ANAHEIM, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani hit his 16th homer of the season, Taylor Ward hit the go-ahead drive and the Los Angeles Angels rallied past the Seattle Mariners 12-5 Saturday night.
The Angels came back after Seattle starter Yusei Kikuchi was hit in the right knee by David Fletcher’s comebacker in the fifth inning. Kikuchi fell to the ground writhing in pain and exited with a bruise.
Ward gave Los Angeles a 6-5 lead with a two-run homer with two outs in the sixth off Drew Steckenrider (2-2).
Max Stassi also homered for the Angels, who have won five of their last seven. They are 9-9 since three-time AL MVP Mike Trout went on the injured list due to a sore right calf.
Los Angeles trailed 5-1 in the fourth inning after Jake Fraley hit his first career grand slam. The Angels then scored in five straight innings, capped by a five-run eighth.
Alex Cobb (4-2) went seven innings, allowing three hits in his third straight win. He retired the last 11 batters he faced after giving up the grand slam.
Ohtani, who struck out 10 while pitching the Angels past the Mariners on Friday night, hit a solo home run in the first. He added an RBI double in the eighth.
Stassi’s solo homer made it 4-2 in the fourth.
With one out and a runner on first in the fifth, Fletcher grounder struck Kikuchi. Catcher José Godoy grabbed the ball and tried to throw out Fletcher at first, but his toss sailed high into right field, allowing Ward to score from first.
Seattle trainers attended to Kikuchi and the Japanese left-hander exited with the Mariners were leading 5-3. Fletcher later scored on a two-out single by Anthony Rendon.
The Angels added a run in the seventh on a Rendon RBI grounder before breaking it open in the eighth.
Cobb retired Seattle in order the first three innings before running into trouble in the fourth. J.P. Crawford led off with a walk and Mitch Haniger hit a bloop single. Ty France was hit by a pitch to load the bases to load the bases with one out.
Taylor Trammell then hit a high infield chopper that Cobb was unable to get his glove on, tying the game at 1. Fraley lined a splitter by Cobb just over the wall in center field and the glove of Juan Lagares.
Fraley came into the four-game weekend series with no home runs, but has hit two in three games.
MORE INJURY WOES?
Kikuchi, who came into the game with a 3-3 record, was pitching well against the Angels. He had eight strikeouts and allowed two runs, both on home runs, through four innings.
Already this week, Seattle right-hander Justin Dunn went on the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation and shortstop Kyle Lewis, last season’s AL Rookie of the Year, is expected to miss a significant amount of time because of a torn meniscus in his right knee.
SWEET 16 FOR OHTANI
Ohtani went deep for the first time in eight games with a 436-foot drive to center field. He is two behind major league home run leader Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of Toronto.
It is also the most home runs Ohtani has had through his first 56 games in a season in the big leagues. He had 14 at this point in 2019.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: Steckenrider was taken off the COVID-19 injured list. He was on the IL on May 21 and had spent most of the past two weeks quarantining in San Diego before returning to the team on Thursday.
Angels: SS José Iglesias was reinstated from the injured list after INF Jose Rojas was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake. Iglesias missed nine games due to a left hamstring strain.
UP NEXT
Seattle RHP Logan Gilbert (0-2, 5.94 ERA), the 14th overall pick in the 2018 draft, makes his fifth career start. He will be opposed by Angels LHP Patrick Sandoval (0-1, 3.80 ERA), who tossed five scoreless innings in his last start on May 27 at Oakland.
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