Mariners revert to painfully familiar offense in defeat
SEATTLE – On a typically chilly April night at Safeco Field, maybe it made sense that the key hit of the game came from a man named Freese.
A two-run home run by Angels third baseman David Freese in the top of the fourth inning was all the scoring the visitors would need to beat the Mariners 2-0 in front of a crowd of 26,454.
It was a stark contrast to the sun-draped optimism of opening day, when the Mariners beat the Angels 4-1 in a game that only heightened the hype for a Seattle team picked by some to get to the World Series for the first time in franchise history.
Tuesday, meanwhile, showed there’s still a long way to go to get to October, with the hope being that nights like these will be fewer and further between than in past seasons for the Mariners.
Seattle’s hopefully improved offense looked painfully familiar to some more recent units in going down meekly against Angels starter C.J. Wilson, who allowed just two hits in eight innings.
Wilson hardly overpowered the Mariners with just two strikeouts. But his mix of curveballs, sliders, changeups and fastballs kept the Mariners off-balance throughout as he induced 13 ground-ball outs.
Wilson, who threw 96 pitches, didn’t allow a hit after a Rickie Weeks single with one out in the third and now is 16-8 against the Mariners since 2005. It’s the most victories of any pitcher against Seattle in that span.
Seattle starter James Paxton was hardly bad, allowing just four hits and two runs in six innings with five strikeouts and a walk.
But one mistake was all it took the way Wilson was pitching.
Paxton, likewise, entered the night with a good history against the Angels, if with a much smaller sample size. Paxton went 2-1 against the Angels last season with a 2.59 earned-run average in 24 innings, both victories coming in the first seven games of the season.
It looked like more of the same early as Paxton didn’t allow a hit the first three innings.
But Albert Pujols got the Angels’ first hit of the game with one out in the fourth, on a hard shot to left field that turned into a double when Brad Miller’s throw to second baseman Robinson Cano went wide. It appeared as if a good throw might have gotten Pujols.
The next batter was Freese, who on a 1-0 count hit a 93-mile-an-hour fastball over the wall in right-center to make it 2-0.
That’s where it stayed as the Mariners managed just two singles a day after pounding out 10 hits.
Paxton left after throwing 87 pitches in six innings.
Seattle’s best chance to score early came in the second when a Nelson Cruz single and a Justin Ruggiano walk put runners on first and second with one out. Logan Morrison forced Ruggiano at second, leaving runners at the corners for Mike Zunino, who flew to right to end the inning.
Right-hander Huston Street came on to get the save, striking out Weeks and Austin Jackson and getting Cano on a fly to right to end the game.
That made the middle of the Seattle order – Cano, Cruz and Kyle Seager – 1 for 10 on the night and 2 for 22 for the season.
Hisashi Iwakuma will start for Seattle tonight.