Late Explosion Sends Seattle Mariners Sweeping Past Angels

It was all the Seattle Mariners in Wednesday's finale of a two-game series between two American League West rivals, as an offensive downpour in the seventh inning led to a seventh consecutive series win and sweep of the Los Angeles Angels. 

It was Los Angeles that began the scoring, with Nolan Schanuel and Mike Trout recording back-to-back hits to set up Logan O'Hoppe with two on and two out in the top half of the first. The Angels catcher was all over a 1-1 sinker and smacked a run-scoring single to plate the first run of the game. 

The Angels had the lead for only one inning, as in the second inning, Randy Arozarena was first-pitch swinging, and took Tyler Anderson's 88-mph fastball 400 feet to left field for a leadoff homer and his sixth long ball of the season. Second baseman Leo Rivas had his turn later in the inning, with runners on the corners and one out, hitting a 1-1 changeup to left field to put Seattle on top 2-1. 

Los Angeles was quick to respond to Seattle when Jorge Soler was also first-pitch swinging and caught M's starter Emerson Hancock's slider and hit a solo shot to tie the game 2-2 in the third. The Halos were threatening in the latter part of that inning, and decided to test their luck by sending O'Hoppe home on a single by Luis Rengifo, but a perfect strike throw from Arozarena at home ended the frame. 

A dropped third strike and a throwing error to third by O'Hoppe allowed Cal Raleigh to score and pushed the Mariners' lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the third. Again, the Angels seemed to respond every chance they could as they would tie the game with a Zach Neto force groundout, allowing Gustavo Campero to score. 

The offense for the Mariners returned in the bottom half of the seventh, as J.P. Crawford began the scoring for Seattle with a single that drove in two. Julio Rodriguez smacked a double to center in the next at-bat, then Raleigh joined the fun with a single to push the Seattle lead to 7-3. The M's added two insurance runs on a Rivas single to complete the six-run inning. 

The M's capture their seventh consecutive series win and complete the series sweep of Los Angeles. Seattle sets its on a three-game weekend series at the Texas Rangers starting Friday.