SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh started flipping balls into the dugout with each of Bryan Woo’s strikeouts, starting in the fifth inning.
The Seattle Mariners’ catcher was keeping mementos for his pitcher each time he set a new career high in strikeouts. He ended up tossing away four balls, as the Angels became the victims of a career night.
The Angels struck out 13 times in six innings against Woo in a 5-3 loss to the Mariners on Saturday night.
By the time the game was over, the Angels added 16 whiffs to their major-league worst total. Everyone in the starting lineup struck out at least once. It was the seventh time this season that the Angels had struck out at least 16 times.
The Angels (69-80) have plenty of issues to address over the winter, but high on the list will be figuring out a way to get their hitters to make more contact, or acquiring new ones who can at least put the ball in play.
The Mariners have one of baseball’s best pitching staffs, which makes them a tough matchup for the Angels. The Angels have struck out 44 times in the first three games of this series, losing them all.
On Saturday, they managed only six hits, including Jo Adell’s 35th homer of the season and a two-out RBI single from Bryce Teodosio in the second inning. After that, the Angels didn’t even have a baserunner until the eighth inning. They didn’t score another run until Taylor Ward’s 31st homer, in the ninth, pulled them within 5-3.
Fittingly, one of the biggest moments of the game was when Angels right-hander Chase Silseth was unable to get the strikeout that he needed. Silseth inherited a bases-loaded, no-out jam from starter Mitch Farris in the fifth inning, with the Angels down 3-2. Silseth struck out Eugenio Suarez.
Silseth got to 0-and-2 on Josh Naylor, but he then fouled off seven straight pitches before eventually yanking a ground ball just past first baseman Logan Davidson, for a two-run single.
That left Farris with five runs on his line in four-plus innings, in his third big league start.
The final line ended up looking worse than Farris pitched, though.
Two runs in the first inning scored when he barely hit Cal Raleigh with a pitch and then Julio Rodriguez and Jorge Polanco had back-to-back soft hits. Farris gave up a homer to J.P. Crawford in the fourth.
Farris struck out seven, even though his fastball topped out at 92 mph. Three of his strikeouts were looking.
Through his first 15 innings, Farris has a 4.80 ERA, with 14 strikeouts and seven walks. He’s allowed three homers.
More to come on this story.
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