Julio Rodriguez, George Kirby lift Mariners to fourth win in a row
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Almost immediately, Julio Rodriguez was hot Saturday night.
The game had barely started, and the Mariners’ 22-year-old star was visibly upset that his steal of second base had been negated because home-plate umpire Quinn Wolcott interfered with the throw from Angels catcher Chad Wallach.
Reluctantly, Rodriguez returned to first base, and a few moments later was thrown out attempting to steal second base again, ending the top of the first inning.
As a review of the play was underway, Rodriguez walked back to the top step of the visitors dugout at Angel Stadium and exchanged words with a fan, or a group of fans, close by. Rodriguez was animated. Livid, even.
Once he got inside the dugout, he continued to shout – until Eugenio Suarez put his arm around Rodriguez and talked him down.
Rodriguez caught his breath, calmed down and trotted out to center field.
He would stay hot at the plate, though, hitting a two-run double in his next at-bat to drive in the game’s first runs, and Andres Munoz struck out Hunter Renfroe to end the game with two runners in scoring position, sending the Mariners to a 3-2 victory for their fourth win a row.
George Kirby pitched seven stellar innings, and Munoz earned his third save of the week the hard way as the Mariners (59-52) beat the Angels for the third straight night.
The Mariners will go for a series sweep of the Angels on Sunday afternoon with rookie Bryce Miller scheduled to start.
Rodriguez finished with three hits – he’s reached base seven times the past two nights – and scored an insurance run they would end up needing in the eighth inning on Ty France’s clutch, two-out single to right field to make it 3-1.
Kirby had one of his best starts of the season, allowing just three hits and one run over seven innings, with no walks, five strikeouts and one hit batter.
Randal Grichuk’s solo homer in the third inning was the Angels’ lone run.
Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford made two more brilliant plays. In the third, he made a diving stop in the hole to rob Wallach of a hit.
And in the eighth, he dived up the middle to snag a ground ball off the bat of Brandon Drury and in the same motion flipped the ball with his glove to second baseman Jose Caballero, who made the turn for a 6-4-3 double play.
The Angels (56-56) have lost five in a row to fall six back in the American League wild-card chase.
The Mariners remain 2½ games back of Toronto for the third wild-card spot.
In 22 starts this season, Kirby has a 10-8 record with a 3.32 ERA over 135.2 innings.
Most important, Kirby was able to keep Shohei Ohtani in check.
He got the Angels designated hitter to ground into a 4-6-3 double play in the first inning, and Ohtani flew out to right field on a hard-hit line drive in the fourth. In the sixth, Kirby struck out Ohtani on three pitches, getting him to chase a slider in the dirt for strike three.
With one out in the ninth, Munoz fell behind Ohtani 3-0 before coming back to strike him out swinging through a slider.
Ohtani hit his league-leading 40th homer against the Mariners on Thursday night. Since then, he’s 1 for 8 with one double, one walk and five strikeouts.
Munoz walked C.J. Cron with two outs on a borderline 3-2 slider on the outside edge, and Mike Moustakas singled past a diving Caballero.
Drury followed with a ground-rule double to left field that took a fortunate bounce for the Mariners, forcing pinch-runner Andrew Velazquez to stop at third base.
Munoz then struck out Renfroe on a 98-mph inside fastball to end it.
Dylan Moore had an opposite-field double and Crawford walked, putting two runners on with two outs for Rodriguez in the third inning against former Seattle lefty Tyler Anderson.
On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Rodriguez turned on a changeup and sent it 384 feet off the top of the wall in left scoring, driving in Moore and Crawford to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead.
Rodriguez doubled again in his next at-bat in the sixth.