SEATTLE — A day after Christian Moore said he was treating every game like “Game 7 of the World Series” because he’s trying to prove he’s an everyday player in the majors, he delivered again.
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Moore hit a three-run homer to break open a game the Angels won, 7-5, against the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.
Moore hit a go-ahead two-run double in Thursday night’s victory. He’s still hitting .186 with a .516 OPS, leaving plenty of room for improvement.
Moore had the biggest hit, but Wade Meckler had the most hits, with four. He was a homer shy of the cycle. Zach Neto added two doubles and his career-high 27th homer.
Reid Detmers pitched six scoreless innings, with the help of spectacular defense from center fielder Bryce Teodosio.
With two straight victories in Seattle, the Angels are 62-98, with two games to go.
“We don’t want to lose 100 games,” Neto said before the game. “We know it’s a tough test ahead of us. We know what’s at stake, but we still want to be the only team not to lose 100 games. We’re playing for something. It’s not what we wanted to play for, but we’re playing for our dignity.”
For all of the Angels’ problems this year, they showed they have a few pieces of a winning team, starting with Detmers.
The 27-year-old left-hander completed one of the best seasons by an Angels starter in the past decade, posting a 3.36 ERA in 32 starts. He pitched 185 innings, the first Angels pitcher to pass 180 innings since Andrew Heaney in 2018. He struck out 211.
Detmers hit a rough patch in the middle of the season, but he had a 1.89 ERA in 13 starts after the All-Star break.
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On Friday night he did not allow a hit until the fifth inning. He struck out seven and walked two.
The Mariners’ best threats against him were defused by Teodosio.
In the first inning, Teodosio made a leaping catch at the fence, robbing Dominic Canzone of an extra-base hit, at least, and perhaps a homer. In the sixth, the Mariners had a runner at first with two outs when Josh Naylor hit one into the gap in right-center. Teodosio made a sliding catch to end the inning.
Teodosio made another leaping catch at the warning track in the fifth inning.
The offensive star of the night was Meckler. In the first inning, he hit a ball down the right field line and aggressively stretched it into a triple. That got the Angels the first run of the game when he scored on a wild pitch.
Meckler also singled and doubled, when his blooper dropped in shallow center field.
After Moore’s homer put the Angels ahead 5-0 in the fifth, Neto hit a solo shot to make it 6-0.
It was the same situation they were in on Tuesday night in Sacramento, when they blew the lead in a loss to the Athletics. This time, the bullpen got the job done, although not without drama.
José Fermin, who was charged with two runs against the A’s, pitched a perfect seventh. In the eighth, Sam Bachman allowed two runs and was pulled with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate. Tayler Saucedo struck out Cole Young to preserve the four-run lead.
Neto’s second double of the game drove in a run to restore the lead to five before Luke Murphy pitched the ninth. Murphy gave up three runs, two on a Canzone homer, before recording the final out.
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More to come on this story.