For all the loud contact made by the Mariners recently, sometimes the quieter stuff works just as well.
An infield single. A bunt base hit. A jam shot of 67 mph that finds a hole and makes its way to the outfield.
“We were getting the contributions from everybody. A couple of guys down at the bottom (of the order) to kind of set the table, and things kind of took off from there,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said.
To be fair, the Mariners had moments of creating some loud noise at the plate Wednesday afternoon. But it was that series of three consecutive hits that sparked a six-run rally in the seventh inning and led the M’s to a 9-3 win over the Angels at T-Mobile Park.
The Mariners swept the two-game set and won their seventh consecutive series, improving to 14-4 over the past 18 games. At 18-12, the M’s are tied for the fourth-best 30-game start in franchise history. They also started 18-12 in 1997, 2016, 2018 and 2019.
“These guys continue to do all the little things, and it’s really fun to see,” Wilson said.
Randy Arozarena homered, and Julio Rodríguez dented the center field wall for a double. Those were the loudest cracks off Mariners bats. The little things that broke the 3-3 tie were just as important.
The seventh-inning rally off Angels reliever Reid Detmers began with Leo Rivas beating out an infield single. Samad Taylor used his exceptional speed and bat control to reach on a bunt single, and both runners advanced 90 feet when Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe couldn’t handle a pitch. The passed ball meant J.P. Crawford could swing away rather than drop a sacrifice bunt.
Crawford didn’t get much of Detmers’ slider that was in on his hands, but with the infield playing in the punch shot through the left side was good enough to score Rivas and Taylor.
Rodríguez followed with his shot off the wall to score Crawford, Cal Raleigh chopped an RBI single to keep the line moving, and Rivas eventually capped the inning with a two-run single off the glove of Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel.
“I thought Leo’s at-bat there to get two more. I think if you get out of that situation and you’re the Angels, you feel pretty good about only giving up four in that situation,” Wilson said. “But Leo just putting together a really good at-bat to get a couple more, to kind of really break it open at that point.”
Rivas, who didn’t have an RBI this season, drove in three runs, including his single in the second inning that gave the M’s a 2-1 lead. He’s hitting .367 with an on-base percentage of .513 and an .880 OPS since being brought up from Tacoma as one of the needed replacements for the litany of injuries the M’s have faced.
“I feel like for me to just see my pitches, hit it. If he don’t throw it there, just take it,” said Rivas, who already has nine walks in 13 games. “I feel like for me he’s got to throw three strikes no matter what. So I just wait for my pitch.”
Raleigh used his speed — yes, his speed — to manufacture a run in the third inning. He forced an errant throw on his infield grounder, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and he stole third and scored with the throw to third that hit him on the helmet and bounced far enough away to allow him to easily score.
Arozarena’s homer came on the first pitch of the second inning from Angels starter Tyler Anderson and traveled an estimated 400 feet for his first long ball since April 17 in Cincinnati. Arozarena, playing left field, also saved a run at a key moment, throwing out O’Hoppe at home to end the third inning with the score tied at 2.
Though the bats eventually sparked a rally, M’s starter Emerson Hancock was strong for a third consecutive start since being recalled from the minors.
Hancock allowed three runs and nine hits, but most of the contact he allowed was on the softer side. Jorge Soler rocketed a solo homer at 104.4 mph just fair down the left-field line. O’Hoppe bounced a hard single at 100 mph, and in his final inning of work Zach Neto had a base hit at 98 mph.
But most of the contact Hancock allowed was soft, or snapped the bat. He was unlucky in the first inning, as the Angels took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on base hits of 77, 81 and 85 mph. Not exactly rockets off the barrel.
“Normally it’s a really good sound. You’re like, ‘This will be an out right here,’ ” Hancock said. “Today they had a couple that fell, and there’s nothing you can do about that.”
Despite a stat line that won’t look all that great, Hancock did his part to get through six innings for the second consecutive outing and followed up on his performance last week in Boston. Hancock struck out four, walked a pair and relied a little more on his slider than his changeup as the primary secondary pitch to his fastball.
The previous time out against the Red Sox, Hancock was heavily fastball oriented with the changeup as the main off-speed pitch. But against the Angels Hancock threw the slider 20% of the time and the changeup 18%.
“I thought I executed pretty well in Boston, and I have a pretty good feel for it, and I just wanted to kind of keep building off of that,” Hancock said. “It’s a pitch that I feel like I can use to get ahead, but also with two strikes.”
The Angels threatened in the seventh after a walk, single and slow infield groundout put runners at second and third with one out against off reliever Casey Legumina. O’Hoppe popped out in foul territory in front of the M’s dugout for the second out, and Luis Rengifo grounded out to end the threat.
Barely one month into the season, the M’s are 9-3 against AL West opponents with series wins over the Rangers, Astros and Angels.
“We’re playing really, really well,” Hancock said. “And it’s fun to watch us play.”
