Field Level Media
Jul 14, 2019
Matt Thaiss hit his first major league home run, a three-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, to break a tie as the Los Angeles Angels rallied for a 6-3 victory against the visiting Seattle Mariners in Anaheim, Calif., on Sunday despite the early exit of All-Star Mike Trout.
Trout, the two-time American League MVP, left the game after the second inning with what the team termed right calf tightness. Trout, who batted .429 (12 for 28) with eight home runs over his previous seven games, lined out in his only plate appearance Sunday. The Angels listed him as day-to-day.
Kole Calhoun also homered for the Angels, who swept the three-game series.
Seattle's Austin Nola and Domingo Santana went deep, but that wasn't enough to prevent the Mariners from suffering their fourth consecutive defeat and seventh loss in their last eight games.
Calhoun walked with one out in the eighth and moved to third on pinch-hitter Justin Bour's two-out single off Anthony Bass (1-3). Left-hander Roenis Elias came on to face Thaiss, the No. 9 batter in the Angels' order. Thaiss lined a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right-center field to break a 3-3 tie.
The Angels' Ty Buttrey (5-4) pitched a perfect eighth with two strikeouts and fellow right-hander Hansel Robles worked the ninth for his 13th save of the season.
The Mariners scored runs in each of the first three innings off Angels left-hander Jose Suarez.
Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi allowed just one hit through the first four innings but never made it out of the fifth. Kikuchi walked Dustin Garneau to open the inning and Thaiss then grounded a single to right.
Right-hander Matt Carasiti, who has been used primarily by the Mariners as an opener, replaced Kikuchi and walked David Fletcher to load the bases. Andrelton Simmons also walked to drive in a run and pull the Angels within 3-2. They tied it on Shohei Ohtani's sacrifice fly.
Kikuchi went four-plus innings and was charged with three runs on two hits. He walked four and struck out three. Suarez lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.
--Field Level Media