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Seattle Mariners

Ty France’s go-ahead homer sends Mariners past Angels

Seattle first baseman Ty France celebrates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the eighth inning for a 5-4 lead against the Los Angeles Angels at T-Mobile Park on Friday in Seattle. (Getty Images)
By Ryan Divish Seattle Times

SEATTLE – The end-over-end bat flip and nod to his teammates was a mixture of cockiness and exasperation as if to say, “This game needs to be done.”

Ty France isn’t one for big celebrations and grand displays of emotion. But on a night when the Mariners were cruising to an easy victory for the first six innings only to find themselves mired in another tight game, his reaction to his solo homer off Angels lefty Matt Moore in the top of the ninth spoke volumes.

France’s sixth homer of the season put the Mariners up by a run, and Andres Munoz closed out the 5-4 victory with a scoreless ninth inning.

France’s late-inning heroics helped offset a seventh-inning meltdown by the Mariners bullpen, which included giving up a pinch hit grand slam to Jo Adell and erasing the stellar work put in by Mariners starter Bryan Woo.

Woo was efficient, pitching six scoreless innings while throwing just 66 pitches. He allowed three hits with no walks and two strikeouts.

But after he allowed back-to-back singles to start the sixth inning and had to work out of the situation, aided by a double play, the Mariners decided to go to their bullpen.

Since Woo has returned from the injured list after missing the first month of the season with elbow inflammation, the Mariners have yet to let him throw 80 pitches or more in an outing.

With Seattle up 4-0, Trent Thornton started the seventh inning and never finished it, exiting with two outs and the bases loaded. Manager Scott Servais called on Tayler Saucedo to work out of the game. But Adell clubbed a homer to left to tie the game.

The Mariners jumped on Angels starter Jose Soriano in the first. J.P. Crawford led off with a double to right-center, Josh Rojas followed with a soft single to left and Julio Rodriguez walked to load the bases with no outs.

Cal Raleigh put Seattle up 1-0 with a sac fly to deep left field. With one out, France hit a drive to the wall in right-center. Angels right field Kevin Pillar tried to make a leaping grab, but the ball hit off the top of his glove as he collided with the wall. France cruised into second with a two-run double.

The Mariners tacked on another run in the fifth inning. Crawford doubled to right-center and later scored on Raleigh’s single to right field.