Julio Rodríguez homers twice, but Mariners lose to Angels in extra innings

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Julio Rodríguez homered twice and Bryan Woo pitched into the seventh inning.

Normally, that should be a winning combination. But not when those two swings from Rodríguez account for the entirety of the Mariners offense.

The Mariners missed a chance to gain more ground in the AL West, losing to the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 in 10 innings on Friday night. Houston was thumped at home by the Athletics, but the Mariners kicked a chance to inch closer in the division race.

Zach Neto’s two-out cue shot grounder off Casey Legumina scored Lamonte Wade Jr. with the winning run after it clipped off the glove of Cole Young’s diving attempt and dribbled into the right field.

The Angels capitalized where the Mariners couldn’t after they failed to score in the top of the inning with the top of the order at the plate.

Seven of the Mariners’ last eight losses at Angel Stadium have come by one run.

It was the conclusion of a frustrating night when Rodríguez and Woo were the stars, the leverage arms in the bullpen were excellent. but the M’s struggled to generate anything at the plate.

The fifth multihomer game of Rodríguez’s career gave him 17 on the season, three in the past two games and six in the past 11 games. Like a night earlier, Rodríguez’s first homer was a drive to right field, this time a little more toward right-center on the first pitch from Jose Soriano in the top of the first. Nine times this season, Rodríguez has homered in the first inning, the most productive inning for home runs in his career.

Rodríguez drove a low fastball in the first inning. In the sixth inning, it was a hanging slider also on the first pitch of the inning that he pulled 408 feet out to left field.

But the Mariners’ offense did little else. Josh Naylor’s debut was somewhat underwhelming, but that could be excused considering his day started at 1 a.m., included a cross-country flight and numerous introductions before taking the field just after 6:30 p.m.

Naylor was 1 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts, his first multistrikeout game since June 4 and only his eighth of the season. He picked up his first hit with the M’s on a two-out single in the eighth.

Woo pitched into the seventh, continuing his streak of pitching at least six innings in all 20 of his starts this season. Woo allowed a pair of runs in the first inning, then stymied the Angels into the seventh.

He was nearly flawless pitching over the final four-plus innings, retiring 11 of the final 12 batters he faced and 15 of the final 17 overall. After Logan O’Hoppe’s one-out double in the second inning, the only base runner Woo allowed was Nolan Schanuel’s dribbled single into left field with one out in the third inning.

Woo has talked regularly about working ahead being the ultimate key to his success and it was true against the Angels. Three of the four hits Woo allowed came when he fell behind early in the count.

The one hit Woo allowed ahead in the count was the one that plated the Angels’ two runs. Jo Adell’s two-out, two-run double in the first inning came on a 0-2 pitch that was nearly in the same spot as the fastball thrown 0-1.

But that was all the Angels could get against Woo, who matched Randy Johnson’s franchise record for consecutive start to begin a season pitching at least six innings.

Eduard Bazardo and Matt Brash were excellent out of the bullpen for the second straight game, getting the M’s to the ninth tied at 2. Andrés Muñoz extended the game to extras with a pair of strikeouts sandwiched around a heady play by Young on a spinning grounder that Muñoz initially misplayed to get Adell.

The Mariners had a chance in the top of the 10th with two on and no outs. J.P. Crawford’s attempt at a sacrifice bunt turned chaotic after it went over the head of Yoan Moncada charging at third base, but Ben Williamson was forced to hold and a slick fielding play by Zach Neto still got the force out at third base.

Rodríguez hit a fly ball to left field on a 2-0 pitch and Cal Raleigh was caught looking at a 3-2 fastball from Ryan Zeferjahn.