SEATTLE — Grayson Rodriguez ended his first Angels season with a victory.
Rodriguez gave up four runs in five innings of the Angels’ 6-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.
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The Angels (61-98) need to win two of their last three games to avoid what would be the first 100-loss season in franchise history.
This one started with Rodriguez allowing three runs in the second, but after that he pitched better and the offense came to life. The bottom three hitters in the order – Josh Lowe, Christian Moore and Bryce Teodosio – combined for five hits and five RBIs. Moore drove in three, including a go-ahead, two-run double in the sixth.
Moore’s hit came just in time for Rodriguez, who had finished his 20th start of the season with a 6.02 ERA. He pitched 98⅔ innings, striking out 85.
It ended a season that Rodriguez began with questions because he’d been hurt since July 2024. The Angels took a flier on him with a trade because of the upside he showed with the Baltimore Orioles before he got hurt.
Rodriguez had turned 26 days before the trade, and he was not due to become a free agent for four more years, so the Angels had plenty of time to get value from him if he could bounce back.
Although the Angels never said it publicly, it was clear early that their plan all along was to use this season as an extended rehab assignment to get him on solid footing for 2027.
Rodriguez was on the injured list twice, once out of spring training and once in the middle of the season, and he continued throwing both times, which suggested it was more a case of workload management that serious injury.
Rodriguez got better throughout the season, posting a 4.37 ERA in his last 11 starts. In seven of those, he allowed three runs or fewer.
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Rodriguez has shown good enough stuff for most of the season, but he’s run into problems with his command.
That’s exactly what happened in the three-run second inning on Thursday. After a leadoff walk to Cal Raleigh, Rodriguez threw a fastball over the middle to Julio Rodríguez, who hit a two-run homer. Rodriguez gave up two more hits in the inning on fastballs over the middle.
He settled down for the next couple of innings, before giving up another run in the fifth. That one could have been avoided if second Moore had not misplayed what should have been a routine double play.
Moore made up for that with his bat. His bloop single in the first drove in the first run of the game.
In the fourth, he struck out on a ball in the dirt, but he reached base because Raleigh, the Seattle catcher, threw ball into right field. That set the stage for two runs.
Teodosio drove in an insurance run in the eighth, which was surprisingly enough for an Angels bullpen that has struggled all year.
Left-hander Sammy Peralta worked three scoreless innings in relief of Rodriguez. Ryan Watson then pitched the ninth to record the save and secure the Angels’ first win in Seattle in their past 10 games there.
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More to come on this story.