Margevicius quality, but Mariners bats cool off in loss to Angels
The bats that produced a combined 15 runs in a doubleheader a day earlier in San Diego went quiet Friday when the Mariners headed north to Anaheim.
The Mariners managed a single run against Angels ace Andrew Heaney in their series opener at Angel Stadium, couldn’t capitalize on another impressive start from young left-hander Nick Margevicius, and trudged to a 3-2 loss.
“I thought Marge really threw the ball just awesome tonight,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said on a postgame video call. “It was an outstanding effort by him. I knew we were a little light in the bullpen tonight, I was hoping to get six innings out of him and we he did. He was really, really good. I thought his attack, his stuff was good. He continues to learn and develop.
“ ... Story tonight obviously we got shut down offensively. That’s the best that we’ve seen Heaney in quite some time. He had a good fastball a lot of life on it, secondary pitches on the sliders against the lefties and then a lot of good changeups against the righties, so it was a struggle offensively. We’ve been swinging the bat great. So, coming into the ballgame and into the series you want to keep it rolling, and you’ve got to tip your hat.”
The Mariners’ (13-21) only lead came in the sixth when rookie Sam Haggerty sent a single to center that scored J.P. Crawford, who doubled ahead of him.
Heaney gave up just the one run on four hits with two walks and picked up 10 strikeouts against the Mariners in 7 2/3.
Seattle didn’t manage much against the Angels’ bullpen either. Kyle Seager opened the ninth with a double and Jose Marmolejos walked. A Tim Lopes single to right then scored Seager, but Marmolejos was thrown out trying to advance to third for the second out of the inning. Shed Long Jr. popped up to end the game.
“We have been very aggressive all year,” Servais said of the base running blunder. “I love seeing our guys go first to third. Marmo, he’s trying to get there. ... They made a play on us, and it ended up biting us there at the end.”
Margevicius, making his fourth start of the season in place of injured Kendall Graveman, was solid through five innings, sometimes bending but never breaking against Los Angeles’ veteran lineup.
“The more I’m getting built up and throwing more pitches, the better I’m feeling, and getting my routine, and working on things in my bullpen every time out has been good for me,” Margevicius said.
He coolly worked through the order twice, including calmly working an inning-ending double play in the third with the bases loaded, before the Angels finally got to him with two outs in the sixth.
Shohei Ohtani walked to open the inning, but Margevicius struck out Mike Trout looking and got Anthony Rendon to fly out to right. It appeared then he would work his way out of his final inning, but Albert Pujols sent a two-out, ground-rule double ricocheting off the foul pole in left to score Ohtani and tie the game. Justin Upton singled behind him to give the Angels the final lead.
Margevicius allowed the two runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts in his second quality outing of the season on a season-high 98 pitches.
After joining the Mariners this offseason following his debut year with the Padres in 2019, he noted the importance of the confidence Seattle has showed in him so far.
“That’s been very important for me,” he said. “I think it’s great. I was really encouraged to see the confidence they had. Coming over to a new team, they didn’t really know who I was or what I was about. Starting off in the bullpen, like is he a bullpen guy? Is he a starter? That’s just because they don’t know me that well.
“And so for them leave me out there in that situation (in the sixth), I want to be the guy that the team wants on the mound. And it’s important to me, and I’m really, really happy that they showed that confidence in me.”
But, he still left the game trailing.
The Angels tacked on another run when Trout, of course, crushed a solo shot to center to lead off the eighth against Brady Lail. It was Trout’s 45th career homer against the Mariners — by far his most against any opponent.
“We’ve seen too many of those through the years,” Servais said.
Lail hit two batters, but then fanned three straight, striking out the side to prevent further damage.
Yohan Ramirez worked his way around two walks in the seventh, striking out a pair of batters, including Ohtani, to keep the Angels lead at 2-1 at that point.
The Mariners and Angels, along with the other clubs across baseball, honored Jackie Robinson by wearing his No. 42 on the back of their jerseys. Before the game started, Mariners and Angels players met behind second base and locked arms.
“Some things are a little bit bigger than baseball — quite frankly a lot bigger than baseball,” Servais said. “ ... I thought it was a nice gesture, both clubs, guys out there joining arms. Very appropriate for a day like today.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 9:34 PM.
