FOUR! Mariners tee off at Angel Stadium

Narvaez, Beckham, Vogelbach, Bruce all go deep in victory

April 20th, 2019

ANAHEIM -- On the road again, the Mariners are mashing once more.

Home runs by , , and lifted Seattle to a 5-3 victory over the Angels on Friday as the Mariners resumed their early-season long-ball crusade.

Beckham and Narvaez homered back-to-back leading off the top of the ninth against reliever Cody Allen after Mike Trout had tied the game with a two-run shot in the eighth.

“It’s fun to hit homers, but it’s better to win,” said Beckham, wearing a “Flip it like Beckham” T-shirt in the happy Mariners clubhouse. “Winning is fun and we want to keep it going.”

Seattle managed just six hits off six Angels pitchers, but four cleared the fence as the Mariners beat their American League West rivals for the second night in a row after an 0-6 homestand against the Astros and Indians.

The Mariners lead the Majors with 49 home runs, a significant reason for their surprising 15-8 start. They are 10-1 on the road, where they’ve hit 30 homers while averaging a whopping 8.3 runs per game.

“The guys work at-bats really good, and when they get their pitch, we have guys that can drive the ball out of the park,” manager Scott Servais said. “Everybody is contributing. It’s different guys all the time.”

Bruce’s team-leading ninth homer gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead in the second, and Vogelbach followed with his seventh, a two-run shot in the fourth. Six of Vogelbach’s homers have come away from home, where he’s hit .464 (13-for-28) with 10 walks and 12 RBIs in nine games.

Marco Gonzales (4-0, 3.32 ERA) had a shot at becoming the first pitcher in Mariners history to reach five wins before May 1 as he sailed into the seventh with the 3-1 lead until Trout knotted the game with his sixth homer of the year. Gonzales wound up throwing seven-plus innings with eight hits, three runs, two walks and six strikeouts, but was kicking himself for the one pitch that cost him.

“Best low-ball hitter in the game, probably best hitter in the game,” Gonzales said. “You just have to tip your hat on that one. We had him all night with cutters and heaters, and I got a little cocky and threw him a changeup and he reached down and got it.”

Trout took away Gonzales’ win, but he didn’t stop the Mariners’ momentum as they immediately responded in the ninth.

“We don’t get down,” Beckham said. “We’re relentless.”

The Angels have lost five straight in falling to 8-12, last in the AL West. The Halos have dropped eight of their last nine to Seattle dating back to 2018, including their first four meetings this year.

The Mariners have recovered nicely from their own six-game skid with the back-to-back wins to start their road trip to Anaheim and San Diego.

“We’re going to go through tough stretches,” Beckham said. “We just tell the guys, we win together, we lose together, we grind together, we shine together. We’re going to ride this thing till the wheels fall off.”