In a pitching matchup that we could see for years to come, the Angels defeated the Mariners 4-1.
Making just his 8th career start, Mariners highly touted prospect George Kirby recorded a quality start. Kirby threw 6 innings of 6 strikeout baseball, while also collecting 16 swings and misses. 12 of those 16 whiffs came on Kirby’s 4-seamer, which topped out at 98 miles per hour. But Kirby’s best pitch so far in his young career has been his curveball. While his curveball spin rate is in the bottom 13th percent of the league, it has a 91% active spin percentage. His curveball also has 24% more horizontal break than the league average curveball and a -1.7 RV/100. Slider King Sergio Romo allowed 2 hits and 2 earned runs in his 0.2 innings of work. Ryan Borucki and Matthew Festa both threw scoreless appearances for the Mariners.
Shohei Ohtani took the mound for the Angels, and he was nails. Throwing 6 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 6. Both Ohtani’s velo and spin rate were down compared to his yearly average, the Angels might have to be extremely careful with their young star given his injury history. That being said Ohtani’s fastball still topped out at 99.4 miles per hour. Ohtani’s featured pitch versus the Mariners was his slider which he threw 41% of the time. His slider has consistently been one of if not his best weapon while on the bump. It has 121% more horizontal break than the league average slider. No that is not a typo. Aaron Loup only needed 10 pitches to get through his inning of work. Ryan Tepera allowed a hit and an earned run in his inning of work. Raisel Iglesias struck out the side to collect his 13th save of the year.
Mike Trout was the highlight of the game offensively, homering twice in his four at-bats, knocking in 4 RBI’s. Trout’s two homers were the only extra base hits that the Angels had.
The Mariners offense was even less impressive, recording only one extra base hit, in the form of a J.P. Crawford double. Adam Frazier and Eugenio Suarez were the only other Mariners to record a hit in this game.