Mike Trout hit a tiebreaking two-run home run and six pitchers combined on a two-hitter as the Los Angeles Angels defeated the host Seattle Mariners 4-0 Sunday afternoon.
The Angels, who had lost 18 of their previous 20 games entering the series, took four of five, with Trout hitting a go-ahead home run in each of their wins.
Trout hit five homers in the series, giving him 52 in his career against the Mariners, tied with Rafael Palmeiro for the most against the franchise. He has 33 homers at T-Mobile Park, the most by an opposing hitter.
Angels lefty Kenny Rosenberg, making his first major league start, pitched 4 2/3 innings. He allowed two hits, walked three and struck out one.
Rosenberg cruised through the first three innings before allowing two walks and a single to J.P. Crawford to load the bases in the fourth. But Rosenberg got Cal Raleigh to ground out to end the inning.
Seattle’s Justin Upton led off the fifth with a double and took third on a one-out flyout. Angels interim manager Phil Nevin then brought in Jose Quijada to face Ty France. Quijada got France to hit a comebacker to the mound after the game was delayed for a couple of minutes as a fire alarm went off at the ballpark.
Andrew Wantz (1-0), Aaron Loup, Ryan Tepera and Raisel Iglesias closed out the victory with an inning of relief apiece.
Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert (7-3) took the loss despite making his seventh consecutive quality start. Gilbert went six innings and gave up two runs on four hits, with no walks and six strikeouts.
It was scoreless until the fourth. The Angels’ Taylor Ward led off the inning with a line-drive single to left and Trout took a 3-2 pitch deep to right-center field.
The Angels added a run off lefty reliever Ryan Borucki in the seventh. With one out, Luis Rengifo grounded a single into center field and Max Stassi followed with a run-scoring double to right-center to make it 3-0.
The Angels tacked on a run in the eighth as Ward led off with a single and scored on Jared Walsh’s two-out single and rookie center fielder Julio Rodriguez’s fielding error.
The Mariners finished 3-8 on their 11-game homestand. They were shut out four times and scored a total of eight runs in the losses.
–Field Level Media
