Sports

/

ArcaMax

Jorge Polanco homers twice, drives in 5 runs as Mariners beat Angels

Adam Jude, The Seattle Times on

Published in Baseball

A few hours before first pitch Tuesday, the question — “Who’s next?” — was posed as an amusing talking point among a small group of Mariners personnel and media members inside the T-Mobile Park home dugout.

Dylan Moore and Jorge Polanco have won back-to-back American League Player of the Week honors, the first time that’s happened for the Mariners in consecutive weeks since a couple of guys named Griffey and A-Rod in 1998.

Could the “next” weekly award winner end up being the “same” this week?

Polanco made an incredibly strong opening statement Tuesday night, belting a three-run home run in the second inning and then a two-run homer in the seventh to power the Mariners to a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels before a crowd of 18,247 at T-Mobile Park.

The Mariners (17-12) have won 13 of their last 17 games, and their scorching-hot designated hitter has been the catalyst of much of this April ascent to the top of the AL West.

Polanco hit two homers on Saturday. He had two doubles (plus a single) on Sunday.

And after Monday’s off day, he walked in his first plate appearance Tuesday against Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz. With two runners on in the second inning, Polanco turned on a 95-mph sinker and pulled it out to right field at 108.9 mph, a 395-foot blast that would have been out in all 30 MLB parks, per Statcast.

That gave the Mariners a 3-0 lead.

 

Facing Kochanowicz again in the fifth, Polanco just missed a home run on a high fly ball that Angels center field Jo Adell caught, on a hop, at the wall in right-center field. That 388-foot fly out would have been a homer in 18 ballparks.

In his next at-bat, against Angels rookie reliever Jose Fermin, Polanco crushed another long home run, a two-run shot to extend the M’s lead to 5-1. This one was estimated at 423 feet and would also have been a homer in all 30 MLB parks.

Polanco has nine homers and 25 RBI through his first 78 plate appearances this season, raising his batting average to .389 and his OPS to 1.242.

Bryce Miller overcame shaky command to throw five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. He worked around five walks and struck out six.

He’s the first M’s pitcher with 5+ walks and 0 runs allowed since James Paxton on May 12, 2015 vs. San Diego.

Miller’s fastball velocity dipped as low as 92.2 mph Tuesday, an ongoing concern after he openly discussed some arm soreness earlier this season.

Andrés Muñoz closed it out in the ninth inning to improve to 11 for 11 in save chances. He has not allowed a run in 15 innings this season.


©2025 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus