Baseball

Mariners hold on to beat Angels 5-3 despite Ohtani blast

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani, right, drops his bat as he hits a solo home run as Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, left, watches during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 25, 2022, in Anaheim, Calif.

12:53 JST, June 26, 2022

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Cal Raleigh had three hits, Kevin Padlo hit a two-run, bases-loaded single in the sixth inning and the Seattle Mariners overcame a monstrous home run by Shohei Ohtani to rally for a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.

Julio Rodriguez went deep for the second straight night for the Mariners, who have won a season-high five straight games.

Ohtani crushed a 462-foot homer off a 96.8 mph fastball from Logan Gilbert (8-3) in the third to tie it at 1. According to Statcast, the 118 mph exit velocity made it the hardest-hit HR of Ohtani’s five years in the major. It is the fourth longest of the AL MVPs 109 homers since he came stateside in 2018.

With two outs in the ninth, Ohtani came up with runners on first and second, but lined out to right fielder Taylor Trammell to end the game and give Erik Swanson his first save of the season.

Kurt Suzuki also had a solo shot in the fourth for the Angels, who have dropped four of five on their homestand. They’ve also lost two straight to the Mariners after taking four of five games last weekend in Seattle.

Rodriguez made Angels’ starter Patrick Sandoval pay for leaving a slider up in the zone with a solo shot to left two batters into the game to put Seattle up 1-0.

The Mariners would fall behind before rallying for three runs in the sixth. Angels’ third baseman Taylor Wade booted a grounder by Rodriguez to load the bases with one out.

Eugenio Suarez was struck out by Archie Bradley (0-1) before he was relieved by Jose Quijada. Jesse Winker drew a walk to tie it before Padlo’s base hit to right put Seattle on top 4-2.

Pinch-hitter David MacKinnon had an RBI single to draw the Halos within a run in the sixth before the Mariners responded with Dylan Moore’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.