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Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Fingernails already gnawed off



After seven consecutive slugfests the inevitable pitchers' duel arrived and the Mariners showed they could win that kind of game, too, beating the Angels 2 to 1 in an authentic nail-biter: 8.1 excellent innings from Marco Gonzalez, an 8th inning blast from Vogie and, arriving just in time, Anthony Swarzak gets a nine pitch save in his debut for the M's.

Marco looked in midseason form, at one point retiring 17 Angels in a row.  The run he gave up was pretty cheap: a double, followed by two ground-outs that advanced the runner home.  Gonzalez threw mostly cutters and sliders with an occasional fastball or curve.  The off-speed stuff seemed to keep the Angels off-balance all night.

Cahill pitched well, too.  The redhot M's bats cooled off for the first time this season, except for Vogelbach who broke his hitless streak with a double before smashing his linedrive opposite field home run.

While nothing is nicer than taking a lead in the home-half of the eighth, anxieties surely set in.  To his credit Servais gave Marco a chance to get the CG, but he could only get one out before leaving the game with runners at first and third to face... ?  That was the question and Swarzak provided a definitive answer.

You almost hate to see them get a day off for travel today.  The Ms are on a roll and there's no reason to stop now.

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