SEATTLE — When the Angels and Seattle Mariners met on Tuesday night, it was difficult to tell which team is in a pennant race and which one is bracing to unload players before next week’s trade deadline.
The Angels took advantage of the Mariners’ sloppy defense and anemic hitting to beat them, 5-1, their fifth straight victory against the team that has now blown a 10-game division lead in a month.
The Angels (44-57) are simply trying to “learn how to win,” as Manager Ron Washington says frequently, while building some momentum for next season.
That starts with the continued strong work of right-hander José Soriano, a 25-year-old who further establishes himself with every outing.
Soriano gave up one run in 7⅔ innings, dropping his ERA to 3.51 after 95 innings and 16 starts.
“He was outstanding,” Washington said. “We needed everything he gave us. It would have been even nicer if he could have got through the eighth. See how greedy I am now?”
Soriano has beaten the Mariners in each of his last two starts, holding Seattle to two runs in 13⅔ innings.
Soriano didn’t have any trouble until the fifth inning, when he gave up a leadoff double, threw a wild pitch and walked a batter. With runners at the corners and no outs, Washington came to the mound to talk to Soriano. No one was even warming in the bullpen, so it was clearly a motivational visit.
“He told me to keep my mind focused on one pitch at a time,” Soriano said through an interpreter.
Soriano induced a double play and then got a grounder, escaping the jam with only one run scoring. He then retired all six hitters he faced in the sixth and seventh before allowing a one-out single in the eighth.
While Soriano certainly deserves credit for his work, it’s worth nothing that the Mariners – even when they were playing well – are not a good offensive team. On Tuesday, they put star center fielder Julio Rodriguez and leadoff hitter J.P. Crawford on the injured list.
The Angels’ offense was also not doing anything against Seattle’s Logan Gilbert until the fifth inning.
Logan O’Hoppe led off the inning with a single, the Angels’ first baserunner of the game. Nolan Schanuel then singled. Brandon Drury hit a chopper to third, and Josh Rojas bounced his throw across the diamond, for an error.
Mickey Moniak drew a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk, which was unusual because Gilbert is one of baseball’s best control pitchers and Moniak rarely walks.
Zach Neto dropped a safety squeeze bunt up the first base line. Gilbert fielded it and threw wildly home. Two runs scored on the play, with the second scoring because Rojas obstructed Drury as he was trying to score.
Luis Rengifo, in his first game after three weeks on the injured list, punched a two-run single into center, putting the Angels ahead, 5-0.
By the time the inning came to an end, fans at T-Mobile Park were booing the home team, which has now lost 19 of its last 28 games.
“Neto dropped a bunt trying to make something happen and it turned out to be a five-run inning,” Washington said. “Sometimes those things happen.”
