*Photo from Spectrum News*
Shohei Ohtani is grabbing all the headlines for the Los Angeles Angels. It's for a good reason, as he's been their best player by a wide margin, routinely hitting bombs at the plate and hitting triple digits on the mound. But David Fletcher has been on a roll too. Fletcher drove in 4 runs, Jared Walsh added an RBI, and the Angels rolled right past the Seattle Mariners with a 7-1 win Sunday afternoon.
Despite a slow start to the season, Fletcher has been one of the team's best hitters since Mike Trout went down injured in June, hitting .439 since that time, picking up his own weight, plus some of what Trout left behind. In total, Fletcher's 4 hit day extended his hitting streak to 24 games, the 3rd longest in Angels history, and 3rd longest in MLB in the last 5 seasons.
Angels manager Joe Maddon said of Fletcher's hitting streak that it is "Spectacular. I don't wish anybody ill, but I'd love to see him sneak his way into the all star game on Tuesday somehow. Everything he's done, his whole body of work going into the break. He's at 24 games, and the defense is unmatched and the baseball mind is unmatched. Not enough superlatives."
Fletcher was hitting .255 at the start of his hitting streak. Now, entering the all star break, he's gotten it up to .309, quite the turnaround. Despite his streak, he has a long way to go in order to catch the record hit streak Joe DiMaggio set with 56 games.
Maddon said "Pete Rose was 44, so there's other streaks to be caught first. But I love this guy. If you're around him enough in the dugout and in the clubhouse, you'd always be in awe. That's just who he is. I'm really pleased to be working with him right now. I feel really fortunate about that, and things are only going to get better."
Fletcher tied the game 1-1 in the 3rd inning, cranking a solo homer to left field. In the 5th, he hit a two run single to right field that scored Taylor Ward and Juan Lagares. In the 7th, he also hit an RBI single. Outside of Fletcher, Walsh hit an RBI single in the 9th, Ohtani scored on a Phil Gosselin sac fly, and Walsh scored on a passed ball, making it 7-1 Angels.
Jose Suarez got the win for the Angels in his start, allowing one run on 3 hits and two walks, striking out 4 hitters in 5 innings pitched, improving to 4-2 this season. Steve Cishek and Tony Watson each picked up holds for the Angels, and Raisel Iglesias got his 19th save of the season with a scoreless 9th inning.
For the Mariners, it was Yohan Ramirez who took the loss, allowing two runs on one hit and one walk, getting just one out in his relief appearance. Hector Santiago lasted just 3 innings in his start, allowing one run on two hits and one walk. JT Chargois, Anthony Misiewicz, Keynan Middleton, Erik Swanson, and Rafael Montero also saw action in relief.
Seattle manager Scott Servais said "I don’t want it to overshadow a lot of really positive things that we have done here over the first few months of the season. And we’ve put ourselves in a position to play some really meaningful games when we get back from the break and leading into the trade deadline, and we'll see what August and September have in store for us."
After the all star break, the Angels and Mariners play each other to kick off the second half of the season on Friday night. Andrew Heaney will get the start for the Angels, and the Mariners have not yet announced a starter.
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