Another night, another hero for the Seattle Mariners.
Backup catcher Mitch Garver was the latest, hitting a tiebreaking solo homer with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Mariners a 2-1 victory against the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Friday.
It was the seventh victory in a row for the Mariners (80-68), who remained tied with Houston atop the American League West and maintained their two-game lead over surging Texas for the league’s third and final wild-card berth.
Seattle will look to continue its good fortune on Saturday against Los Angeles.
Manager Dan Wilson often talks about getting contributions up and down the lineup, and that’s certainly been the case the past few nights.
September call-ups Leo Rivas and Harry Ford drove in the deciding runs in extra innings the previous two games. Rivas belted a two-run homer in the 13th Wednesday in a 4-2 victory against St. Louis and Ford had a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 12th Thursday in a 7-6 win over the Angels.
“It looked like it might be extra innings again as we got down toward the end, but you know Garv coming up just with a clutch, clutch homer right there,” Wilson said.
The veteran Garver is a former AL Silver Slugger award winner who has batted just .187 over the past two seasons in Seattle. He launched a 1-2 fastball from Angels reliever Connor Brogdon into Edgar’s Cantina between the first and second decks in left field to snap a 1-1 tie.
Garver, who played on the Rangers in 2023 when they won the World Series, knows the importance of everyone pitching in.
“That’s what championship teams do,” he said. “You never know who’s gonna do it that night. Could be Cal (Raleigh), could be Julio (Rodriguez). Those are the usual suspects. But it could be Leo (Rivas), it could be myself. You never know, man.”
Seattle’s bullpen continued to shine, with Andres Munoz picking up his 35th save of the season. During the Mariners’ win streak, their relievers haven’t allowed an earned run over 32 1/3 innings. In that span they’ve given up 14 hits, walked five and struck out 34.
The Angels (69-79) suffered their second straight loss and sixth in their past nine games.
“That’s what it comes down to in these games, right? It’s one mistake. It’s one error, it’s one pitch,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said of Garver’s homer. “Obviously, there’s some good pitches in big spots there, too.”
On Saturday, the Angels are set to send rookie left-hander Mitch Farris (1-0, 2.45 ERA) to the mound against Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo (13-7, 3.02).
Farris will be making his third major-league start and first against the Mariners. He won his debut Sept. 2 at Kansas City, giving up one run on three hits over five innings as the Angels won, 5-1. He took a no-decision Sunday in a 4-3 win over the visiting Athletics despite a quality start of six innings and two runs allowed on three hits.
Woo has won his past three decisions and five of six since the start of August. He beat visiting St. Louis 4-2 Monday when he allowed two runs on three hits over six innings, with no walks and nine strikeouts. Woo is 1-0 with a 3.32 ERA in seven career starts against the Angels. Despite a quality start, he took a no-decision against them July 25 in Anaheim, Calif., in a game in which the hosts prevailed 3-2 in 10 innings.
-Field Level Media
