Ryan Johnson will continue his push for a spot in the 2027 rotation for the rebuilding Los Angeles Angels when he starts against the sputtering Seattle Mariners on Tuesday in Anaheim, Calif.
Johnson (4-8, 5.12 ERA), a 6-foot-6, 215-pound rookie right-hander, is 2-2 with a 2.11 ERA over his past seven starts. He comes in off an impressive 6-4 win at Boston on Wednesday when he allowed three runs on five hits in six innings with one walk and five strikeouts while throwing a career-high 103 pitches.
“I thought he was great,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said after the game at Fenway Park. “This ain’t an easy place to pitch, as we all know.”
The victory came following a hard-luck 1-0 loss at Pittsburgh on Sept. 4 that saw him allow one run on four hits in six innings with two walks and six strikeouts.
“He’s working on a lot of things in the bullpen,” Suzuki said of Johnson, who was the 2024 Conference USA Pitcher of the Year at Dallas Baptist, where he also was named a first-team All-American by Baseball America.
“He’s found a nice routine. He’s focusing on getting better … and he is getting better. I’m very happy with the way RJ is pitching.”
Johnson is 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against the Mariners. He picked up the loss in a June 29 start at Seattle during which he allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits in five innings in a 6-2 Mariners’ victory.
Right-hander Logan Gilbert (12-9, 3.72) starts for Seattle (70-81) and can match his career single-season high in wins (13), accomplished in 2022 and 2023.
Gilbert is 4-4 with a 3.92 ERA in 11 career starts against Los Angeles, including 4-2 with a 4.46 ERA in eight starts at Angel Stadium.
He comes in off a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Thursday that saw him go against fellow Stetson alum and two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom. He allowed three runs on three hits in seven innings while striking out a season-high 11 batters while deGrom struck out 12 during six one-hit innings.
“That was pretty fun,” Gilbert said. “It’s cool that it’s matched up that way a few times this year, too. As advertised for him, he’s a tough arm to go against.”
Seattle has lost three of four games so far on a nine-game road trip, including 6-4 in Monday night’s series opener.
Jose Siri went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs and Reid Detmers recorded his seventh consecutive quality start for the Angels (57-93). Cal Raleigh and J.P. Crawford both homered for Seattle, which remains 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West with just 11 games remaining.
The Mariners, six games out of the final wild-card spot, need to win all 11 of their remaining games to avoid finishing the season with a losing record for the first time since the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign when they went 27-33.
This is a road trip where the Mariners still could pull off some wins. They are facing the three teams with the worst records in the majors — the A’s, Angels and Rockies — who are a combined 104 games under .500.
–Field Level Media
