Bullpen gives up late go-ahead homer, Mariners drop loss to Angels despite pair of Encarnacion homers
The month of May wasn’t kind to the Seattle Mariners. In fact, the seven wins the Mariners posted were the fewest in any May in club history, and fewest in any calendar month since 2011.
The first day of June wasn’t so kind either.
Many of the same troubles Seattle has grappled with this season turned up again Saturday afternoon at T-Mobile Park. Starter Tommy Milone didn’t work as deep into the game as hoped, the Mariners reached into their stretched bullpen several times, and a pair of Angels home runs in the final two innings were too costly to overcome.
Even two long home runs from Edwin Encarnacion, which at one point tied the game, weren’t enough to push the Mariners past the Angels in a deflating 6-3 loss.
“Eddie picked us up big time,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Big game by him with a couple home runs to keep us right there, but just not enough to shut it down in the eighth inning.”
Continuing the Mariners’ recent trend of bumpy starting pitching, left-hander Milone (1-1, 3.60 ERA) labored through four-plus innings, throwing 96 pitches before he was removed trailing 3-1. Seattle’s starters have consistently struggled in early innings this season, allowing opponents to get a jump start.
Milone walked David Fletcher in the first at-bat of the game, and then recorded two outs, but the Angels grabbed a quick lead in the first inning when Albert Pujols blasted a two-run homer 399 feet over the left-field fence. He didn’t pitch to Pujols again in his 4 1/3 innings.
“I think it took a little bit to get going,” Milone said. “I didn’t feel as sharp, so it was a little bit of a battle, but after the first inning, I kind of settled down a little bit I felt like, and was able to make better pitches. Not consistent enough, but enough to get through some innings.”
Milone worked a clean second, but Los Angeles tacked on another run in the third — a product of another Seattle error — to make it 3-0. Fletcher popped up behind the plate to open the inning, but catcher Tom Murphy couldn’t hold on, and Fletcher doubled on the second chance. Milone retired Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, but intentionally walked Pujols to avoid a first-inning repeat. Cesar Puello did the damage anyway in the next at-bat, plating Fletcher on a two-out double to left.
After an efficient fourth, Milone allowed back-to-back singles to Fletcher and Trout in the fifth. He then struck out Ohtani, but was pulled with Pujols coming to the plate. Reliever Cory Gearrin retired Pujols and Puello to preserve the scoreless frame. Milone allowed the three runs (two earned) on seven hits, while striking out six and walking two.
“Where Tommy’s at and how he pitches, he’s got to be on the edges and be very fine,” Servais said. “They’re going to see some pitches off him, and he’s got to get ahead in the count, and he was behind for a few hitters today. They grind (at-bats) out, they’re going to make you throw some pitches. The Angels are very patient. We knew that coming into the series.”
While the two earned runs matched what Milone allowed in his first two starts, the shorter outing — Mariners starters average about 5 1/3 — caused Seattle to again reach into its bullpen several times to close the game.
Gearrin worked cleanly through his 1 2/3 innings. Brennan, who recorded the loss, tossed a scoreless seventh, but gave up a leadoff single to Puello in the eighth before he was removed.
Left-hander Roenis Elias, who hasn’t been sharp in his past few appearances after an impressive start, took over and immediately gave up another single. A smooth 5-4-3 double play Kyle Seager initiated gave the Mariners a quick two outs in the frame, but Kole Calhoun launched the decisive two-run homer to right center in the next at-bat to break a 3-3 tie.
“The last couple weeks it just hasn’t been the same with his stuff,” Servais said. “He competes really well. I thought he was going to be able to get through it. He got the big double-play ball, but couldn’t get through Calhoun and it cost us.”
Seattle committed two errors in the game to push their MLB-leading total to 66. Murphy’s was the first, then shortstop Dylan Moore bobbled a routine grounder in the eighth after the Calhoun homer, though it didn’t lead to any runs.
Trout homered off Chasen Bradford in the ninth to push Los Angeles’ lead to three runs.
The Mariners managed just five hits off Angels starter Andrew Heany (0-0, 4.09), who struck out 10 in six quality innings. Each of the three runs Heany allowed were products of Encarnacion’s two homers. Heany at one point retired 10 batters in a row before Encarnacion broke through with a 400-foot solo homer to left in the fourth.
“He has such a good idea of what he’s doing at the plate, and it all comes down to he doesn’t chase often,” Servais said. “He gets his pitch. He’s got a good feel for what the pitchers are going to do against him and his timing was really good today. All that with a root canal yesterday and his jaw pretty sore.”
Encarnacion was a late scratch in Friday night’s win after having an emergency root canal. He felt well enough to DH on Saturday, and said his jaw was bothersome in some at-bats.
“It’s bothering me some swings,” Encarnacion said. “Not every swing. The two homers I got, I didn’t feel anything.”
In the sixth, all Trout could do was watch the ball go by when Encarnacion belted his second homer of the game 438 feet to straightaway center.
“He had no chance at that one,” Encarnacion said.
The two-run blast also scored Mitch Haniger, who singled, and tied the game. Encarnacion’s 15 homers this season are tied for the team lead with Daniel Vogelbach. It was the 34th multi-homer game of his career, and his 395 career home runs rank 60th in MLB history.
“I hope I can stay like that,” Encarnacion said. “It’s not easy. I have to keep working and get consistent at-bats.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2019 at 7:32 PM.
