Mitch Haniger hit a two-run walk-off home run to give the Seattle Mariners an 8-6 victory and a sweep of division rivals the Los Angeles Angels in MLB on Wednesday.
The Mariners have now won four in a row and are a season-high 20 games over .500 (44-24).
Since June 14, the Mariners are 22-7. They have the third-best record in baseball and are now on pace to win 105 games. Mariners fans can smell the end of Seattle's 16-season playoff drought, the longest in baseball.
But there will be challenges along the way, starting Thursday. The Mariners host the Red Sox – the team with MLB's second-best record – in a four-game series. After a travel day, the Mariners play three games in Yankee Stadium against the team with baseball's best mark, followed by three games in Boston.
SOTO, SOROKA SHINE
Nationals left fielder Juan Soto continued the fast start to his MLB career, hitting two home runs and driving in four runs in Washington's 5-4 win against the Yankees. The 19-year-old phenom became the youngest player with a two-homer, regular-season game since Andruw Jones on August 22, 1996.
Braves right-hander Mike Soroka, recovering from shoulder inflammation and making his first start since May 12, carried a no-hitter into the seventh against the Mets. The 20-year-old hurler finished with 6.1 shut-out innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four to get the victory.
.@Mike_Soroka28 tossed 6.1 innings today, allowing one hit and one walk. At 20 years, 313 days, he became the youngest pitcher in the franchise’s modern era to allow only one hit or less in a start of any length. #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/rXVTYmYu6E
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 13, 2018
KINGERY POOR FOR PHILLIES
Phillies shortstop Scott Kingery struck out in all four plate appearances in a 7-2 loss to the Rockies.
BRILLIANT BELTRE
With a double against the Dodgers, Adrian Beltre became the all-time leader in hits among foreign-born players, with 3,090, passing Ichiro Suzuki.
3,090!
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 14, 2018
With his double in the 4th, Beltré passes Ichiro for most hits by a foreign-born player in ML history. pic.twitter.com/ZJt5zuqkEm
WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS
Atlanta Braves 2-0 New York Mets
Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 Toronto Blue Jays
Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 Chicago Cubs
Boston Red Sox 5-1 Baltimore Orioles
Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 Arizona Diamondbacks
Seattle Mariners 8-6 Los Angeles Angels
Washington Nationals 5-4 New York Yankees
Colorado Rockies 7-2 Philadelphia Phillies
Detroit Tigers 5-2 Minnesota Twins
Miami Marlins 5-4 San Francisco Giants
Chicago White Sox 3-2 Cleveland Indians
Cincinnati Reds 7-0 Kansas City Royals
San Diego Padres 4-2 St Louis Cardinals
Houston Astros 13-5 Oakland Athletics
Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 Texas Rangers
ASTROS AT ATHLETICS
Justin Verlander has made 19 starts since coming to Houston from the Motor City, and his numbers in that time are ridiculous: 13-2, 1.34 ERA, 0.73 WHIP and 11 Ks per nine innings. For the Athletics, Frankie Montas has been great in three starts since being called up from Triple-A, going 3-0 with a 1.25 ERA and 0.88 WHIP.