Angels Build Four-Run Cushion, Hold Off Seattle's Late Charge
Los Angeles scored four times before Seattle recorded a single run, and that early stranglehold proved just enough to survive a Mariners rally. The Angels beat Seattle 6-4 on September 15, with a fifth-inning single by Denzer Guzman delivering the knockout blow.
Reid Detmers did the Angels exactly the favor they needed. Working six innings, he allowed 7 hits and 3 earned runs while striking out 8 and walking just 1 — enough to keep LAA in front through the game's most dangerous stretch. The Angels wasted no time building him a lead. In the first, Jose Siri doubled to left to score Trout, then scored himself on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. The third inning piled on: Zach Neto tripled to left to score Meckler, and Siri — relentless all night — singled to left to bring Neto home. Just like that, Seattle was staring at a 4-0 hole before they'd put a run on the board.
The Mariners punched back hard in the fourth. Cal Raleigh launched a three-run homer to right center — 376 feet — scoring Arozarena and Canzone to cut the deficit to 4-3. Suddenly the game had a pulse. But LAA answered immediately in the fifth, and that's where it ended. Guzman singled to center, scoring both Neto and Siri and pushing Grissom to third. That single swung the home win probability from 78% to 91% — a 13-point lurch that, in hindsight, looks like the moment Seattle's window closed. Kade Anderson had already been pulled after 4.1 innings, having surrendered 5 earned runs on 7 hits, and the Angels had simply done too much damage too early.
J.P. Crawford gave the Mariners something to feel decent about, going 2-for-5 with a solo shot to right center in the seventh — 393 feet — to make it 6-4. But Michael Rucker's two scoreless innings out of the Seattle bullpen and Ryan Watson's 1.1 hitless frames for LAA meant the final margin held. Siri finished 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored — the story of the night on the Angels' side, appearing to be the engine that kept LAA's offense humming from the first pitch. Seattle got big swings from Raleigh and Crawford, but the hole dug in the first three innings was simply too deep to climb out of in September.