Seattle Mariners’ Ty France (23) celebrates at the plate with Jarred Kelenic after hitting a two-run homerun during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Saturday, August 6, 2022, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Caean Couto)
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SEATTLE
Ty France didn’t let this defeat to the Angels at T-Mobile Park last any longer.
Seattle’s All-Star first baseman crushed a two-run homerun here in the third inning on Saturday afternoon to lift the Mariners to a 2-1 victory over their rivals in the American League West for 41,507 in the first game of a doubleheader.
The Mariners trailed early when France turned on a slider from Angels-starter Jaime Barria and bounced it into the Seattle bullpen for his 14th homerun of the season.
Jarred Kelenic, who reached on a fielder’s choice earlier in the inning and advanced on a stolen base and a wild pitch, also scored on the drive.
“Offensively, Ty France was the only big hit,” said Mariners manager Scott Servais. “…But it wasn’t easy. It is clear that we have struggled here at home for the past few days and we have to take it offensively.
“It happens. That’s what happens with a foul. It’s going to get a little streaky at times. We’ve got to find ways. We’re getting guys on base. We’ve got to get that big two-out hit, that’s what we need miss now.”
Still, six innings later, the Mariners (58-50) ended what had been a losing streak of four games against the Angels in Seattle, dating back to June.
The last time the Angels visited, Seattle dropped four out of five games — including both games of the first doubleheader the clubs played this season — to drop below .500 for the first time this season.
The Mariners regrouped from the troubling trajectory by winning 22 of their next 25, having a 14-game All-Star break winning streak and working their way back into postseason competition.
As of Saturday afternoon, Seattle will remain in the wildcard position, tied with Tampa Bay for second place in the AL.
Friday night, in their series opener against Los Angeles to kick off this homestand, it looked like the Mariners could end the home drought against the Angels.
Adam Frazier eventually broke what was 29 consecutive scoreless innings against the Angels at T-Mobile Park with a two-out, one-run single in the ninth.
France, back in its first game after missing four with a sore wrist, scored two more runs on a double the next at bat to make it 3-3.
But the Angels went on to win in 10 innings, turning their run of victories against Seattle to four.
On Saturday afternoon, however, France ensured that it did not expand further.
He finished 1-for-3 with the homerun, two RBI’s and a walk on Saturday, while getting into rhythm again and again.
“Looks like we’re going in the right direction,” France said.
Seattle (58-50) will now try to win the day in the second game, which is scheduled for 7:10 PM
“Glad to get that first one under our belt,” Servais said. “We need to take a little break here, focus and… we need to wave the bats out a little better here in the second game and we’ll see what happens there.”
The Mariners got another great start from rookie righthander George Kirby, who threw six innings and gave up one run on six hits while striking out eight in the first game.
Saturday’s performance was Kirby’s seventh quality outing in his 15 starts with the big league club.
He worked efficiently through the Angels lineup three times, throwing 80 pitches to the 25 batters he faced and finishing three frames with strikeouts.
“George Kirby – excellent,” Servais said. “Very efficient once he came into play. Good stuff today. And really needed it. Every time you go out for the first game of a doubleheader you need that starter to go deep and he did a great job.”
Los Angeles’ lone run against Kirby was in the second, when Mickey Moniak’s single to the right easily brought home Jo Adell, who opened the frame with a ground-rule double, then advanced to third base on a Kurt Suzuki base that previous at bat.
Kirby, however, ended the threat there, striking out Jose Rojas and Andrew Velazquez and swinging back-to-back to end the inning.
The Angels held onto the one-run lead until France’s homerun in the third, eventually ending a long spell in which the Mariners hadn’t led the Angels in a home game for 37 innings.
Matt Festa, Andres Munoz and Erik Swanson combined for three scoreless innings in relief to close the win.
This four-game series against the Angels, which concludes Sunday afternoon, marks the end of the season between the two at T-Mobile Park.
The division’s rivals will face each other seven more times this summer, all in Anaheim.
SHORT HOPS
Mariners rightfielder Mitch Haniger (high ankle sprain right) returns to Seattle’s lineup Saturday nightplay right field and hit third.
Haniger spent the last two weeks with High-A Everett and Triple-A Tacoma on a rehab assignment, going 8-for-30 (.267) with six runs scored, three homeruns, eight RBI and 10 walks to strikeout five in 11 matches between the two clubs.
He has not appeared in a game for Seattle since April 29.
Haniger hit .200/.222/.486 this spring with three runs scored, a double, three homeruns, seven RBI and one walk to nine strikeouts in nine games before being placed in the IL.
Former Seahawks linebacker KJ Wright threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Wright signed a one-day contract with Seattle the last week of July so that he could retire as a Seahawk. The 33-year-old spent 10 of his 11 seasons in the NFL with Seattle, including winning a Super Bowl with the Seahawks.
The Mariners added back to their roster on Saturday, announcing the arrival of Tucker.
“We have another addition to the roster today,” Servais told reporters ahead of the first game. “We have a team dog. Tucker is in the house.”
Tucker, a 4-year-old Labrador/golden retriever mix, was recently adopted by the OkanDogs rescue clubhouse in Cashmere.
“I’m just trying to promote the rescue efforts across the state of Washington,” Servais said. “There are dogs for everyone. With that, we hit a home run. This little guy is amazing.”
Tucker can be found on Twitter @MarinersPup.
This story was originally published August 6, 2022 4:15 PM.
Lauren Smith covers University of Washington athletics for The News Tribune. She previously covered high school sports for TNT and The Olympian starting in 2015, before moving to the Seattle Mariners beat ahead of the 2019 season. She is a graduate of UW and Emerald Ridge High School.
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