and really feeling my drive down the mound,” Ray said.
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