Taijuan Walker pitched a three-hitter for his first career shutout as the Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-0 Tuesday night to win their season-high seventh straight.
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“Guys are really confident, really happy and the energy is up”, Servais said.
Walker’s flawless game attempt was spoiled when shortstop Ketel Marte committed a throwing error on Kaleb Cowart’s grounder with two outs in the sixth. He couldn’t pick the throw, allowing 2B Kaleb Cowart aboard on an error.
Martin may have been able to stretch it into a triple but his line drive down the right field line was picked up by a fan before right fielder Kole Calhoun could get to the ball. Only two balls left the infield until that hit.
The Angels are 8-3 in their last 11 games against a right handed starter and are 6-1 in their last seven games during game three of a series and while they are likely to fall well short of a playoff spot they are still having a pretty productive season at the plate and if they can add in a piece or two in the offseason they could get right back in the fold next year. It was his first complete game since July 31, 2015.
“I was getting nervous, My stomach started to tighten up a bit”. “The game was so long, it was taking forever”.
“It was just a battle today, trying to find a way to get through the game”, Nolasco said. The offense was going out there every single inning and getting hits and I was just like, ‘Ugh, this is getting longer.’ But right after I went out there and gave up the hit I felt really good. In two starts with the Angels, the 26-year-old right-hander has surrendered five runs on six hits across 7 1/3 innings. It was then that Seattle pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre approached Walker with the idea to change his mechanics for the last month of the season.
“It was night and day the way we faced him up in Seattle a couple weeks ago”, Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “He had good stuff, good command. He pitched a good game for them”.
“We saw something special from Taijuan Walker, and we really need it the rest of the way”. Cano reached on a fielder’s choice when Cliff Pennington’s throw home went wild, allowing Aoki to score and put Seattle up 6-0.
The Orioles also tied Toronto for the wild-card lead.
Edwin Diaz pitched a flawless ninth for his 16th save.
Xander Bogaerts homered for Boston, which had won five of six.
Freddie Freeman hit his career-high 30th homer for Atlanta.
Angels: RHP Alex Meyer will make his third major league start and his fourth appearance.
Walker has struggled since being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma in late August, going 1-3 with a 7.23 ERA in four starts.
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Angels: SS Andrelton Simmons remained out of the lineup for the second straight day with a bruised right hand.
