SEATTLE — On a night that the Angels struck out 16 more times to add to their major-league-leading total, they saw Josh Naylor put on a clinic at the game’s biggest moment about how to stay alive at the plate.
The Seattle Mariners’ first baseman fouled off seven straight pitches with an 0-and-2 count before punching a two-run fifth-inning single that proved to be the difference in the Angels’ 5-3 loss to the Mariners on Saturday night.
Right-hander Chase Silseth was looking for a strikeout with the bases loaded and one out, and he got Naylor just where he wanted him, but he couldn’t put him away. Silseth said he was trying to get Naylor to swing and miss at a splitter.
“There were some good ones, and he just battled,” Silseth said. “The one was in the other batter’s box. Props to him. It’s big leagues, and you’re gonna face that. It’s the experience you want. Big-time situations. And that’s just what happens.”
The Angels were down 3-2 before Naylor’s hit increased the lead to three runs.
Bench coach Ryan Goins, who is filling in as manager this weekend because interim manager Ray Montgomery is away at a funeral, said Naylor deserves credit for winning the battle against Silseth.
“That’s a big league at-bat,” Goins said. “Chase is throwing good pitches, and he’s fouling pitches off. And you’re like, ‘Wow, that was a hell of an at-bat.’ A hell of a pitched at bat as well. He finds a way to put enough barrel on it to get it by a drawn-in first baseman. Hats off to him having a great at-bat.”
The contrast between what Naylor did at that moment and what the Angels did for most of the night was unmistakable.
Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo passed his career high in strikeouts by the fifth inning, and he finished with 13 strikeouts in six innings.
“With a guy like that, it’s tough,” Goins said. “You pitch like that at the top of the strike zone, and you got a sinker on top of it, and then a slider that you can kind of freeze guys with as well. There’s a reason he is who he is and is having the year he’s had. He has command. Doesn’t walk guys. It’s definitely a recipe for strikeouts.”
The Angels struck out three more times after Woo was done. Everyone in the starting lineup struck out at least once. It was the seventh time this season that the Angels had struck out at least 16 times.
The Angels (69-80) have plenty of issues to address over the winter, but high on the list will be figuring out a way to get their hitters to make more contact, or acquiring new ones who can at least put the ball in play.
The Mariners have one of baseball’s best pitching staffs, which makes them a tough matchup for the Angels. The Angels have struck out 44 times in the first three games of this series, losing them all.
On Saturday, they managed only six hits, including Jo Adell’s 35th homer of the season and a two-out RBI single from Bryce Teodosio in the second inning. After that, the Angels didn’t even have a baserunner until the eighth inning. They didn’t score another run until Taylor Ward’s 31st homer, in the ninth, pulled them within 5-3.
They couldn’t overcome the five runs that were charged to starter Mitch Farris, who worked four-plus innings in his third big league start.
The final line ended up looking worse than Farris pitched, though.
Two runs in the first inning scored when he barely hit Cal Raleigh with a pitch and then Julio Rodriguez and Jorge Polanco had back-to-back soft hits. Farris gave up a homer to J.P. Crawford in the fourth.
Farris struck out seven, even though his fastball topped out at 92 mph. Three of his strikeouts were looking.
Through his first 15 innings, Farris has a 4.80 ERA, with 14 strikeouts and seven walks. He’s allowed three homers.
Walks have been an issue. Two of his four walks on Saturday loaded the bases for Silseth when Farris was pulled in the fifth.
“It’s a good learning experience,” Farris said. “I didn’t have my best stuff, and being able to adjust pitch to pitch and in the inning was big, and I didn’t quite have that today. I did think I battled when it came down to it. You gotta give props to them. They’re a really good team. Take it and move on. Learn from it. Take what you need to learn from it.”