Jorge Polanco on fire as Mariners open two-game set vs. Angels

The last time the Seattle Mariners had back-to-back American League players of the week came in 1998, when Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. accomplished the feat.

That might be the only time Dylan Moore and Jorge Polanco will be mentioned in the same category as those stars, but they’ll take it.

Polanco was the latest to earn the award, batting .471 with four home runs, eight RBIs and a 1.844 OPS last week to help the Mariners move atop the AL West.

Polanco and the Mariners will look to continue their torrid stretch when they open a two-game series against the division rival Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night in Seattle.

“I was telling him that he’s not hot, he’s the fire,” Mariners superstar Julio Rodriguez said. “It’s so much fun to watch. Every time he’s at the plate, everybody’s watching. Everybody’s like expecting something to happen, because he’s just that kind of player.”

Polanco is batting .377 this season with seven homers and 20 RBIs in 20 games despite the switch hitter being limited to batting from the left because of an injury to his side.

That’s a far cry from last season, when Polanco batted just .213 with 16 homers and 45 RBIs after being acquired in a five-player trade with Minnesota to solve the Mariners’ quandary at second base that existed since dealing away Robinson Cano in 2018.

Every year, the Mariners brought in someone else to fill that spot, from Dee Strange-Gordon to Adam Frazier, Kolten Wong and Shed Long Jr.

All come and gone.

And so was Polanco. But when the Mariners failed to find a third baseman in the offseason, they circled back to Polanco, who remained a free agent after knee surgery. They signed him to a one-year, $7.75 million contract.

The side injury and lingering swelling in his surgically repaired knee have general limited Polanco to the designated hitter spot, but the Mariners aren’t complaining about his production.

“It feels like we’re getting contributions up and down the lineup, and tonight was another display of that,” said Mariners manager Dan Wilson, whose team has won six consecutive series and gone 13-5 over its past 18 games. “That’s so important in terms of confidence and building a deep lineup, and these guys are taking the opportunities and making the most of them, for sure.”

While the Mariners have been surging, the Angels have lost three in a row and five of their past six games to drop into the AL West cellar.

They have scored just 12 runs over their past six games, during which they’ve been blanked twice and scored just once in another contest. Los Angeles managed just one run over the weekend at Minnesota.

The Angels are batting just .212, the second-worst mark in the majors, and have struck out 10 or more times in 12 of their past 15 games.

“Having the wrong mental state can snowball you more than the fact that we’re not getting base hits,” Angels manager Ron Washington said.

Right-hander Jack Kochanowicz (1-3, 5.47 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for the Angels on Tuesday against Mariners righty Bryce Miller (1-3, 4.21). Kochanowicz is 0-1 with a 12.00 ERA in one previous start against the Mariners; Miller is 1-1 with a 1.59 in four starts against the Angels.

–Field Level Media