Pinch hitter Taylor Ward hit a tiebreaking two-run single against his former team in the bottom of the seventh inning and J.P. Crawford homered on the next pitch as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Los Angeles Angels 8-4 Saturday night.
Rookie Michael Arroyo had three hits and Cole Young scored three times for the Mariners (75-86), who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Seattle got a scare when left-hander Kade Anderson, their prized pitching prospect, was hit near his pitching elbow by a 103.8 mph liner from Angels second baseman Christian Moore in the fourth inning.
Anderson, who pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings, was immediately taken out of the game, and the Mariners later announced he sustained a bruised left forearm.
Mariners reliever Carlos Vargas (3-0) got the victory and Angels left-hander Mitch Farris (1-4) took the loss.
Bryce Teodosio had a two-run single in a four-run sixth to help the Angels (62-99) overcome a 4-0 deficit. Los Angeles will need to win its season finale to avoid the first 100-loss campaign in franchise history.
The Mariners opened the scoring in the second inning. Young drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on Arroyo’s line-drive single to center. Rookie Lazaro Montes then hit a ground-rule double into the right-field corner to plate Young.
Seattle doubled its advantage in the fourth. Young drew a leadoff walk before Arroyo lined a single to left. Young tagged and took third on Montes’ flyout to right before Leo Rivas lifted a sacrifice fly to center.
The Mariners scored again in the fifth as Randy Arozarena led off with an infield single and took third on Dominic Canzone’s double to right. One out later, Josh Naylor hit a chopper to first baseman Vaughn Grissom, with Arozarena just beating the throw home with a head-first slide. Young then grounded an RBI single to center to make it 4-0.
The Angels tied it with four runs in the sixth. Teodosio lined a two-run single to center before Wade Meckler scored on Tyler Heineman’s squeeze bunt to pull Los Angeles within 4-3. After a one-out walk to Mike Trout, the Mariners brought in Vargas. Jose Siri grounded out to third, allowing Teodosio to score the tying run.
Angels starter Ryan Johnson allowed four runs on seven hits over five innings. The right-hander walked four and struck out three.