Los Angeles @ Seattle preview
T-Mobile Park
Last Meeting ( May 30, 2010 ) Seattle 7, LA Angels 9
Slowly but surely the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Seattle Mariners have inched their way closer to American League West co-leaders Oakland and Texas.
The Mariners (22-31), once double digits out of first place, are now six games behind. The Angels (28-28) got to .500 with a 5-4 victory over Kansas City on Thursday and are 1 1/2 games out of first.
The teams begin a three-game series tonight at Safeco Field just a week after the Angels won back-to-back, walk-off games at home against the Mariners.
Seattle won its third consecutive game Thursday night, beating the Minnesota Twins 4-1 to take a four-game series.
Felix Hernandez got his first victory since April 21 and snapped a personal four-game losing streak by throwing eight innings, allowing one run on five hits and striking out nine. Hernandez jokingly said after the game that it felt like it had been a year since he last won.
Mariners third baseman Jose Lopez continued his hot hitting with a three-run homer, his third in the past week. Lopez has a 10-game hitting streak during which he is batting .395 (15-for-38).
Shortstop Josh Wilson is 9-for-19 (.474) in his past five games and has hits in 15 of his last 16 games.
Los Angeles has won seven of nine and got back to .500 for the first time since the end of April.
It was about this time a year ago that the Angels evened their record at 29-29 and then played .755 baseball over the next seven weeks to take a four-game lead in the AL West.
If the Angels are to manage a repeat performance they will have to do so without leading hitter Kendry Morales, who is out perhaps for the season after breaking his lower left leg celebrating a 10th-inning grand slam Saturday against the Mariners.
They also will have to shore up a shaky relief corps. The Angels’ bullpen has an ERA of 5.06, the second-highest in the AL, and has issued 100 walks, the second-most in the majors.
Tonight’s game will be a pitching rematch from last Sunday, when neither Angels left-hander Joe Saunders (3-6, 5.09) nor Mariners right-hander Ian Snell (0-3, 4.58) got a decision.
Saunders had an awful outing, allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings, but the Angels rallied for a 9-7 victory. Saunders is 6-0 with a 2.93 ERA in his last nine starts against the Mariners.
Snell allowed just three runs in four innings but he walked four batters. Snell will be trying for not only his first victory of the season but his first against the Angels. He is 0-2 with a 7.04 ERA in three career starts against Los Angeles.
The Mariners also replaced Ken Griffey Jr., who retired after 22 seasons on Wednesday, by calling up right-hander Chad Cordero from Triple-A Tacoma. Cordero missed 2008 and much of 2009 battling arm, side and shoulder problems.