SEATTLE — Ron Washington began to notice a change in Brandon Drury recently, and it went beyond his swing.
Drury was actually … smiling.
“If you play this game with a chip on your shoulder and you’re grouchy all the time, it doesn’t work,” the Angels manager said.
A few hours later, Drury was smiling in the clubhouse as he talked to reporters about the tie-breaking RBI that lifted the Angels to a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday afternoon.
His second hit of the game capped a rare positive day in what has mostly been a dreadful season, including a .172 batting average and time missed with a hamstring injury and an illness.
Ironically, it got so bad that Drury actually had to let loose a little bit.
“I’m obviously very serious about this,” Drury said. “I’m not the kind of player that’s just out there smiling and laughing all game. It’s never really been my style. But I do feel like you get to the point where, I don’t know how to say this, but you get to the point where you’re struggling so long and struggling so much that you almost have to release off a little bit. You know, I’m gonna keep playing my game and doing what I do, but I felt like I got to the point where I was like, I just have to release off this and have a little bit of fun playing baseball.”
Drury, 31, was one of the Angels’ most consistent offensive performers last season, which came on the heels of winning a Silver Slugger for his performance with the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres in 2022. But nothing has gone right this season, starting with a month-long injury absence. After returning from the injured list, he played just two games before a respiratory infection took him down for nearly two weeks.
Lately there have been a few signs of improvement at the plate.
“I told him today before the game started that, you may not see the results but your at-bats are better,” Washington said. “Just keep trying to have good at-bats and things are going to fall into place.”
Drury punched a single into center field in the eighth inning, driving in pinch-runner Kevin Pillar with the tie-breaking run. Nolan Schanuel began the inning with his second hit of the game. He went to second on a ground ball and scored on Willie Calhoun’s two-out single.
Relievers Luis Garcia and Carlos Estévez then worked the final two innings. It was the 18th consecutive scoreless outing and 13th straight successful save opportunity for Estévez.
The Angels locked up a fourth straight victory, and a three-game sweep of the Mariners. The Angels (45-57) have won six in a row against the slumping Mariners, including three games in Anaheim earlier this month.
The Angels pulled this one out after doing nothing at the plate for the first seven innings, but the defense and starting pitcher Griffin Canning were keeping them in the game.
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Canning allowed only a Mitch Haniger home run in his five innings of work, an effective return after his previous outing was ended by a minor elbow issue.
Canning avoided further trouble with the help of some nice defense.
In the fourth inning, the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs. Tyler Locklear smoked a grounder to third baseman Luis Rengifo, who back-handed it, stepped on the bag, and threw home for a double play. Canning then struck out Luke Raley.
An inning later, right fielder Jo Adell sprinted toward the line to snag a drive by Cal Raleigh just before crashing into the wall. Adell saved Canning from what would have been a run-scoring extra-base hit.
“That was huge,” Canning said of the defense. “Obviously the double play was a big spot in the game. That could have turned it into an ugly outing, so I’m really thankful for Luis to make that play. And then Jo finished it off right there.”