SEATTLE — The frustration couldn’t be hidden from their faces. The disappointment could be felt with every tossed bat and spiked helmet in disgust. And the anxiety with every wasted opportunity grew in the dugout and in the stands packed full of fans waiting to explode with just one big hit and a victory.
Instead, the Seattle Mariners, the team that reveled in close game and one-run victories, lost the type of game they’ve won so many times this season.
The late-inning comeback that 44,169 fans in the sellout crowd kept waiting to happen never came together Friday night. Instead, the Mariners suffered a crushing 2-1 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels and their postseason dream just got a little more difficult to realize on their own efforts.
Since they came into the day tied with the Boston Red Sox for the second wild card spot, the Mariners knew coming into the game that their situation was simple — win every game and they would do no worse than playing in a game No. 163 on Monday in Boston to get into the wild card game.
By the first inning, they knew the Red Sox had beaten the Nationals and the Blue Jays had defeated the Orioles. They also saw the Yankees lost, leaving a slim hope they could steal the first wild card spot and host the game.
But with the loss, they need to win their last two games of the season and hope for some help from the Nationals and Orioles.
The ninth inning summed up the evening. Kyle Seager led off with a double to right field to bring hope and anticipation to the crowd. But Angels closer Raisel Iglesias retired the next three hitters to hand Seattle its third defeat in 14 games.
The Mariners got a “quality start” from Marco Gonzales, who pitched six innings, allowing two runs on three hits with two walks (one intentional) and five strikeouts.
The two runs allowed came in the top of the third after his teammates had given him a 1-0 lead off Angels starter Jose Suarez.
With two outs, Abraham Toro singled up the middle. Rookie Jarred Kelenic, who made a passionate request for fans to come out for the series in his postgame interview on Wednesday, brought the packed house to its feet, sending a one-hopper off the wall in right field.
With ball not coming off the wall cleanly to right fielder Juan Lagares, Mariners third base coach Manny Acta waved Toro home as second baseman David Fletcher received the cutoff throw in shallow right field. It was a calculated risk knowing that Fletcher’s arm isn’t strong and isn’t accurate from distance. The decision proved wise as Fletcher’s throw did arrive before Toro but was well up the third base line making a play at the plate impossible.
But Gonzales couldn’t make the minimal lead hold up. He allowed a leadoff single to Luis Rengifo to start the third and then walked Fletcher. Both runners would score when Brandon Walsh hit a fly ball to left-center that was just out of the reach of left fielder Dylan Moore. It went for a two-run double. After an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani, Gonzales got out of the inning, getting Phil Gosselin to fly out to center and Kurt Suzuki to hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Gonzales allowed just one more runner on an infield single the rest of the way.
But the Mariners did nothing else besides the one run against Suarez in his five innings of work. He allowed just three total hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Down 2-1 going into the seventh inning. Luis Torrens hit a high fly ball into the right field corner off reliever Michael Mayers. The ball was near the top of the wall and it couldn’t be gloved by Lagares on his leaping attempt. It instead turned into a leadoff triple for the not-so-quick Torrens.
Toro then won a nine-pitch battle to work a walk, giving Seattle runners on first and second with no outs. The runners never left their spots on base.
With Kelenic coming to the plate, Angels manager Joe Maddon called on hard-throwing lefty Jose Quijada to replace Mayers.
Quijada struck out Kelenic on 3-2 95-mph fastball out of the zone, struck out Tom Murphy swinging on similar fastball at the top of the zone and then froze Dylan Moore with a called third strike that may or may not have been on the corner of the plate.
