ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — George Kirby pitched seven stellar innings of three-hit ball for his career-best 10th victory, and Julio Rodríguez had a two-run double among his three hits in the Seattle Mariners’ fourth straight win, 3-2 over the stumbling Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.
Brandon Drury drove in a run on a ground-rule double off Mariners reliever Andrés Muñoz during the Angels’ two-out rally in the ninth, but the ball bouncing over the fence prevented pinch-runner Andrew Velazquez from easily scoring the tying run. Muñoz then struck out Hunter Renfroe with the bases loaded to end the Mariners’ third straight win in this four-game series.
Seattle manager Scott Servais thought the fortunate bounce was appropriate for his streaking club.
“In April and May, that ball stays in (the field of play),” Servais said. “That’s what happens in baseball. It’s baseball. Sometimes you’re going to get a little lucky. You get a break here or there, and we got a break. That’s the way it goes in this game.”
Ty France added an RBI single in the eighth for the Mariners (59-52), who have won 12 of 16 while moving 3 1/2 games ahead of Los Angeles (56-56) in the crowded race behind Toronto for the final AL wild-card spot.
Kirby (10-8) came through with another strong start for the Mariners, striking out five and issuing no walks while going seven innings for the fourth time in his last nine outings. The AL All-Star finished impressively, striking out three Angels in the sixth before getting three outs on only five pitches in the seventh.
“We’re putting it all together,” Kirby said. “Pitching well from starters. Our bullpen is doing really well. We’re seeing good pitches and we’re not missing the pitches that we sometimes usually do. I think everyone is just enjoying themselves a lot more, and it’s just really fun to watch these last 12 games or whatever.”
Randal Grichuk homered and Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 4 for the Angels, who have lost five consecutive games since the MLB trade deadline passed. Injury-plagued Los Angeles has lost seven of nine overall, badly weakening the playoff chances of a team that acquired six veterans and didn’t trade Ohtani in a desperate bid for its first playoff appearance since 2014.
“Ball just barely jumps over the fence, otherwise it’s a tie game right there,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “They say it’s a game of inches or whatever you want to call it, and it certainly bit us today.”
Matt Brash got through the eighth with help from a slick double-play turn by shortstop J.P. Crawford. Muñoz survived the ninth for his fifth save despite walking C.J. Cron and allowing Mike Moustakas’ single before Drury’s ground-rule double.
Tyler Anderson (5-3) yielded two hits and two runs over five innings for the Angels, but dropped to 1-2 in his last seven starts.
Rodríguez played with passion from the first inning after his successful steal of second apparently was negated by umpire interference. Rodríguez was caught on a second attempt, and he was visibly furious while walking back to the dugout, where he got into an apparent shouting match with someone in the stands while video review upheld the call.
“There was a lot of things going on, and people have the tendency to yell things and whatnot,” Servais said. “Julio is very passionate, very fiery, and I love it. He let his bat do the talking after that.”
Rodríguez put the Mariners up 2-0 in the third with his long double to the left-field wall, giving him RBIs in consecutive games for only the second time in a month. Grichuk responded in the bottom half with his second homer since rejoining the Angels last week.
Crawford tied the Seattle record by drawing a walk in his 10th consecutive game.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: The cramping in Ohtani’s pitching hand has subsided, and he will make his next mound start on schedule, Nevin said. Ohtani is slated to face San Francisco on Wednesday night in the Halos’ homestand finale.
UP NEXT
Chase Silseth (3-1, 3.99 ERA) takes the mound for Los Angeles in the series finale after pitching five strong innings in a victory over Atlanta in his last start. Seattle sends out rookie Bryce Miller (7-4, 4.35), who faces the Angels for the first time.
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