Mariners Defense the Key in 4-3 Win in Anaheim

The Mariners, aided by their defense, escaped Anaheim with a win after a spot-start by Cody Martin and the bullpen pitching half the game.

The Mariners escaped game three in Anaheim with a 4-3 win. There were at least five defensive plays made by the Mariners worth mentioning, including an incredible play to get out 27 and end the game. As upsetting a loss as it was last night, the Mariners bullpen came right back with help from some great defense and baserunning to get a much-needed win.

Cody Martin got the spot-start for the injured James Paxton. It didn’t look good early when a run had already scored and the bases were still loaded with nobody out in the first. However, after a couple of nice defensive plays, including an excellent stop and throw by Robinson Cano, Martin made it out of the inning having given up just two runs.

Cody settled down and the Mariners’ offense answered right back by loading the bases with nobody out in the second. RBIs by Chris Iannetta and Leonys Martin tied the game at 2-2. They added two more runs to take the lead in the fourth off starter Tyler Skaggs, who failed to make it through the fourth inning. The runs in the fourth were manufactured with another sac fly and some keen baserunning by Martin on a beautiful push-bunt by Shawn O’Malley.

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Mariners Bullpen Bounces Back: One run in 4.2 innings

For the second consecutive night, it was up to the back-end of the bullpen to hold on to a small lead. Arquimedes Caminero, who suffered the loss in Tuesday’s wild affair, gave up a couple of two-out singles which brought Mike Trout to the dish. Caminero was able to strike out Trout swinging on a 100 mph fastball to end the threat. Tom Wilhelmsen ran into similar trouble when he too gave up a pair of two-out singles in the eighth, but was able to get Jett Bandy to protect the lead heading into the ninth.

Edwin Diaz‘s Shakiest Outing as a Closer:

Edwin Diaz came into the game to close out the ninth for the Mariners. Diaz, who boasts the best strikeout per nine-innings ratio in baseball with a 16.36, has been perfect thus far in his seven save opportunities. Last night though, Diaz struggled to find his fastball command. The Angels cut the lead to one and loaded the bases with one out for Jefry Marte, the hero in last night’s game. After a trip to the mound from pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, Diaz stuck with his slider almost exclusively and struck Marte out on three pitches. Finally, despite falling behind Andrelton Simmons 3-1, Diaz got a little help from Kyle Seager, who made an incredible game-saving play to end the game.

Tonight’s Probables: Like clockwork, Hisashi Iwakuma takes his turn in the rotation tomorrow and faces up against Matt Shoemaker. Iwakuma has won his last three consecutive starts and has an ERA of just 1.37 in August. Shoemaker is one of very few healthy starting pitchers the Angels have. However, he has lost four of his last five starts and gave up five runs on a career-high 12 hits in his last start against Cleveland.

Hisashi Iwakuma 14-7, 3.84 ERA vs. Matt Shoemaker 6-13, 4.22 ERA

Mentionables: Yunel Escobar led off for the Angels last night and went a perfect 5-5, all singles.

MLB News: The fifth ranked prospect in all of baseball and the number one pick in the 2015 MLB draft, Dansby Swanson, has been called up and had two hits in his MLB debut today for the Braves.

Today’s Date in Baseball History: Another game against the Angels took place on today’s date in baseball history.

Next: M's Make Right Move in Shelving Paxton

By: Collin Ferguson at Collin-Ferguson.com & EmeraldCitySwagger.com