Mickey Moniak’s second home run of the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-4 win over the visiting Seattle Mariners Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Moniak, whose two-run homer in the seventh tied the game at 4-4, launched a 1-2 slider from Seattle reliever Andres Munoz (2-6) over the fence in right field to win it for Los Angeles.
Angels right fielder Jo Adell also hit two home runs, as did Mariners first baseman Justin Turner.
Ben Joyce (2-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the victory.
The eighth inning was eventful even though no runs were scored by either team.
In the top of the inning, Seattle had Mitch Garver on second base with one out when J.P. Crawford was hit by a pitch by Los Angeles lefty Jose Quijada.
Crawford had words for Quijada before taking first, bringing up Julio Rodriguez, who had already reached base four times in the game on three singles and a walk.
Quijada, however, induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Taylor Ward extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a leadoff double. The next hitter, Jack Lopez, squared to bunt. The first pitch he saw from Collin Snider was up and in and went to the backstop, allowing Ward to take third.
Then, Angels manager Ron Washington called for a squeeze play, but Lopez’s bunt dropped just in front of the plate, allowing catcher Cal Raleigh to tag out a sliding Ward at home and throw out Lopez at first base.
Turner homered against Angels starter Tyler Anderson leading off both the second and fourth innings, and the Mariners pushed across two more runs in the fourth on a two-run single by Rodriguez that gave Seattle a 4-1 lead.
Anderson exited after the fourth, having allowed four runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts on 83 pitches.
Mariners starter Bryan Woo pitched into the seventh inning for the sixth straight time. The right-hander went 6 1/3 frames, allowing four runs on five hits – including three home runs – while walking none and fanning three.
Woo allowed homers to Adell in the third and sixth innings before surrendering Moniak’s game-tying two-run blast in the seventh, ending his night after just 69 pitches.
Woo had permitted only six home runs in 87 2/3 innings this season entering Saturday.
–Field Level Media
