After brawl dies down, Angels put end to Mariners’ perfect road trip
ANAHEIM, Calif. – There was more than just a fight at Angel Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
After a wild brawl in the second inning that delayed the contest for 18 minutes and led to eight ejections, there was a baseball game to finish.
And for the first time on this road trip, it ended without the Mariners celebrating.
The Angels, shut down for six innings by Marco Gonzales, broke through for two runs in the seventh against the left-hander and defeated the Mariners 2-1, snapping their season-best five-game winning streak.
“Obviously, we had a really good road trip, to win five out of six and hoping for a sweep today,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I thought Marco threw the ball really well.”
Gonzales didn’t let the fight take away from his focus, allowing no runs until Luis Rengifo hit a solo homer leading off the seventh. After a walk to Monte Harrison, Gonzales was replaced by Andres Munoz.
A two-out single by David MacKinnon brought home the go-ahead run.
Jose Suarez, who was replaced as the Angels starter by opener by Andrew Wantz – apparently to retaliate for a pitch that nearly hit Mike Trout on Saturday – was also sharp when he entered the game after the brawl.
Wantz threw at Julio Rodriguez’ head in the first inning and hit Jesse Winker with the first pitch in the second, who then charged the Angels after an exchange with the dugout.
Gonzales went on to repeatedly call the Angels “classless” after the game.
“They knew what they were doing,” Gonzales said. “We handled the situation well and stayed within ourselves and just tried to go win a ballgame. That’s where we’re at. We’re trying to win. You can’t say the same for what they’re doing over there.”
Rodriguez, Winker, J.P. Crawford and Servais were ejected, leaving Suarez to face a lineup missing three key players.
“Three of our better hitters departed from the game and that made it challenging, but Suarez threw the ball really well too.”
The Mariners finally broke through in the sixth when Abraham Toro, inserted into the game for Crawford, hit a homer into the Mariners bullpen in left field.
Gonzales allowed two runs in six-plus innings on five hits and four walks. Suarez was just a bit better, allowing one run in six innings.
He was hoping to get a win on daughter Grace’s first birthday. He pitched well enough to win on most days.
Suarez was just a bit better, allowing one run in six innings.
“They got the big hit in the end and we weren’t quite able to pull off the sweep,” Servais said.