A pair of AL West rivals take the diamond in search of a victory up in the Pacific Northwest. The Los Angeles Angels are on the road as they play the opening game of a doubleheader and the third game of a four-game series with the Seattle Mariners Saturday afternoon. Los Angeles dropped the rubber game of their three-game home set with the A’s as they were beaten 8-7 Thursday afternoon. Seattle won the rubber game of their three-game road series with the Yankees as they prevailed 7-3 Wednesday afternoon. This article was published prior to the conclusion of the opening game of the series Friday night at T-Mobile Park.
Los Angeles suffered their fifth loss in the last seven games as they were beaten in the rubber game of their set by the A’s Wednesday afternoon. The Angels entered Friday fourth in the AL West, 24 games behind the Astros for the top spot in the division. They were 11 games behind the Rays for the final wild card spot in the American League. On Wednesday, the Angels tied a major league record with seven solo homers but became the sixth team in major league history to hit seven homers and lose. Shohei Ohtani hit his 23rd and 24th homers of the season while Kurt Suzuki (his third), Taylor Ward (his 14th), Jared Walsh (his 14th), Mickey Moniak (his first) and Jo Adell (his fourth) each added bombs of their own. Janson Junk (1-1) took the loss on the mound as he threw 2.1 innings, allowing six runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
The exp ectation was that Touki Touissaint was going to start the opening game of the doubleheader but he threw 85 pitches in 4.1 innings against the A’s in long relief Thursday. That leaves the starter up for grabs though Chase Silseth could get the call for his eighth start of the year. He comes in 1-3 with a 6.59 ERA, a 1.57 WHIP, 12 walks and 24 strikeouts over 28.2 innings of work. Silseth didn’t factor in the decision in his last start, which came July 30 at home against the Rangers. He threw four innings, allowing five runs on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts in a game the Angels won 9-7. In his last three starts, Silseth is 0-1 with an 8.76 ERA, a 1.703 WHIP, five walks and 13 strikeouts over 12.1 innings. This marks his first career start against the Mariners should he take the mound in his eighth major league start. Silseth pitches at T-Mobile Park for the first time as a result as well.