Shohei Ohtani pitched six solid innings and Logan O'Hoppe homered as the Los Angeles Angels defeated the host Seattle Mariners 4-3 Wednesday afternoon, taking two of three games in the series between the American League West rivals.
Ohtani (1-0) allowed one run on three hits, with four walks and eight strikeouts. Jose Quijada worked the ninth for his first save of the season.
The Mariners' Chris Flexen (0-1), making his first start for the injured Robbie Ray, nearly matched Ohtani. Flexen allowed two runs on two hits in five innings, with two walks and four strikeouts.
The Mariners took a lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Leadoff hitter Julio Rodriguez walked and advanced to second on Ohtani's wild pitch. Ty France walked to bring up Eugenio Suarez, who lined a single to right field to score Rodriguez. Hunter Renfroe's throw to third in an effort to nail France was wide of the base, but third baseman Gio Urshela tracked down the ball and easily threw out France at the plate. Ohtani settled down and struck out Cal Raleigh and Teoscar Hernandez to end the inning.
The Angels took the lead in the second as Urshela walked and, with two outs, O'Hoppe went deep to left field.
The score remained 2-1 until the seventh.
Urshela led off with a double to left off reliever Diego Castillo. Urshela took third on a groundout and Taylor Ward drew a two-out walk. The Mariners brought in Andres Munoz to face Mike Trout, who reached on an infield single that scored Urshela. Ohtani grounded a single just inside the bag at third base to bring home Ward and make it 4-1.
The Mariners got two runs back in the bottom of the inning after Sam Haggerty led off with an infield single against reliever Matt Moore.
With two outs, France doubled to left off Jimmy Herget to score Haggerty. Suarez singled to left to plate France and make it 4-3 before being thrown out in a rundown between first and second.
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