Tonight both the Angels and Mariners had their best starting pitchers on the mound and both were very effective.
Seattle’s Luis Castillo threw 6 innings of shutout baseball but was pulled after giving up a Luis Rengifo single to start the 7th inning. A stolen base by Rengifo set him up to score on a Logan Davidson double down the right field line. Rengifo’s run was charged to Castillo, netting the Mariners starter a stat line of 6 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 5 K, 2BB.
6 innings of 1 run ball is also true for Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi. The Japanese hurler allowed 4 hits, stuck out 3, and walked 1. The run scored in the bottom of the 4th inning when Jorge Polanco doubled in Cal Raleigh.
There weren’t a lot of highlights early on. Just good pitching and some nice defense:
As is the case far too often, the Angels failed to put up a shutdown inning after scoring. Conor Brogdon entered the game in the bottom of the 7th and served up a long home run to Mitch Garver.
The 2-1 Mariners lead proved to be the winning score. Brogdon put up a zero in the bottom of the 8th but by then the damage was done.
Seattle did not get any further ahead in the AL West as Houston pummeled the Braves earlier in the evening. Nor did Seattle’s lead over Texas grow as the Rangers beat the struggling Mets in New York.
Game 3 from Seattle is tomorrow at 6:40.
