'We've learned': Mariners avoid Trout late to much success

ANAHEIM -- The Mariners were flirting with the possibility of beating themselves in an eventual 4-3 victory at Angel Stadium on Friday by stranding a season-high 16 baserunners. But they were determined to not get beat by Mike Trout.

The three-time AL MVP, who homered against them five times last weekend in Seattle and again in the fourth inning of this series opener, stepped to the plate as the tying run against flamethrowing reliever Andrés Muñoz with one out in the eighth. The moment loomed with such inevitability as the tense, three-hour, 41-minute contest pressed on, especially as Seattle left multiple runners stranded five times.

Muñoz fell behind 3-0 and was purposefully nowhere near the plate in that sequence, at which point Mariners manager Scott Servais did something that he'd done just once since 2020 -- he intentionally walked Trout and rolled the dice with the right-handed Muñoz against Shohei Ohtani and Jared Walsh, two elite lefty sluggers.

Servais, who was burned last weekend for pitching to Trout in a similar situation, wasn’t going to give the nine-time All-Star anything he could do damage with.

“That would have been a bad decision,” Servais said. “We've learned a little bit. Again, I think Muñoz did a nice job working around the edges, and then we fell behind in the count and just put him on base and [were going to] make the other two guys get us."

Ohtani swung out of his shoes on a 100 mph fastball in an 0-2 count, and then Walsh whiffed on top of a 90.8 mph slider that nastily dipped below the zone on a 2-2 count. Dice rolled, crisis averted, and Trout -- the Mariners’ tormenter more than any individual player of his era -- was left watching on first base.

"You just pass the baton,” Trout said. “Ohtani has been hot, but he just came up short."

Muñoz recorded five outs and pitched on consecutive days, a combination that’s a first for him this year as the Mariners slowly ease off the training wheels for the 23-year-old. He entered one inning prior, the seventh, with runners on first and second but induced a huge, inning-ending double play to clean up a jam created by two singles surrendered by Erik Swanson.

“The adrenaline helps,” Muñoz said through interpreter Manny Acta. “Coming in with guys on base, that really pushes me.”

It was one of three double plays that the Mariners turned, all to end the inning, which proved hugely critical in halting any Angels momentum -- particularly for Chris Flexen, who put together a serviceable five-plus innings, but was tagged for a hard-hit ball on eight of the 15 put in play. Damage loomed, but his defense mostly shut the door.

The only runs that Flexen surrendered were from Trout, who pummeled an inside fastball that bled too far middle for a 422-foot solo homer that led off the fourth, then an RBI triple on a 111.8 mph line drive that had so much topspin that it deceived Julio Rodríguez off the bat and sailed right over the center fielder’s head.

Even Trout suggested to the rookie in between innings that it was an incredibly challenging ball to read.

“He literally told me, ‘I’ve never seen something like that.’ And he’s the one who hit it,” said Rodríguez, who hooked a solo homer narrowly inside the left-field foul pole in the fourth, his 10th of the year.

Eugenio Suárez also had an impressive snag-and-throw from the deepest point of the dirt on the third-base line to back Paul Sewald with the second out in the ninth. But by that point, the Mariners were already through the meat of the order -- and Trout.

Trout’s homer was his 53rd against Seattle, pushing him ahead of Rafael Palmeiro for the most all-time against the Mariners. He still had a stamp on the game with two critical hits, but the Mariners only faced him once in four at-bats with a runner on base, a formula they believe, more often than not, will lead to success.

“His career speaks for itself,” Flexen said. “He’s a tremendous hitter. He’s a guy that’s fun to go against.”

All of a sudden, after a deflating homestand in which players admitted they felt the season was slipping away, the Mariners have won four in a row for the first time since April 26. There’s still an uphill climb, especially within their own lineup -- which is now without Ty France, who is headed to the 10-day injured list -- but beating an Angels club that beat up on them just one week ago represented a step in the right direction.

Editor's note: A version of this story that initially stated that Servais hadn't walked Trout since 2016 has been corrected.