Banged-up Mariners dominated by Ohtani
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ANAHEIM -- When it rains, it pours. Even in Southern California.
On a night when their top run-producer was placed on the 10-day injured list with a fractured finger and their best player was a last-minute scratch due to lower back tightness, a 2-1 loss to an Angels club going nowhere added insult to literal injury, even if Seattle was the victim of a spectacular start from Shohei Ohtani.
In that context, perhaps it was a perfect storm for a tough defeat given how hamstrung Seattle’s lineup was -- without Eugenio Suárez and Julio Rodríguez -- and how dominant Ohtani has been in his bid to win the AL MVP Award in back-to-back seasons.
“Our guys, they compete really hard,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “They're into the game. We’ve got a little adversity thrown our way. We know that, so we need other guys to step up.”
The Mariners arrived at Angel Stadium on Saturday knowing that Suárez would be sidelined at least 10 days, but Rodríguez’s development was a new issue. The AL Rookie of the Year Award favorite was scratched 30 minutes before first pitch after experiencing lower back stiffness when warming up in the cage. Rodríguez was receiving treatment postgame and was not immediately available, and his situation is day to day, per Servais.
“He was down in the cage, waiting for the game like he always does, getting ready for the game and it grabbed him,” Servais said. “He did not feel good about it, so that was why he was a late scratch today.”
Suárez has been the Mariners’ best bat since August, but Rodríguez had taken that mantle in September, entering Saturday with a .392/.475/.784 (1.259 OPS) slash line and six homers in 13 games this month. Both absences were felt, while Ohtani twirled seven shutout innings with just three singles and one walk allowed. None of the baserunners reached second base.
The do-it-all Ohtani also had an RBI double in the first inning off George Kirby that caromed off the left-field wall and over Jesse Winker’s head to score Mike Trout, who’d just ripped a single and scored from first base.
The only other blemish against Kirby was a leadoff walk -- his biggest pet peeve -- in the fourth to Ohtani, who came around to score what wound up being the decisive run. Other than that, Seattle’s rookie was again superb over six strong innings, allowing just two other hits after the pair from Trout and Ohtani in the first and striking out eight.
“I hate those,” Kirby said of the leadoff walk. “Just to start off the innings, it’s always a lot harder on yourself, so that’s why I really stress no free bases. ... I feel like they always come back to bite you in the butt.”
All the while, “chaos ball,” which Seattle revitalized at this very venue one month ago, was in the works after Ohtani departed in the eighth. Taylor Trammell blasted a 442-foot solo home run, Abraham Toro followed with a ground-rule double and J.P. Crawford walked. But Ty France hacked at a first-pitch slider from Jaime Barría, away and out the zone, that chopped right into a 1-4-3 inning-ending double play, then the Mariners went quietly in the ninth.
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“There are two or three at-bats in every game where it really comes down to it,” Servais said. “At-bats where you're on defense or you’re in the box that could really tip the game one way or another. You’ve got to win two out of three of those. There are three every night. You got to win two out of three, and we weren't able to do it tonight.”
So, instead of riding momentum from a positive homestand, all against contending teams, the Mariners are two games into their final road trip, all against teams way out of it, still seeking a victory.