Seattle Mariners continue mastery of division-rival Los Angeles Angels, win 4-1

SEATTLE – If the Mariners have shown anything in this run to a winning record and all of their success in 2018, it’s that they aren’t reliant on the same people to provide production necessary for victory.

No, this group has received contributions big and small in wins from nearly every player that has occupied a spot on the active 25-man roster. It’s a quality most successful teams possess.

And it happened again on Thursday night at Safeco Field.

Neither outfielder Guillermo Heredia nor catcher Chris Herrmann was supposed to be playing in the series finale against the Angels. Forced into the starting lineup because of injury issues with Mitch Haniger and Mike Zunino, Heredia and Herrmann helped account for three key runs in Seattle’s 4-1 victory.

With the win, the Mariners took the three-game series from their American League West foe and improved to 56-32 on the season. Seattle’s lead over the Angels for the second wild card is now 12 games. The Mariners are 6-3 against the Angels this season, having played all nine games at home. The remaining 10 games in the season series will all come at Angels Stadium.

Heredia was supposed to have Thursday off with Haniger getting the start in center field. The Mariners have tried to give him a day off every five to six games to fight fatigue and also try and get his slumping bat going. Coming into the game, he was hitting .153 (13 for 85) with a .403 on-base plus slugging percentage since June 1.

But Haniger was scratched from the starting lineup just after batting practice because of a right knee bruise.

Heredia played a part in Seattle’s first two runs. He doubled in his first at-bat vs. Angels starter Jaime Barria and later scored on Dee Gordon’s single to right to give Seattle a 1-0 lead in the third inning.

With two outs and the game tied at 1 in the fifth, Heredia gave the Mariners the lead for good. He smoked a line drive over the head of Justin Upton in left field for a double that scored Ben Gamel from first base.

Herrmann was moved into the starting lineup earlier in the day after Zunino’s left ankle became sore and swollen overnight. The Mariners had to place Zunino on the 10-day disabled list with a bone bruise.

Besides catching starter Marco Gonzales for the first time, Herrmann also provided some insurance with his first homer of the season – a solo blast to right field in a two-run seventh.

One of the usual contributors also chipped in to the victory. Besides his RBI single in the third, Gordon tripled in the seventh and later scored on Jean Segura’s infield single.

He also saved at least one run in the eighth. Alex Colome put a pair of runners on base with one out, but Gordon ended the inning with a full-layout diving catch on a line drive up the middle off the bat of Ian Kinsler.

Gonzales grinded through six innings, watching his pitch count snowball and working at a deliberate pace that brought the game to a crawl. But it was needed for him to get through an outing where his stuff wasn’t particularly crisp and his command wasn’t precise.

It started immediately as he loaded the bases with one out in the first. But a ground ball to third off the bat of Albert Pujols, who now runs at a glacial pace, resulted in an easy inning-ending double play.

Gonzales continued to fight through base runners and full counts, but didn’t give up a run until the fourth. He allowed back-to-back singles to Ian Kinsler and Martin Maldonado that set up Kole Calhoun’s sacrifice fly to center that tied the game.

Gonzales’ two best innings were the last two he worked, posting 1-2-3 frames in the fifth and sixth. But with his pitch count at 102, he was done after six innings, allowing just the one run on five hits with two walks and sevens strikeouts.

Edwin Diaz pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out the side, to notch his MLB-leading 34th save.