Mitch Haniger hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the eighth inning as the Seattle Mariners overcame a tape-measure home run by Shohei Ohtani to defeat the visiting Los Angeles Angels 7-3 Friday night.
The two-out homer, Haniger’s 20th long ball of the year, came on a 2-0 pitch from left-hander Jose Quintana.
With one out in the eighth, Angels right-hander Mike Mayers (2-4) walked Shed Long Jr. Jake Bauers reached on a two-out single to shallow right field, moving Long to third. The Angels brought in Quintana to face J.P. Crawford, who drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases for Haniger.
Right-hander Drew Steckenrider (3-2) got the victory with a scoreless inning of relief.
Ohtani hit his major-league-leading 33rd home run, a 463-foot blast into the upper deck in right field at T-Mobile Park. It was the third-longest homer in ballpark history, behind a 465-foot shot by Milwaukee’s Chris Carter in 2016 and a 464-footer by the Chicago White Sox’s Jose Abreu in 2017.
It was the longest hit to right field and just the sixth to reach the upper deck in a game.
Ohtani’s solo shot with one out in the third inning off left-hander Marco gave the Angels a 3-0 lead.
David Fletcher led off the game by lining the fourth pitch from Gonzales just over the wall in left field.
The Angels added a run in the second after Jose Iglesias hit a one-out triple to left. Iglesias was thrown out at the plate when Taylor Ward hit a comebacker to the mound, but Juan Lagares followed with a double to right to score Ward.
The Mariners started their comeback in the fourth. With two outs, Jake Fraley reached on a fielding error by third baseman Luis Rengifo. A wild pitch sent Fraley to second, and Luis Torrens walked. Long hit a two-run double off the left field wall in to pull the Mariners within 3-2.
Seattle tied the score in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Ty France after Crawford walked and Haniger singled to right.
Gonzales allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings while Angels starter Alex Cobb yielded two runs (both unearned) in 5 1/3 innings.
–Field Level Media