The Los Angeles Angels will try to complete just their second three-game series sweep of the season when they face the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Los Angeles, behind the pitching of Reid Detmers, opened the series with a 6-4 win on Monday and followed with a 2-1 victory on Tuesday. Josh Lowe hit a go-ahead, solo homer in the sixth inning for what proved to be the game-winning hit Tuesday while rookie Ryan Johnson picked up his fifth win, allowing one run on six hits over six innings while striking out seven and walking none.
Los Angeles (58-93), trying to avoid the first 100-loss season in franchise history, has swept just one three-game series in 2026. That came at home on May 22-24 against the Texas Rangers.
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (1-5, 4.75 ERA) will make his fifth start for the Angels since missing almost four months and 98 games with left shoulder inflammation.
Kikuchi, who has a 1.59 ERA in his last three starts, with 17 strikeouts in 17 innings, is 1-2 with a 1.32 ERA in six career starts against the Mariners. His lone win came in 2022 as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays when he allowed one hit over six innings with six strikeouts in a 6-2 victory.
Right-hander George Kirby (9-11, 4.25 ERA) will start on Wednesday for Seattle (70-82), which has lost four of its last five games. Kirby is 8-4 with a 3.28 ERA in 12 career starts against the Angels, including 5-2 with a 3.32 ERA in seven career starts at Angel Stadium.
Tuesday night’s loss assured the Mariners of their first losing year since the 2020 COVID-shortened season, when they went 27-33. Seattle finished 68-94 in 2019 for their most recent full losing season.
Finishing below .500 was not expected of the Mariners, who went 90-72 and came within one win of advancing to the World Series in 2025.
“It’s pretty surprising that we are at this point,” pitcher Logan Gilbert, who suffered the loss Tuesday, said after the game. “I don’t think anybody thought we’d be here, but that’s the situation we’re in.”
Seattle was 33-29 after an eight-game winning streak from May 25 to June 2 but has gone just 37-53 since.
“It’s frustrating,” manager Dan Wilson said. “It’s tough to be there at this point. We had a streak early on this year that we rattled off eight (wins) and got ourselves in a really good spot and just haven’t been able to do that since. It’s frustrating. I don’t know what else to say about it other than that. It’s not where we wanted to be.”
Seattle is just 1-4 on a nine-game make-it-or-break-it road trip and has fallen 6 1/2 games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West.
For the Angels, a win on Wednesday to complete a sweep of their division rivals would help soften the blow of a likely last-place finish for Los Angeles, according to Lowe.
“Any time you can win a series in the second game of a series, it’s big,” he said. “Obviously, going to come out and go for the sweep tomorrow, but against a good team like that, being able to take the series is huge this time of year.”
–Field Level Media
