Mitch Garver hit a tiebreaking solo homer with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Los Angeles Angels 2-1 Friday night to remain tied for first place in the American League West.
Cal Raleigh had two doubles for the Mariners (80-68), who won their seventh game in a row to keep pace with Houston atop the division and maintain their two-game lead over Texas for the league’s third and final wild-card berth.
The Angels (69-79) suffered their second straight loss and sixth in their past nine games.
Garver launched a 1-2 fastball from Angels reliever Connor Brogdon (3-2) into Edgar’s Cantina between the first and second decks in left field to snap a 1-all tie.
Mariners reliever Carlos Vargas (5-5) got the victory and Andres Munoz worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 35th save of the season. Seattle’s bullpen hasn’t allowed an earned run during its winning streak.
Mariners starter Luis Castillo went six-plus innings and allowed just three hits — two-out singles by Bryce Teodosio in the third and Chris Taylor in the sixth and a leadoff single by Luis Rengifo in the seventh. The veteran right-hander walked two and struck out five.
Castillo was pulled for Vargas after Rengifo’s hit in the seventh. A wild pitch sent Rengifo to second and he scored on Logan Davidson’s ground-ball double down the right-field line that went off the glove of diving first baseman Luke Raley.
Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, a former Mariner, nearly matched Castillo. Kikuchi gave up one run on four hits over six innings, with one walk and three strikeouts.
The Mariners broke a scoreless tie in the fourth. With one out, Raleigh doubled to left. Eugenio Suarez drew a two-out walk and Jorge Polanco followed with a run-scoring double down the left-field line.
