Jered Weaver took a bit of a step back from his recent hot performances, but it was no matter because the Angels themselves took a step back in the right direction by coming away with the win. It turns out that the Mariners may not be an unstoppable juggernaut (at least for the Angels) after all.
Run Expectancy Rundown
Chris Iannetta continued his recent hot hitting and was backed up by C.J. Cron who only made his case to stick in the majors when Josh Hamilton comes back, even stronger. Howie Kendrick had a real rough night, which will undoubtedly lead to a knee-jerk reaction of him being yanked back out of the leadoff role.
James Jones and Mike Zunino went out of their way to undermine the Mariners offense. They more than canceled out Robinson Cano and Nick Franklin.
Starting Pitcher Scores
The Jered Weaver ace redemption story took a step back with this middling outing. Scioscia didn’t even feel compelled to force him to throw 110+ pitches or allow a baserunner or two to reach before giving him the hook in the middle of the seventh inning. On the other side, Roenis Elias had a poor line, but poor hitting with runners in scoring position by the Angels saved it from being much, much worse.
Bullpen Battle
Man, it is so good to have Sean Burnett bac- What’s that now? Again? Already? But he didn’t even- Yeah, I know. Unbelievable. At least Burnett had the common decency to get one person out before going down with yet another injury. Fernando Salas was able to bail him out, which is something I don’t get to say often. Ernesto Frieri kept the ball in the park, but otherwise had an ulcer-inducing outing. For the Mariners, Tom Wilhelmsen was kind enough to surrender an insurance run so that the Frieri experience wasn’t quite so nerve-racking.
Game Flow
The Angels had a seemingly commanding advantage early in the game, but Weaver’s wildness allowed the Mariners to eat away most of that edge. They gained it all back and more in the seventh inning but saw just a brief jag downwards during Ernesto Frieri’s ninth inning adventure.
Halo Hero
He started the scoring and closed it out with a homer. Good work, Cron.
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