Zach Neto homered twice, Shohei Ohtani had three hits and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 9-4 Sunday afternoon in the rubber game of a three-game series in Anaheim, Calif.
Matt Thaiss contributed two hits and three RBIs to an Angels offense that scored in five of eight innings and totaled 13 hits. A sign of things to come came in the first inning, when Angels leadoff hitter Taylor Ward hit Mariners starter Logan Gilbert’s second pitch of the game into the left-field bullpen for a home run.
The offensive onslaught made things easier for Angels starter Griffin Canning (5-2), who gave up four runs (three earned) on seven hits in five innings. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
Canning has won his last three decisions, compiling a 2.63 ERA over his past four starts.
Two outs after Ward’s leadoff homer off Gilbert (4-4), Brandon Drury doubled and scored on a single by Thaiss, the Angels going up 2-0. Gilbert gave up seven runs (six earned) on eight hits, struck out two and didn’t issue a walk in three-plus innings.
Neto’s first homer of the game, a solo drive in the second, increased the Angels’ lead to 3-0 before Los Angeles added three more in the third. Ohtani and Mike Trout began the third with back-to-back singles, and one out later, both scored on a double by Thaiss.
Hunter Renfroe followed with an RBI double and the Angels led 6-0.
A two-run homer by Teoscar Hernandez in the fourth got the Mariners to within 6-2, but the Angels added a run in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Trout to go back up 7-2.
A solo homer by Mike Ford in the fifth and a sacrifice fly by Eugenio Suarez in the sixth narrowed Seattle’s deficit to 7-4.
But the Angels got two insurance runs in the eighth, with Neto leading off the inning with his second homer and Drury adding an RBI single for a 9-4 lead.
–Field Level Media
