The strategy worked and yet the Mariners still weren’t rewarded.
Seattle went back to its often criticized strategy of using an opener, and while that worked as planned, the Angels won anyway, 6-2 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Park.
And it all came down to the inability to get under an easy infield pop-up.
Mariners reliever Roenis Elias was apparently out of the ninth inning of a 2-2 game when he got Luis Refigno to hit a towering pop-up. Elias indicated he had it, but he didn’t, the ball landing a couple of feet to his side.